Assen W Series: Gilkes wins reverse-grid race by 0.003s

The one-off experimental race was run with a reverse grid based on the championship standings, with Gilkes starting from pole ahead of reserve driver Sarah Bovy.

Canadian driver Gilkes led the race from the start, but by the final lap of the 30-minute sprint race was under pressure in an eight-car battle for the lead.

The 17-year-old crossed the finish line side-by-side with Saturday podium finisher Powell, who had started the race from 17th place but had climbed to sixth by the end of the first two laps.

Next in the eight-car battle and completing the podium positions was Sabre Cook. 

Cook had managed to just fend off the attack of the Saturday race winner Emma Kimilainen, who had cut through the field from 15th on the grid to finish fourth.

Jessica Hawkins was fifth, having also challenged Gilkes for the lead for a time only to lose out at a restart after a safety car period, caused when Gosia Rdest spun into the gravel along with Fabienne Wohlwend.

Rdest had been pitched into the gravel by contact with Bovy, who had maintained her second place for much of the race, but began to slip back through the order after an attempted battle with Gilkes for the lead meant she ran wide off-track.

Tasmin Pepper was sixth, ahead of Naomi Schiff and points leader Jamie Chadwick who was the last in that lead battle despite having started from the very rear of the field. Vicky Piria and Sarah Moore completed the top 10.

Chadwick’s only remaining championship rival Beitske Visser had been the higher placed driver of the pair for the early stages of the race, having climbed to 14th from 19th on the first lap alone - but ultimately did not make it any further forward.

Shea Holbrook was the only other retirement besides Rdest, also spinning into the gravel and causing the first of the safety car periods around the midway point of the race.

Race results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Laps	Gap
1	49	Megan Gilkes	18
2	27	Alice Powell	18	0.003
3	37	Sabre Cook	18	0.347
4	7	Emma Kimilainen	18	0.537
5	21	Jessica Hawkins	18	0.715
6	31	Tasmin Pepper	18	1.817
7	99	Naomi Schiff	18	1.966
8	55	Jamie Chadwick	18	2.324
9	11	Vicky Piria	18	2.704
10	26	Sarah Moore	18	3.101
11	58	Sarah Bovy	18	5.241
12	20	Caitlin Wood	18	5.510
13	19	Marta Garcia	18	5.695
14	95	Beitske Visser	18	6.085
15	85	Miki Koyama	18	6.530
16	2	Esmee Hawkey	18	6.879
17	77	Vivien Keszthelyi	18	8.051
18	5	Fabienne Wohlwend	18	8.168
19	3	Gosia Rdest	11
20	67	Shea Holbrook	8
View full results