Following late stewards' decisions, Marta Garcia loses her Race 1 podium, promoting Beitske Visser to third place. Chloe Chambers loses her first points and Wohlwend gets demoted to 10th on the grid for Sunday's race.
Marta Garcia has been deemed at fault for yesterday’s last lap incident with Emma Kimilainen, which ultimately eliminated the Finnish driver from the first race of the weekend. Garcia had crossed the line in second place, claiming her fourth podium in W Series.
Kimilainen went deep into Turn 1 after an engine issue put her on the back foot at the last Safety Car restart, which allowed Jamie Chadwick to gain the lead and Garcia to move into second place. At the last corner, Kimilainen went for a move around the outside, but the two made contact that damaged the bright yellow Puma car.
With a brilliant race, American Chloe Chambers had secured seventh place and scored her first points. Unfortunately, both Chambers and Abbie Eaton received a 30 second time penalty for being out of position at the Safety Car line at the restart.
The penalty puts Chambers into P14, while Eaton had already retired due to the accident with Fabienne Wohlwend.
Wohlwend started in fifth position and, after a great getaway, she held on to fifth until she visibly struggled to keep up the pace. The driver from Liechtenstein went deep into Turn 1, lost positions and in rejoining, she hit the Scuderia W car of Eaton.
The stewards handed a five place grid drop to Wohlwend, who will thus start from 10th on the grid of Race 2.
As a result of these decisions, Jessica Hawkins moves into second place and Visser gets her fifth podium – and the first since 2019. Despite a difficult qualifying, Abbi Pulling manages to finish fourth, with Bruna Tomaselli equalling her best result in the series with fifth.
Nerea Marti and Belén Garcia – who had stalled on the grid at lights out due to clutch issues – recovers to sixth and seventh, while Sarah Moore scores 4 points with eighth.
Bianca Bustamante becomes the highest finishing rookie in ninth, also scoring her first points. With tenth, also Emely De Heus scores at debut.
Marta Garcia is now classified in 11th position, ahead of Juju Noda, Tereza Babickova and Chloe Chambers. Kimilainen, Wohlwend, Eaton and Powell were out of the race.
Race winner Jamie Chadwick will start from pole position in an hour-time, lining up alongside Nerea Marti, while the second row remains unchanged.
The second race at Miami International Autodrome will go green at 10:35 local time, 16:35 CET.