The crucial message behind Chadwick’s latest milestone 

“That doesn’t make so much of a difference.”

Jamie Chadwick was quick to shrug off the significance of becoming the first female driver to win outright in the European Le Mans Series at Paul Ricard on Sunday. After all, she had won the LMP2 class in her only previous category start at Barcelona last month. Together with IDEC Sport team-mates Mathys Jaubert and Dani Juncadella, she was only denied outright laurels there when P2 Pro-Am entrant Matthieu Vaxiviere snatched the lead from Jaubert on the final lap following a late safety car.

Chadwick is merely the latest in a lengthy line of female drivers to put their stamp on the ELMS, which like the World Endurance Championship is run by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest. Lilou Wadoux was part of AF Corse’s triumphant LMGT3 class lineup in France, the Ferrari factory driver in the cockpit for the crunch closing laps to fend off Mercedes rival Fabian Schiller, while in Barcelona it was the Manthey-run Iron Dames Porsche that prevailed with Michelle Gatting, Sarah Bovy and category debutant Celia Martin. 

For Chadwick, a winner in the IndyCar-supporting Indy NXT series last year, of much bigger significance is the way she has seamlessly slotted into prototype racing in a setting that has a very real chance of leading to a factory Hypercar drive next year.  

Her ORECA-Gibson 07 is entered under the Genesis Magma Racing banner, in deference to Genesis’ forthcoming entry to the WEC that will incorporate expertise from parent brand Hyundai’s World Rally Championship effort. It plans to run two ORECA-based LMDh cars with an in-house team in 2026 and, in preparation, has embedded staff with the IDEC Sport squad that conquered the ELMS in 2019 to learn the ropes of endurance racing. Genesis is also evaluating Chadwick and Jaubert, part of what it is calling the Trajectory programme.  

The South Korean manufacturer has already signed three-time Le Mans 24 Hour conqueror Andre Lotterer and four-time Sebring 12 Hour winner Pipo Derani to lead its assault, leaving four remaining seats. There are no guarantees for three-time W Series champion Chadwick and Porsche Supercup graduate Jaubert, both graded silver in the FIA’s driver categorisation, but both have the chance to put themselves in the frame. As too does Juncadella, the factory Corvette WEC racer drafted in to replace the previously-announced Logan Sargeant. 

“The ELMS is a place for the drivers to prove their talents and make their claim to be a part of the 2026 GMR-001 Hypercar driver lineup,” said Genesis Magma Racing team principal Cyril Abiteboul ahead of the season.  

He added: “Of course we want Jamie, Mathys and Dani to deliver strong results, but more than immediate results, it is the general direction in the course of the season we are interested in. For everyone, this is a year for learning because we selected the Trajectory programme drivers with an aim of a potential promotion to Hypercar.” 

Two wins from two races and a maximum 50 points later, the trio of LMP2 rookies have surely surpassed expectations. “After Barcelona, to come back and win again is a bit unexpected,” Chadwick herself admitted on Sunday. That was especially after “a big moment” on the opening lap, applying the power exiting Turn 2, when her slick-shod ORECA broke traction on a greasy surface better suited to wets. It dropped Chadwick from fourth to 14th.  

“It became quite clear that this race was going to be about staying in it and trying to make no more mistakes from there,” remarked Chadwick, who made her name in sportscars by winning the 2015 British GT4 title. “We called the pitstop at the right time, [to] go onto the wets, and then my stint was wet for the whole duration.” 

Despite it not counting for points towards her ELMS push, Chadwick’s Le Mans debut will be important to further her claim on a Hypercar seat

The worsening conditions and ever-present traffic in multi-class racing make lap times difficult to read into, but of note is her comparable pace with the vastly more experienced Derani in a near-identical CLX Motorsport ORECA. From an identical 31-lap stint in which the Brazilian also started on slicks before changing to wets, Derani peaked with 2m09.790s, compared to Chadwick’s 2m10.304s. “I enjoyed it, just trying to stay out of trouble,” 26-year-old Chadwick added. “I knew the race would be later on for these guys.” 

Sure enough, where the eventual second-placed Inter Europol ORECA tagged Theo Pourchaire to incur a 10-second penalty in the pits, Chadwick kept it clean before handing over to Juncadella in fifth. “We just executed to perfection,” observed the Spaniard after a race Jaubert concluded by pacing the final 35 laps on a bone-dry road – the most anybody had led all day. 

Chadwick too was quick after the race to laud praise on the team, whose call to keep Juncadella on aged wets as rivals reverted to slicks paid dividends when they encountered minimum drive time headaches, stating that “everything has been phenomenal”. “So huge credit to them,” she continued. “Let’s hope we can keep this going into Le Mans and then the rest of the year.” 

Chadwick will make her Le Mans 24 Hours debut in June, as she pushes for a future Hypercar drive

Photo by: Genisis-Magma

Despite it not counting for points towards her ELMS push, Chadwick’s Le Mans debut will be important to further her claim on a Hypercar seat. Not only is it the most high-profile sportscar event of the year, and the most draining, but with Lotterer coming into the line-up to replace Juncadella (who is committed to Corvette), Chadwick and Jaubert will have the chance to learn from a cornerstone of the Gensis programme who was crowned WEC champion with Porsche last season, while giving its bosses a bigger sample of data to work with.

But, so far, Chadwick is doing everything in her power to make her case. Abiteboul may not be the only person she has to impress, but was effusive in his praise post-race. 

“Two wins in two races is a great start for everyone in the Genesis Magma Racing Trajectory programme,” he said. “From the outside, it could look easy, but I promise it has not been the case. In both races, and especially in the 4 Hours of Le Castellet, every strategy decision had to be right, and the drivers had to handle some very difficult conditions on track, which they did really well.  

“Everyone is working perfectly together, and we are achieving the results to show for it.” 

Another piece of history is boxed off. But more pertinently, Chadwick is giving Genesis no reason not to give her a shot at blazing a new trail in 2026. 

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Photo by: Genisis-Magma