Supreme Chadwick at the double in Miami

Only one race into the 2022 W Series, partnered by Acronis, and double world champion Jamie Chadwick has already emphatically stamped her authority on the season.

Having won last year’s championship by winning both races in the title decider in Austin, the Williams Racing Academy and Jenner Racing driver was at it yet again in Miami, completing back-to-back victories at the inaugural Miami event.

In race 1, Chadwick didn’t have it all her way, staving off a stiff challenge from Jessica Hawkins for long parts of the race before taking the win. But in the second race the British driver enjoyed more of a dominant ride from pole position, leading home Spaniard Nerea Martí by three seconds with last season’s runner-up Alice Powell a further six seconds back.

Nerea’s team-mate and compatriot Belen Garcia equalled her best W Series result to finish fourth ahead of Emma Kimiläinen, Abbi Pulling, Beitske Visser, Sarah Moore and Marta Garcia. Chloe Chambers rounded out the top ten.

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“I’m really happy with that win and happy to bounce back to be honest,” commented Chadwick on the official W Series press release. “I lacked confidence yesterday and didn’t feel like I deserved the win, whereas this was our first proper race under green-flag conditions and I’m happy to get that one under my belt.

“With the nature of the circuit and the heat, it was all about keeping it clean, making no mistakes and keeping the tyres in check. Nerea [Martí] kept the pressure on, but I responded when I needed to, stayed calm and managed the gap well which gave me some breathing space at the end.”

Martí, who claimed her best finish in W Series to date, was also a very happy driver after taking the chequered flag in second place.

“Obviously I wanted to win the race, but I’m happy with second place,” said Martí. “I did everything I could to get past Jamie [Chadwick], but the end of the race was difficult because I was nervous and couldn’t find the pace, but it’s still a great improvement on yesterday. I’m looking to carry this momentum to the next race in Barcelona, which is a circuit I like and I’m excited to race in front of my home fans.”

Victory for Chadwick now means she now holds a commanding 27 point advantage over Martí with Visser a further two points behind going into the next round in Barcelona on 20-21 May.

“Today was a great relief and it was a very good race with some really good driving,” added Dave Ryan, Racing Director, W Series. “Jamie [Chadwick] obviously deserved to win as she did a great job and she’s had a great weekend. I’m very happy for Nerea [Marti] after yesterday. Alice [Powell] had a good result, and I’m not sure what happened to Emma [Kimiläinen].

“It was good to see no red flags and a much better day overall. It has been a tough weekend, but everyone has worked very hard and great credit to all of my team who put the cars that were damaged back together so we had a full grid of 18 cars for each race.

Acronis is proud to be the official Cyber Protection Partner of the W Series. To find out more, please visit https://www.acronis.com/en-us/lp/msp-sports/

During the 2021 season, Acronis opened up an exciting #TeamUp Program, giving new and existing service providers the opportunity to support sports partnerships, join the sports ecosystem, attend races and enjoy amazing sports marketing benefits. To find out more, please visit https://www.acronis.com/en-us/lp/msp-sports/

Fraser Masefield

Sports news and features writer, web editor and author.