In a landmark moment for women in motorsport, Jamie Chadwick has been appointed as Genesis-Magma Racing’s test and reserve driver for the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship season. In doing so becomes the first woman to ever be part of a Hypercar outfit’s driver lineup, and the first involved in a full-time driving role in the top class since Vanina Ickx, who ran the 2010 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup with Signatech.

It comes off the back of an incredibly impressive debut season in the European Le Mans Series, her first of any kind in prototype racing. Partering Dani Juncadella and Mathys Jaubert, both of whom will be competing with Genesis in WEC next year, the trio took three victories in class and ended up just sixteen points from taking the title. She was then awarded a debut three day test with Korean brand’s GMR-001 alongside her ELMS teammates at Magny-Cours last month.

It’s another huge step for inspiring future generations, but Chadwick isn’t the first woman to have driven a Hypercar. Since becoming the first woman to receive a factory drive in Ferrari’s history, Lilou Wadoux has tested their three-time Le Mans winning 499P prototype on multiple occasions, the first of which was back in 2022.

What’s incredibly is just how much momentum the 27-year old from Bath has gained in the past 12 months. This time last year she was scoring competitive results in the Indy NXT championship, but it must be said she was hardly setting the world alight. Now she’s one of the biggest breakout stars sportscar racing has seen in recent times, and less than 12 months after making her prototype debut will be contracted to a factory team.

The announcement also could well confirm Genesis’s lineup for 2026, with current test drivers Andre Lotterer and Pipo Derani set to take driving duties alongside Juncadella and Jaubert for the 2026 season. While three drivers per car is by far the more popular choice for the works teams in the modern era of endurance racing, success has still been found with duos. Just look back to JOTA’s historic win at Spa last year. With Norman Nato’s Formula E commitments ruling him out of the race, it was the British duo of Callum Ilott and Will Stevens who took advantage of the race extension and claimed victory. In that same season Proton Competition recorded their best finish at despite the absence of Harry Tincknell.

Yet as we’ve seen in the the recent past reserve drivers can find themselves called up to race. Jules Gounon was the recipient of these cirucumstances after Alpine’s Ferdinand Habsburg suffered a huge accident in testing. His performances at Imola and Spa impressed the team enough that he returned later that season for the rounds at Fuji and Bahrain, and when Frederik Makoweicki left for Porsche Gounon got the vacant seat.

There’s also the obvious question of Le Mans. Currently Genesis have four drivers signed up to race in WEC, but will need six on their books but with the demands of the race they’ll need a minimum of six to take on the competition. Should Chadwick gain more seat time and be fit to compete, Genesis would be foolhardy not to include her in one of their cars if it’s compatible with another as-yet-unknown racing programme Chadwick will undertake next year.

With the brand poised to expand into IMSA’s GTP class in 2027, this decision could be seen as their way of preparing Chadwick for a potential stateside seat on a full time basis.

What’s more important to note though is that for the first time in modern racing history, a brand is truly investing in a female talent not as a token measure at all, instead entirely on merit. Yes, Ferrari got there first with Wadoux and they’ve supported her brilliantly through her career thus far in GT racing, but Genesis are the first competing in the top class to invest in female talent on this scale in the modern era.

Make no mistake, motorsport still has a long road ahead of itself when it comes to promoting the many talented women and providing future generations more equal opportunities in it’s male-dominated ecosystem. This however is another necessary milestone and with how positive both parties have been so far on both the testing and the partnership, Jamie Chadwick could well break further barriers and become the first woman to compete in the top class of an FIA World Endurance Championship race next year.

I for one cannot wait to see how this evolves, and am incredibly excited to see yet more history made.

thumbnail credit – Lukas Raich, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons