Misano, Italy - British driver Jamie Chadwick's second win in three races allowed her to extend her lead over Dutch rival Beitske Visser in the all-female W Series in Misano, Italy, on Saturday.
Starting second on the grid, Chadwick took the lead going into the first corner from Liechtenstein's Fabienne Wohlwend who had qualified on pole for the first time.
Chadwick, appointed development driver for British Formula One team Williams last month, increased her lead in the inaugural championship to 68 points, 13 ahead of Visser who finished second.
“It felt like a long race for me,” said Chadwick, who also won in Hockenheim last month. “I just didn’t want to make any mistakes. In the previous races, I’ve always made like one or two mistakes so I just wanted to be really disciplined, not make a mistake.”
Behind Chadwick, fellow Briton Alice Powell 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, the trio clearly benefiting from starting on fresh tyres.
Tasmin Pepper impresses
South Africa's Tasmin Pepper was happy to come home seventh after qualifying in 10th place, although she did drop from seventh to eighth in the championship.
"Misano, you’ve been a treat - P7 in the race after a not so great quali!" Pepper tweeted.
"Happy to come away with some points, now the work begins to prep for round 4 in Norisring in a couple weeks."
The six-race series, which uses identical Formula Three cars for all the drivers, is aimed at helping women up the motorsport ladder. The overall winner will collect $500 000 (R7.45m), with prize money down to 18th place.