British driver Jamie Chadwick, 20, stood on the top step of the podium at Hockenheim to become the first ever W Series race winner.

The pole sitter had to cope with strong opposition from the 17 other drivers in the first race of the first ever single-seater series for female drivers only, but she mastered the tricky conditions in what was a closely fought opening round to the six-race competition.

Very wet conditions in qualifying were a challenge for all the drivers, but Bath-born Chadwick was at the top of the time sheets for most of the 25-minute session, Fabienne Wohlwend (from Liechtenstein) claiming the other front-row starting position and another Briton, Sarah Moore, third on the grid.

As weather conditions improved ahead of the race and the 18 cars lined up behind the start-line, nerves were understandably kicking in for all the drivers, but they did not show it.

Chadwick made a perfect start to lead the field; however, a brake issue for her at the hairpin gave Moore a window of opportunity to steal the lead, which she duly did. Then, still on lap one, a collision at Turn 6 resulted in Megan Gilkes (CAN) and Emma Kimilainen (FIN) retiring and the safety car being deployed so that their damaged cars could be moved out of the way.

Then all eyes turned to Alice Powell (GBR) who climbed from P6 to P2, creating an exciting three-way battle of Britons at the head of the field. But Chadwick fought hard to restore her lead, Moore hot on her heels in second and Marta Garcia (ESP) storming through to third, a line-up that then continued all the way to the chequered flag.

Behind that three-way battle there were some great fightbacks, several drivers making up places from lowly starting positions, among them Tasmin Pepper (RSA), who drove from 16th to eighth; but Miki Koyama (JAP) drove even more forcefully, moving from 17th on the grid to seventh at the flag, not only setting the fastest lap of the race but the second-fastest too, just 0.001sec slower than her best.

"The win feels great," said Chadwick. "Going into the race, the conditions were tricky which made things a bit more difficult but off the back of qualifying and the back of yesterday, I really was pushing to get the first win."

"Losing the lead to Sarah caught me out a bit. I couldn't get the car stopped at the hairpin and had a bit of an issue where I couldn't get down the gears but, when the Safety Car went back in, I knew I had a good opportunity get the lead back and win."

"It's great to be back on the podium especially given how the weekend started for me," added Powell. "The free practices didn't really go to plan and I struggled a bit with the car so I knew that I really had to get a good start.

"Then, after that, I was strong through the fast corners and that's where I tried to maximise my performance, open the gap and retain my second place."

"It feels really good to be on the podium," said Garcia. "My performance yesterday was not so good but this morning I really felt that I improved in the wet which meant I started the race from P5.

"My start was good, I was fast throughout the race, and I'm really happy with how I did."

Result

1 Jamie Chadwick GBR 32:59.079
2 Alice Powell GBR + 01.329
3 Marta Garcia ESP + 00.363
4 Beitske Visser NLD + 01.781
5 Sarah Moore GBR + 02.298
6 Fabienne Wohlwend LIE + 01.278
7 Miki Koyama JPN + 01.762
8 Tasmin Pepper RSA + 08.325
9 Gosia Rdest POL + 01.753
10 Caitlin Wood AUS + 01.495
11 Jessica Hawkins GBR + 01.189
12 Esmee Hawkey GBR + 01.422
13 Sabre Cook USA + 00.370
14 Naomi Schiff DEU + 01.967
15 Vicky Piria ITA + 06.425
16 Shea Holbrook USA + 14.449
Emma Kimilainen FIN DNF
Megan Gilkes CAN DNF