Chadwick beaten for first time this season
Two-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick suffered her first loss of the 2022 campaign as she came second to Alice Powell during the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Powell secured pole and controlled the race expertly, safely negotiating two safety car restarts to win her fifth race of her career. Having begun in fifth, her lowest starting position since the first race of the 2021 season, Bath-born Chadwick overtook Nerea Marti at turn three following the first safety car before moving up to third ahead of Marta Garcia with a third of the race remaining.
In clear air, Chadwick began hunting the top two and snatched second from Beitske Visser after going later on the brakes into turn one. Trading fastest laps with Powell, Chadwick was unable to overtake her compatriot – even after a second safety car had closed the gap right down.
Despite seeing her seven-race winning streak come to an end, Chadwick extended her run of podium finishes to 13 and stretched her championship lead to 75 points.
After the race Chadwick said: “It’s roles reversed from here last year when I beat Alice. If anyone was going to break that winning streak, I feel like Alice is a deserving person. I did what I could today.
“The wet conditions helped early on because it’s a really tricky circuit to overtake on, but at the end I didn’t have enough to challenge Alice. I’m still happy with second place, happy with the race and I go into the summer break really pleased with how the season has gone so far.”
W Series now takes a two-month break before returning with the Singapore Grand Prix – the first W Series race in Asia – on October 2, before the final two rounds in Austin, Texas and Mexico City.
■ JOSH Cook had a weekend to forget during the British Touring Car Championship’s races at Knockhill at the weekend. Cook finished race one down in 15th and could only improve that by two places in race two.
Cook managed to finish in the points, eighth, in round three but has now dropped to fifth in the overall standings. He sits 13 points behind leader Colin Turkington.