Beitske Visser took a dominant victory in round two of the W Series at Zolder, to move up to second in the championship.
Visser described her start as ‘perfect’, and she never looked like losing after overtaking Jamie Chadwick on the run to turn one.
Confusion reigned further down the field, as reserve driver Sarah Bovy was out of position on the grid.
Bovy was then left stranded on the with a broken oil-line, and a safety car was required to remove the Belgian’s stricken car.
Safety car is out, safety car is out. Such a shame for @SarahBovy who experiences car failure at the start of the race. #WSeries pic.twitter.com/RAeVJDq8YS
— W Series (@WSeriesRacing) May 18, 2019
The safety car remained on track for two laps, but was back in action almost immediately.
Esmee Hawkey locked up under pressure from Fabienne Wohlwend, with the Brit careering into Gosia Rdest.
Debutant Vivien Keszthelyi was caught in the aftermath of this incident, and joined Hawkey and Rdest in retirement.
RACE REPLAY: rewatch the incident between @esmee_hawkey and @GosiaRdest. #WSeries pic.twitter.com/NmBXOTXLxZ
— W Series (@WSeriesRacing) May 18, 2019
Only seventeen minutes remained after the safety car pulled in, and the top three immediately pulled away from Marta Garcia.
Further back, Miki Koyama dived past Caitlin Wood for eighth place at the first chicane.
The Japanese driver had looked racy before the safety car, and used this pace to close up to the back of Wohlwend.
Visser was the fastest driver on track at this point, pulling away from Chadwick by half a second per lap.
Chadwick’s attention soon turned to defending from Alice Powell, with Powell attacking around the outside of turn eight with four laps remaining.
The two Brits banged wheels all the way down to the final chicane, with Powell just taking second position.
She would hold on to this place for just over a lap, with Chadwick regaining the place into turn two.
Visser crossed the line 8.4s ahead of Chadwick, with Powell, Garcia and Sarah Moore completing the top five.
This outstanding performance gave the Dutch driver her first single-seater win since 2013.
Chadwick now holds a three point championship lead over Visser with four rounds remaining.
