Positive British F3 weekend at Rockingham for Jamie Chadwick

Jamie fought hard for her podium  (Photo by Alex Denham)After her debut weekend in F3 at Oulton Park turned into a bit of a nightmare for Jamie Chadwick, she headed for Rockingham at the weekend hoping for better luck. Oulton had seen two non finishes and an eleventh place finish after a good ninth on the grid for qualifying.

Now Rockingham was a chance to get a more positive weekend under her belt. The eighteen year old from Tebury again had a strong quailfying managing to take eighth on the grid, one place higher than Oulton. She was feeling confident heading into the first of three races that weekend as she lined up in her Double R Racing run car.

She got a great start as the lights went out and moved up to sixth. Jamie and the other cars just behind her then got into a tough battle for the remainder of the race with Jamie ending up eighth at the flag but having shown she has already got to grips with the Formula three car.

Although eighth may have been a bit of a disappointment after running sixth, that particular cloud had a silver lining in that it gained her the reverse grid pole for the next race of the weekend!

Jamie made a good start from her hard fought pole as they ran down to the tight Deene Hairpin on lap one. A single car slipped past there but she held second. A Second car passed later in the lap, the car that would eventually win but after that Jamie was in no mood to let any further cars past. She set about trying to find a way past Omar Ismail who was now in second while being careful to defend from passing attempts behind her. Although she was unsuccessful at passing for second, she easily held on to third taking her first podium of her F3 career in only her fifth F3 race.

“[My] FIRST PODIUM IN F3!!! Huge huge thanks to @doublerracing and the rest of my amazing team – lots of positives to take forward! “ She commented later in social media

Eighth was Jamies best Quailfying so far (Photo by Alex Denham) Jamie has quickly got to grips with the F3 car (Photo by Alex Denham) Jamie celebrates her first ever F3 podium (Photo by Alex Denham)

 

 

 

Unfortunately a grid penalty from round five put her at the back of the field to start her final race of the day but she got a great start, making up lots of places. The race itself was shortened, halting her charge up the field but she still got to tenth place by the time the chequered flag came out, a strong result from her starting position.

The championship now heads to Snetterton where Jamie has already tested so she will be hoping this gives her a head start to move up the grid still further and have three successful races. If her progress up the field continues, a first win can’t be far away. By Marc Waller

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