First Lady

Jamie Chadwick becomes the first woman to win the MRF Challenge championship

- Tuhin Guha

Nail-biting. That’s the only way to describe the final few laps of the very last race of the 2018-2019 MRF Challenge season finale. Jamie Chadwick, one of the only two female racers of the pack, is in the lead. Chasing her, and hoping to wrest victory from Chadwick’s grasp, is Max Defourny, who in turn is being chased by Patrick Pasma. It seems like the race could go to any one of the three, with the slightest slip up from Chadwick likely to give Defourny the advantage. And, indeed, whether she finishes first, or anywhere else in the top six, won’t make a difference – the title will be hers. But, Chadwick’s clearly got victory on her mind. Winning the championship title, with a third race win of the weekend – that’s exactly what she wants. And, as things eventually turn out, that’s exactly what she gets. It’s a historic victory, with Chadwick becoming the series’ first woman champion. And it all went down at the Madras Motor Race Track.

Chadwick’s success at the season finale is no surprise. In my short conversation with her, she came across as measured and focussed. Qualities that are as fundamental to a racing driver’s skill-set as their actual ability behind the wheel of a racecar.