Jamie Chadwick has won her third straight W Series title after the final three races of the 2022 season were cancelled.
The all-female race series was due to head to the USA later this month before completing its campaign with a double-header in Mexico. But that will no longer happen, as a result of financial difficulties after an expected source of funding fell through.
W Series bosses have now decided to focus on its long-term future and have decided to curtail the season. That means it will no longer appears as part of the next two Formula 1 race weekends.
It also means runaway leader Jamie Chadwick has now been declared champion. The Brit won the first five races of the season, though her chances of a clean sweep were ended when Alice Powell beat her to the chequered flag in Hungary and Beitske Visser won on the series' first trip to Singapore.
Despite that, Chadwick remains 50 points clear at the top of the standings and was highly likely to become champion anyway. And this was her final season in the series, as she explored other opportunities as part of her plan to make it to F1 in the next "five years".
Announcing the news, W Series chief executive Catherine Bond Muir said: "It's with both great sadness and frustration that we announce that our much-anticipated final three races of the 2022 season in Austin and Mexico City will not go ahead.
"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, 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 would like to thank both Circuit of The Americas and Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez's Grupo CIE for their support as promoters of our events in Austin and Mexico City respectively, and apologise to both them and our fans that we will not be able to go racing there this year.
"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."
She went on to say that there are "positive conversations ongoing" regarding future sources of funding, giving hope that this will not be a fatal blow to W Series. The competition has been praised for giving female drivers a chance to showcase their skills in a more visible format, and giving them a better chance of reaching the upper echelons of the motorsport world.
Responding to the announcement, Chadwick said: "I want to thank W Series for the opportunity they have given me. It's been life changing and I am so grateful to everyone that has been involved and supported me to this point. We all wanted to finish this season on track but I am very proud to be a three-times champion."
