(Reuters) – Britain’s Jamie Chadwick became the first female driver to win a race on a road or street course in IndyCar’s Indy NXT feeder series on Sunday when she triumphed at Road America in Wisconsin.
The 26-year-old started from pole position, only the third woman to do so in the U.S. series, and her win was the first by a female driver since compatriot Pippa Mann at Kentucky Speedway in 2010.
Brazilian Ana Beatriz is the only other woman to have won in the series, on ovals in 2008 and 2009 when the championship was known as Indy Lights.
“Oh man, I have no words,” said the Andretti Global driver, in her second season and with a third place at the Indianapolis round in May.
“Honestly, [I’m] a bit emotional I think. We’ve had an unbelievable car this year and just haven’t been able to really do anything about it so I’m just so happy we held on there.”
Chadwick, who won all three editions of the now-defunct Europe-based all-female W Series, beat team mate Louis Foster by 0.8 of a second with series leader Jacob Abel third.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Toby Davis)
