Chipping Norton’s Alice Powell completed her first season in the Michelin Formula Renault UK Championships in 18th place out of 32 competitors – and immediately set her sights on a successful 2010.
The 16-year-old produced some outstanding results as the only female and youngest driver in the championship this season.
She had two top-ten finishes and two driver-of-the-day awards in the 150mph single-seater race series, which provides a stepping stone to Formula 1.
Powell said: “The plan for this season was always to learn the circuits and prepare for a title challenge in 2010.”
Powell was cheered on by Divina Galicia, one of the first women to compete in Formula 1 in the 1970s.
Galicia will follow Powell’s progress in her debut season for BBC current affairs programme Inside Out to be broadcast later this year.
Sophie Bennett, 17, is in action at Silverstone on Sunday in the Oxford Autodrive.
Bennett, from Oxford, gets the chance after winning a year’s free competition in grass roots motorsport.
She will be in a Nissan Micra lent to her by Humphris of Oxford.
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