W Series: Jamie Chadwick wins in Misano to extend championship lead

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Jamie Chadwick (centre) took the victory in Misano, finishing ahead of Beitske Visser (left) and Fabienne Wohlwend

British driver Jamie Chadwick won for the second time in three races in the all-female W Series to extend her lead at the top of the championship.

Chadwick, 21, won in Misano, Italy, on Saturday and holds a 13-point advantage over Dutch driver Beitske Visser at the halfway point of the inaugural season.

Visser finished second with Liechtenstein's Fabienne Wohlwend, who had started on pole, coming third.

"I just didn't want to make any mistakes," said Chadwick.

"It felt like a long race for me. In the previous races, I've always made one or two mistakes so I just wanted to be really disciplined and not make a mistake."

Fellow Briton Alice Powell spectacularly crashed out of the race with a broken suspension and wheel after colliding with the slow-starting Wohlwend and going briefly airborne.

The incident brought out the safety car but when racing resumed Chadwick comfortably pulled away with Visser and Wohlwend close behind.

Image source, W Series on Twitter

Image caption, Alice Powell's race came to a spectacular end when she was involved in an incident with Fabienne Wohlwend

Other British drivers, Sarah Moore, Esmee Hawkey and Jessica Hawkins, finished ninth, 11th and 15th respectively.

The six-race series, which uses identical Formula Three cars for all the drivers, is aimed at helping women up the motorsport ladder and the overall champion will collect $500,000 (拢392,500).

Chadwick, appointed development driver for Formula 1 team Williams last month, won the first ever W Series race in Germany in May and finished second in Belgium two weeks later.

She started Saturday with a six-point title lead but now has 68 points with Visser on 55.

The next race takes place in Norisring, Germany on 6 July, before races at Assen in the Netherlands and then Brands Hatch in Kent.