- W Series Champion Jamie Chadwick to get behind the wheel of Veloce’s ODYSSEY 21
- Team ramps up preparations for maiden season of Extreme E
Veloce Racing is proud to confirm Williams F1 development driver and W Series Champion Jamie Chadwick as its female driver for the first season of ground-breaking, electric off-road championship Extreme E.
One of the UK’s brightest young talents, Chadwick brings a wealth of experience to the table with multiple titles to her name. After taking her first steps in car racing in the Ginetta Junior Championship, she made a spectacular breakthrough by winning the 2015 British GT Championship in the GT4 class.
Chadwick moved to the British Formula 3 Championship in 2017, and in 2019 cruised to the MRF Challenge Formula 2000 crown. Later that same year, she went on to become the first-ever W Series Champion with a brace of victories and five podium finishes from six races. This, along with her ambassadorial role for Girls on Track, an initiative led by Motorsport UK and the FIA to inspire more females into motorsport, make her the perfect ambassador for one of Veloce Racing and Extreme E’s shared core values – gender equality.
The pioneering E-SUV series will mark an altogether new challenge for Chadwick, as it will be her competitive off-road debut. In preparation for this, the 22-year-old spent last week driving the ODYSSEY 21 at Fontjoncouse in southern France, with further seat time scheduled during a group test at MotorLand Arágon in Spain next month.
Currently, with the backing of Rodin Cars, Jamie is competing in the Formula Regional European Championship with Prema Powerteam. Alongside Extreme E, she will be continuing her single-seater commitments in 2021, with an announcement in due course.
Jamie Chadwick, Veloce Racing Driver and W Series Champion, commented:
“I am proud to be driving for Veloce Racing in such a revolutionary championship as Extreme E! I have been involved with Veloce for a very long time and they are like a family to me, so I am incredibly honoured to be their female driver for what is such an exciting and important race series.
“Climate change is something that affects us all, so I’m really keen to start doing my part to fight it. I can safely say that testing the car was one of the best and most fun experiences I have had in my career so far. I can’t wait to get out to the amazing venues where we’ll be racing next year; these are some of the most beautiful and endangered locations on our planet. Both on and off-track, it promises to be an incredibly rewarding journey.”
Ian Davies, Veloce Racing Team Manager, added:
“We are delighted to have Jamie on-board at Veloce for the first season of Extreme E. She is a very quick, talented and committed young driver, with a pedigree that quite frankly speaks for itself. Having won titles in both sportscars and single-seaters, there is no reason at all why she shouldn’t transfer those skills and win in Extreme E, in what promises to be a very high-calibre field.
“Her first test in the ODYSSEY 21 during our shakedown in France last week was a very positive and encouraging start. Her experience from single-seater and GT competition was invaluable to the early development of our car – from quick driver changes to initial and mid-corner turn-in – and she had significant input into our engineering refinements.
“Jamie would be the first to acknowledge that off-road driving is completely new to her, but she is a fast learner and she listened carefully to everything we had to say, worked well with the engineers, took it all on-board and – most importantly – got quicker and quicker with every run. We are all very excited to see what she can achieve when we go racing next year.”
Chadwick and her yet to be confirmed male team-mate will get behind the wheel of the ODYSSEY 21 for the full 2021 Extreme E championship, with events set to take place in Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia (20-21 March), Dakar, Senegal (29-30 May), Kangerlussuaq, Greenland (28-29 August), Para, Brazil (23-24 October) and Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina (11-12 December).
