2019 Brands Hatch W Series round

2019 Brands Hatch W Series Round
Race 6 of 6 of the 2019 W Series
Race details
Date	11 August 2019 (2019-08-11)
Official name	2019 W Series Brands Hatch round
Location	Brands Hatch, West Kingsdown, England, United Kingdom
Course	Permanent circuit
Course length	3.916 km (2.432 miles)
Distance	21 laps, 82.236 km (51.072 miles)
Pole position
Driver	Jamie Chadwick
Time	1:22.425
Fastest lap
Driver	Emma Kimiläinen
Time	1:23.301
Podium
First	Alice Powell
Second	Emma Kimiläinen
Third	Beitske Visser

The 2019 W Series Brands Hatch round (also commercially referred to as #WRace6) was the sixth and final round of the 2019 W Series, and took place at Brands Hatch in the United Kingdom on 11 August 2019.^[1] The event was an undercard to the 2019 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters round at the same circuit.^[2]

Heading into the final race, two drivers were in contention for the championship – Jamie Chadwick and Beitske Visser. Chadwick, winner of the opening race at Hockenheim as well as in Misano, sits 13 points ahead of Zolder winner Visser. For Visser to win the championship she needs:

• To finish 1st with Chadwick 4th, therefore both drivers would be level on 110 points with two wins apiece however Visser would win on count-back with two second-place finishes to Chadwick's one.
• To finish 1st with Chadwick 5th or lower.
• To finish 2nd with Chadwick 8th or lower.
• To finish 3rd with Chadwick 10th or lower.

If Visser were to finish 3rd with Chadwick 9th, that would also see both drivers draw level on 100 points apiece however Chadwick would win the championship with two wins to Visser's one.

With the top 12 in the championship at seasons' end automatically invited to return to the series in 2020, seven drivers have guaranteed their place should they choose to return – Chadwick, Visser, Marta García, Alice Powell, Fabienne Wohlwend, Emma Kimiläinen and Miki Koyama.^[1]

The day before the event began, W Series management confirmed that both reserve drivers, Vivien Keszthelyi and Sarah Bovy, would take part in the final round of the championship – the first time all 20 drivers would be on track in a championship race.^[3]

The opening session of the weekend would be dominated by Emma Kimiläinen, setting the first representative time and never relinquishing the lead despite wet-dry conditions. Championship leader Chadwick would be second with a time 4-tenths slower than the Finn, with 3rd placed Sarah Moore over a second behind Kimiläinen. It would be a disastrous start to the event for championship challenger Visser, finishing the session 20th and last with electrical problems. Elsewhere, Miki Koyama would suffer from technical issues while Sabré Cook would bring out the yellow flags with a spin into the gravel at Druids.^[4]

The weather would clear for FP2 and once again it was Kimiläinen who would finish the session fastest, three tenths ahead of Alice Powell and a full second ahead of Chadwick. Visser would finish 8th, seven tenths behind Chadwick and directly behind Fabienne Wohlwend – who would bring out the red flag with a spin at Paddock Hill Bend. Cook would once again beach the #37 during the session. Reserve drivers Bovy and Keszthelyi would finish the final practice session of the season in 16th and 20th respectively.^[5]

The championship ended the same way it started, with Chadwick on pole position. British drivers would complete the top three, with Powell second and Esmee Hawkey a surprise third. Kimiläinen would finish the session fourth having fought Powell for pole position across the majority of the session, with Visser and Wohlwend setting identical times in fifth and sixth however – crucially for Visser – the Dutchwoman would set her time first, gifting her the higher position.

Further down the field, Marta García continued her form slump from Assen qualifying 11th. Rdest and Wood had a turnaround of fortunes from the previous round, qualifying 13th and 14th respectively and under threat of losing their top 12 positions in the championship to third-placed Hawkey. Shea Holbrook would have the only incident of the session, spinning at the exit of Stirlings in the dying minutes.^[6]

Chadwick led the race from pole position, however Hawkey stalled the car from P3 on the grid. Wohlwend would also get a slow start, however was only overtaken by Koyama as the stalling Hawkey provided a bottleneck on the grid. Koyama's joy would be short-lived, as she was handed a drive-through penalty for being out of position on the grid. Further compounding to Hawkey's woes, the Briton was also handed a PLP for a jump-start. Further down the field, Sarah Bovy received a mechanical black flag for a broken front wing.

Second placed Powell began exerting pressure on race leader Chadwick, and with ten minutes of the race time elapsed the older Briton snuck up the inside of the championship leader at Paddock Hill Bend. Emma Kimiläinen, having benefitted from Hawkey's stall, also took advantage of Powell's move and went around the outside of Chadwick at Graham Hill Bend. This allowed championship challenger Visser to close on Chadwick, however she could not get the move done. Koyama's troublesome afternoon continued with a trip into the gravel at Paddock Hill.

The race would soon get worse for the Japanese driver, with a spin on the entry to Sheene Curve prompting the deployment of the Safety Car. The top five would breakaway from the fight for sixth between Vittoria Piria and Jessica Hawkins on the restart, and the championship combatants would begin to fight. With three laps remaining, Chadwick would run wide at Westfield, with Visser sneaking up the inside at Dingle Dell with two wheels on the grass. The loss of position would allow Wohlwend to close up to the championship leader in the fight for 4th place.

Following 21 laps, Alice Powell would become the fifth and final winner of the season, with Kimiläinen close behind in second and Visser taking the final podium position in third. Chadwick would hold onto fourth place and clinched the title by ten points ahead of Wohlwend in fifth, who slipped behind Kimiläinen in the championship and missed the overall top five by two points. Piria and Hawkins would hold station in sixth and seventh, with Hawkins crucially claiming twelfth in the championship and the last automatic invitation to the 2020 season. The top ten positions would be rounded out by Marta García, Sabré Cook and Sarah Moore. Caitlin Wood's 11th place would see her miss the championship top 12 by one point, whereas a P12 finish for Tasmin Pepper did not seriously hinder her championship and remained inside the top ten. 13th place for Gosia Rdest dropped her outside the invite slots, and Keszthelyi finished as the best reserve driver in both the race and championship with 14th. Naomi Schiff rounded off a mediocre season with 15th, and Hawkey's weekend of promise ended in a 16th place. Holbrook beat Megan Gilkes in the battle of the backmarkers to 17th, Bovy's broken wing left her 19th and Koyama rounded out the field in 20th and two laps down.^[7][8]

Session	No.	Driver	Time	Condts
Practice 1	7	Emma Kimiläinen	1:33.427	Mixed
Practice 2	7	Emma Kimiläinen	1:23.365	Dry

Pos.	No.	Driver	Time/Gap	Grid
1	55	Jamie Chadwick	1:22.425	1
2	27	Alice Powell	+0.368	2
3	2	Esmee Hawkey	+0.439	3
4	7	Emma Kimiläinen	+0.476	4
5	95	Beitske Visser	+0.785	5
6	5	Fabienne Wohlwend	+0.785	6
7	85	Miki Koyama	+0.901	7
8	26	Sarah Moore	+1.109	8
9	21	Jessica Hawkins	+1.147	9
10	11	Vittoria Piria	+1.182	10
11	19	Marta García	+1.376	11
12	37	Sabré Cook	+1.425	12
13	3	Gosia Rdest	+1.793	13
14	20	Caitlin Wood	+1.891	14
15	31	Tasmin Pepper	+1.913	15
16	58	Sarah Bovy	+2.145	16
17	77	Vivien Keszthelyi	+2.350	17
18	49	Megan Gilkes	+2.445	18
19	67	Shea Holbrook	+2.777	19
20	99	Naomi Schiff	+2.926	20
Source:[9]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	27	Alice Powell	21	31:24.967	2	25
2	7	Emma Kimiläinen	21	+0.511	4	18
3	95	Beitske Visser	21	+5.784	5	15
4	55	Jamie Chadwick	21	+9.321	1	12
5	5	Fabienne Wohlwend	21	+9.732	6	10
6	11	Vittoria Piria	21	+10.730	10	8
7	21	Jessica Hawkins	21	+11.060	9	6
8	19	Marta García	21	+11.613	11	4
9	37	Sabré Cook	21	+12.179	12	2
10	26	Sarah Moore	21	+13.420	8	1
11	20	Caitlin Wood	21	+13.881	14
12	31	Tasmin Pepper	21	+14.221	15
13	3	Gosia Rdest	21	+14.735	13
14	77	Vivien Keszthelyi	21	+18.656	17
15	99	Naomi Schiff	21	+20.585	20
16	2	Esmee Hawkey	21	+20.755	3
17	67	Shea Holbrook	21	+20.839	19
18	49	Megan Gilkes	21	+21.681	18
19	58	Sarah Bovy	21	+22.061	16
20	85	Miki Koyama	19	+2 laps	7
Fastest lap set by Emma Kimiläinen: 1:23.301[10]
Source:[11]

+/-	Pos.	Driver	Pts	Gap
	1	Jamie Chadwick	110
	2	Beitske Visser	100	-10
1	3	Alice Powell	76	-34
1	4	Marta García	66	-44
1	5	Emma Kimiläinen	53	-57

• 2019 DTM Brands Hatch round

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