Jade Edwards – the up-and-coming racing driver sponsored by bluedog Security Monitoring – has become the first woman in 13 years to compete in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), one of the world’s most popular racing series.
Jade, 30, has been racing since 2006 and for the past three years competed in a supporting event, the Renault UK Clio Cup, finishing 7th overall last year. She was also the first female driver to take an outright win in an Aston Martin GT racer.
She now hopes to use her appearance at Silverstone later this month to launch her career on the BTCC circuit and continue the family racing tradition. Her father, Jim Edwards Jr, is a former BTCC race winner while her grandfather, Jim Edwards Sr, won the Renault UK 5 TS Championship.
A qualified racing driver coach, Jade previously trained Johnny Vegas on the ITV show DRIVE and has also appeared on ITV’s Loose Women.
The 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship will take place on 26 and 27 September and will be shown live on ITV4. Jade will be competing in rounds 16, 17 & 18 and driving a Vauxhall Astra as part of the Power Maxed Racing team. It will be 375 races since the last woman, Fiona Leggett, competed in the BTCC.
Jade said: “Racing in the BTCC is a childhood dream for me. Since I was a kid I’ve been around the track, either watching or competing myself. For the first time I’ll be racing in the main event. It’s something I’ll never forget!”
bluedog’s co-founder Paul Lomax is a fellow racing driver and a former team mate of Jade’s father Jim. Paul said: “Jade is a very talented racing driver and comes from a family of championship winners. We’ve followed her progress from the start. It is great to see her keeping up the tradition, and also to see more women in competitions at this level. This is a great opportunity for her to build her career and encourage more women to enter the sport.”
