Jamie Chadwick says she learned she had won this year’s W Series title while sitting at home after it was announced the season had come to an early conclusion.
In September, reports emerged the all-female racing series that plays support to Formula 1 was in financial trouble.
Category organisers on Tuesday announced the final two rounds in the United States and Mexico would not go ahead as planned.
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Organisers said they had not received the required funding to continue racing in 2022.
The race at Circuit of the Americas and the double-header at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez have duly been cancelled and the series will now focus on fundraising for 2023.
“As a start-up in only our third season of racing, we are always working hard to ensure regularity of funding as we continue to grow our business,” said W Series CEO Catherine Bond Muir.
“But due to recent unforeseen circumstances outside of W Series’ control, we had not been in receipt of contracted funds due to us.
“Therefore, we have been forced to make the unfortunate decision not to complete our scheduled calendar this season.
“We have worked hard to raise the required funding to enable us to finish the season.
“Unfortunately, it was not possible to do this in the short time frame required following the failure of contracted funds to arrive and the global economic downturn.
“However, while we are all incredibly disappointed that this decision has had to be made in the short term, we remain positive about the future of W Series in the long term.
“It is well-documented that women’s sports receive far less funding than its male counterparts, and W Series is no exception.
“We are incredibly thankful for the help and support we have received in recent weeks following the news of the financial difficulties we’ve been facing, which has accelerated our fundraising process and given us great optimism as we look to 2023 and beyond.”
For Chadwick, it was a bittersweet moment learning she had won the title.
She drew parallels between her win and Max Verstappen’s second Formula 1 drivers’ championship, which came in similarly awkward circumstances.
Confusion reigned at Suzuka on Sunday when the Red Bull driver won the Japanese Grand Prix and put himself enough points clear of Charles Leclerc to be champion-elect.
However, due to confusion surrounding the percentage of points awarded given the race distance, many were left scratching their heads.
Verstappen only found out he was champion in the cool-down room.
“I don’t really know how to take that, to be honest,” said Chadwick.
“I guess part of me is obviously happy that it’s kind of definite, but at the same time really sad for W Series and really sad not to be doing the last few races.
“I was watching [Formula 1] thinking, ‘oh, that’s an anticlimax’ and I feel like this is possibly even more so.
“I guess, down the line, I won’t even remember thinking about it like this, but at the same time, you always want to have the best opportunity to win it on track.
“Yeah, it’s one of those things. It’s mixed emotions. I wasn’t hoping to be sat at home then finding out I’d won a championship rather than maybe on track, but it’s how it falls this time, I guess.”
Chadwick has now won all three W Series titles to date.
This year, she claimed five wins from seven races. The 24-year-old won in Miami, Barcelona, Paul Ricard and Catalunya.
Alice Powell of the UK and Beitske Visser from the Netherlands won in Budapest and Singapore respectively.
As yet, W Series organisers have not confirmed a calendar for 2023.
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