Champion Chadwick chases a magnificent seven as W Series makes French debut
75 days, 13 hours, 25 minutes.
When the light turns green at the end of Circuit Paul Ricard’s pit lane this Friday to kick off the W Series practise session for the fifth race of the 2022 season, that is how long it will have been since Jamie Chadwick (Jenner Racing) overtook Emma Kimiläinen (Puma W Series Team) for the lead of the season-opener in Miami, USA.
Jamie followed up that initial victory with three dominant lights-to-flag wins in Miami, Barcelona, and Silverstone, topping all seven W Series sessions, including practice and qualifying, along the way.
This has given her a maximum 100 points so far this term and a commanding 47-point lead over nearest challenger Abbi Pulling (Racing X) in the championship standings with six races remaining.
The 24-year-old will be going for her seventh straight race win this week to carry on with her run of success dating back to 23 October 2021 in Austin, Texas, USA.
Dave Ryan (Racing Director, W Series) said:
“Jamie [Chadwick] is full of confidence at the moment and proving why she has won two W Series titles.
“Her approach to our race weekends so far this season has been very professional and impressive, and it’s helping her be consistent when she gets on track.
“The chasing pack has a tough task on its hands to stop her, but anything can happen, starting this weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard.
“Like the last circuit we raced at, Silverstone, Paul Ricard is fairly flat.
“It features big run-off areas and its 15 corners are a pretty even mix of high, medium, and low-speed, hence why it’s a popular testing venue.
“W Series hasn’t been to Le Castellet before, but some of the drivers have, so, given that and the fact we’re at the halfway point of the season now, I expect them to hit the ground running this weekend.”
The race in support of the Formula 1® Lenovo Grand Prix De France 2022, is the first of back-to-back W Series events.
The sixth race of the season takes place at the Hungaroring, Hungary, next weekend (29-30 July) which conclude the international single-seater motor racing championship for women drivers’ European races for 2022 ahead of F1’s traditional summer break in August.
This will be W Series’ 15th race in Europe but is the first time they’ve raced in France.
While there are no French drivers among the 18, who represent 10 different nations – on this year’s grid, several of the class of 2022 are familiar with the 5.842km (3.63 miles) Circuit Paul Ricard, which hosted its first F1 Grand Prix in 1971.
Jamie competed there in the Formula Regional European Championship in 2020, finishing all three races inside the top 10.
Belen Garcia (Quantfury Racing W Series Team) has contested five races at Paul Ricard – three in the 2019 F4 Spanish Championship, which team-mate Nerea Martí (Quantfury Racing W Series Team) also took part in, and two in last year’s Formula Regional European Championship.
Beitske Visser (Sirin Racing W Series Team) raced there in the Formula V8 3.5 Series in 2014 and 2016, and in the European Le Mans Series in 2020.
Abbi, Fabienne Wohlwend (CortDAO Racing W Series Team), and Emely De Heus (Sirin Racing W Series Team) have tested at Paul Ricard.
It will be a home race of sorts for British pair Abbi and Alice Powell (Click2Drive Bristol Street Motors Racing W Series Team), who are both members of the BWT Alpine F1 Team which is owned by French automotive company Groupe Renault.
Last year’s W Series runner-up, Abbi, made history in 2009 when she became the youngest-ever female driver to compete in the Formula Renault UK Championship.
A year later, Alice was the first woman to win a Formula Renault Championship race. She said:
“It’s going to be Alpine’s biggest Grand Prix of the year so, in terms of my link to the team, it’s a weekend I’m looking forward to. However, I’ve never driven at Paul Ricard before so it’s totally new to me and I’m learning it on the simulator.
“Miami was the last track where that was the case, but that was a brand-new circuit so all of us were in the same boat.
“Lots of the drivers around me in the championship standings have been to Paul Ricard before, so I’m on the back foot and expecting it to be one of the toughest races of the season.
“It’s been a pretty awful season so far and the championship standings sum it up really.
“The DNF in Miami was my fault, but in Barcelona I had issues with the brakes all weekend.
“Then, at Silverstone, qualifying wasn’t too bad and I had a big fight with the track limits before eventually getting my lap back as it shouldn’t have been deleted.
“I can’t say I’m looking forward to the next two races because things have been going poorly, and just when I think I’m moving forward something else comes along and kicks me back down, so it’s tough.
“Winning the championship is going to be difficult now.
“I need Jamie [Chadwick] to have some bad luck like I’ve had for me to catch her. I’ll just try to collect as many points as possible.”
W Series’ schedule for this weekend starts on Friday 22 July with a 30-minute practice session at 10:40 (local time, CEST), followed by qualifying from 19:25 to 19:55 on the same day.
The race starts at 14:50 on Saturday 23 July and will be 30 minutes plus one lap.
British fans can watch the fifth race of the 2022 W Series season live from Circuit Paul Ricard on Sky Sports F1 from 13:30 BST on Saturday 23 July, with qualifying live on Sky Sports F1 at 18:10 BST on Friday 22 July.
Highlights of the race will be on Channel 4 at 9am BST on Sunday 24 July.