Jamie Chadwick dominated her home race at Silverstone to take a fourth W Series triumph of the season by over 19 seconds.
The margin of victory was helped by a late collision for second between Emma Kimilainen and Abbie Pulling, who both avoided damage to finish on the podium. But drama before the start effectively removed Alice Powell from podium contention.
Having been promoted to third on the grid after a deleted lap time in qualifying was overturned by the stewards, Powell stalled at the beginning of the formation lap. The Briton eventually got going, and managed to reclaim her starting position, but was deemed to have been out of position at the safety car line approaching Club corner, as was awarded a 10s stop/go penalty.
Chadwick led away from her third pole in a row when the lights went out, while Powell snatched second on lap two at Brooklands from Kimilainen, before diving into the pits to serve her penalty. Fabienne Wohlwend, who passed Pulling at the start, was promoted to third behind Kimilianen as a result, while Chadwick built a commanding 4s lead.
The advantage was extended to 5s when light rain arrived at the halfway stage. Chadwick then pulled out another second over Kimilainen before the rain stopped. Pulling spent several laps trying to pass Wohlwend for third, and was gifted the position when Wohlwend got sideways into Village and ran wide.
As Chadwick cruised to the win by 19.558s, Pulling went on a late charge to catch Kimilianen. At the end of the penultimate tour, Pulling dived up the inside into The Vale, but contact spun Kimilainen around. Pulling slowed on the final lap, allowing the Finn to retake second, but managed to hold on to third by 0.5 ahead of Wohlwend.
Beitske Visser came home fifth, while Jessica Hawkins beat Abbie Eaton in a battle for sixth, having made the decisive overtake into Maggots. Having also tried to pass Eaton, Belen Garcia finished eighth ahead of Nerea Marti and Sarah Moore.
Bruna Tomaselli passed Tereza Babickova into Copse late on to take 11th. Powell trailed home in 14th, while Marta Garcia damaged her front wing while running inside the top 10 and ended the race two laps down in 18th.
Featured image credit: W Series
