Jamie Chadwick secured the inaugural W Series championship after finishing fourth in a thrilling season finale at Brands Hatch.
Having picked up victories in Hockenheim and Misano earlier in the six-race series – and finishing on the podium at every other event before her home race in Kent – 21-year-old Chadwick was the pick of the field in the historic all-women’s championship.
Needing to finish fourth at Brands Hatch, the Bath-born racer did just that as compatriot Alice Powell took the chequered flag for her first win of the year.
Chadwick – who last year became the first woman to win a Formula Three race – pockets a prize of £410,000 and, having been signed as a development driver for Williams, she keeps up her hopes of making it into Formula One.
Beitske Visser was her closest challenger in the title fight but could only finish third in the final race and ended the season 10 points adrift of the first-ever W Series champion.
Finnish driver Emma Kimilainen was second to Powell as a late safety car threatened to have an impact on the proceedings.
The top four raced wheel to wheel over the 21 laps and Visser jumped Chadwick after the safety car had returned to the pits, but the Briton had done enough to secure the title despite missing out on the podium at her home race.
