MRF Challenge: Chadwick wins 3 out of 5 races at Bahrain 

Jamie Chadwick from Bath, England, completed an excellent week by scoring a hat-trick of wins in the second round of the MRF Challenge 2018-19 at the Bahrain International Circuit, here today. Chadwick, 20, won both the races today in addition to the one yesterday.

Chadwick, the only female driver on the 12-car grid, was at her best in the fifth and last race of the second round when she not only clocked the fastest lap of the week here, but also held off a late charging championship leader Max Defourny of Belgium who had to be content with a second-place finish ahead of Singapore’s Danial Frost.

The three wins here took Chadwick’s championship points tally to 183 while Defourny continues to lead with 201 while Germany’s Andreas Estner is in third with 124.

Starting the fifth race of the round second on the grid behind Defourny, Chadwick was off the blocks and entering Turn-1, moved past the 20-year old Belgian. Thereafter, she increased her advantage with each lap before Defourny bounced back to challenge her. However, Chadwick put in a scorching lap of 02mins, 01.00secs in the seventh to ensure she maintained a big enough gap to win with something to spare.

“I am really happy with the three wins here. I came here form Dubai feeling winless. We knew we had the pace and our aim here was to get some wins. I had a good start and could control the race. Max started to come at me, so I had to put in some good laps to win comfortably,” said Chadwick.

Earlier, in the day’s previous race, Chadwick, who has been working on her starts after a few second-place finishes in the first round at Dubai last month, quickly moved up a place from third to second before easing past reverse-grid pole sitter Ptacek on Lap 3 Thereafter, she gradually extended her lead to win by 2.5 seconds from Ptacek and Andreas Estner, who had started fifth on the grid.

Behind the front-runners, Defourny, starting from sixth, struggled to find a way past Italian Michelangelo Amendola, who had dropped from second to fifth. In the fourth lap, the Belgian finally got past the Italian, but was left with too much to do and settled for points.

Looking back on her win, Chadwick said: “The race was good. Moved to second from third early in the race and then chipped away at (Petr) Ptacek before moving into lead. We did a bit of work on the car last night and we put new tyres on. It was difficult yesterday when I was on old tyres. We also have been working on the starts, especially after Dubai (Round-1) where we were expecting a lot. Here we managed to maximise race 3 and 4 where we get reverse grids.

A disappointed Defourny, knocked off the podium for the first time in the championship, said: “It was not a good race. We had potential to do better. But I got stuck behind someone (Michelangelo Amendola). It was dangerous stuff, moving heavily under braking. I nearly crashed into him on the straights a few times and I finally managed to overtake, but we lost so much time in that and damage to the tyres. I nearly got the fastest lap on the last lap, but good points for the championship. We still have vibrations on the car, but we don’t know the source of it. Otherwise, no issues with the car.”

The third and concluding round of the championship, organized by the Madras Motor Sports Club, will be held at the MMRT, Chennai, from February 8 to 10.

The results (all 10 laps):

Race-4: 1. Jamie Chadwick (UK) (Best Lap 02mins, 01.403secs); 2. Petr Ptacek (Czech Republic) (BL 02:01.552); 3. Andreas Estner (Germany) (BL 02:01.690).

Race-5: 1. Jamie Chadwick (UK) (BL 02:01.005); 2. Max Defourny (Belgium) (02:01.126); 3. Danial Frost (Singapore) (02:01.509).

Championship standings (after 2 rounds - top 3): 1. Max Defourny (Belgium) 201 points; 2. Jamie Chadwick (UK) 183 points; 3. Andreas Estner (Germany) 124 points.

, completed an excellent week by scoring a hat-trick of wins in the second round of the MRF Challenge 2018-19 at the Bahrain International Circuit, here today. Chadwick, 20, won both the races today in addition to the one yesterday.

Chadwick, the only female driver on the 12-car grid, was at her best in the fifth and last race of the second round when she not only clocked the fastest lap of the week here, but also held off a late charging championship leader Max Defourny of Belgium who had to be content with a second-place finish ahead of Singapore’s Danial Frost.

The three wins here took Chadwick’s championship points tally to 183 while Defourny continues to lead with 201 while Germany’s Andreas Estner is in third with 124.

Starting the fifth race of the round second on the grid behind Defourny, Chadwick was off the blocks and entering Turn-1, moved past the 20-year old Belgian. Thereafter, she increased her advantage with each lap before Defourny bounced back to challenge her. However, Chadwick put in a scorching lap of 02mins, 01.00secs in the seventh to ensure she maintained a big enough gap to win with something to spare.

“I am really happy with the three wins here. I came here form Dubai feeling winless. We knew we had the pace and our aim here was to get some wins. I had a good start and could control the race. Max started to come at me, so I had to put in some good laps to win comfortably,” said Chadwick.

Earlier, in the day’s previous race, Chadwick, who has been working on her starts after a few second-place finishes in the first round at Dubai last month, quickly moved up a place from third to second before easing past reverse-grid pole sitter Ptacek on Lap 3 Thereafter, she gradually extended her lead to win by 2.5 seconds from Ptacek and Andreas Estner, who had started fifth on the grid.

Behind the front-runners, Defourny, starting from sixth, struggled to find a way past Italian Michelangelo Amendola, who had dropped from second to fifth. In the fourth lap, the Belgian finally got past the Italian, but was left with too much to do and settled for points.

Looking back on her win, Chadwick said: “The race was good. Moved to second from third early in the race and then chipped away at (Petr) Ptacek before moving into lead. We did a bit of work on the car last night and we put new tyres on. It was difficult yesterday when I was on old tyres. We also have been working on the starts, especially after Dubai (Round-1) where we were expecting a lot. Here we managed to maximise race 3 and 4 where we get reverse grids.

A disappointed Defourny, knocked off the podium for the first time in the championship, said: “It was not a good race. We had potential to do better. But I got stuck behind someone (Michelangelo Amendola). It was dangerous stuff, moving heavily under braking. I nearly crashed into him on the straights a few times and I finally managed to overtake, but we lost so much time in that and damage to the tyres. I nearly got the fastest lap on the last lap, but good points for the championship. We still have vibrations on the car, but we don’t know the source of it. Otherwise, no issues with the car.”

The third and concluding round of the championship, organized by the Madras Motor Sports Club, will be held at the MMRT, Chennai, from February 8 to 10.

The results (all 10 laps):

Race-4: 1. Jamie Chadwick (UK) (Best Lap 02mins, 01.403secs); 2. Petr Ptacek (Czech Republic) (BL 02:01.552); 3. Andreas Estner (Germany) (BL 02:01.690).

Race-5: 1. Jamie Chadwick (UK) (BL 02:01.005); 2. Max Defourny (Belgium) (02:01.126); 3. Danial Frost (Singapore) (02:01.509).

Championship standings (after 2 rounds - top 3):

1. Max Defourny (Belgium) 201 points

2. Jamie Chadwick (UK) 183 points

3. Andreas Estner (Germany) 124 points