Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Abbi Pulling extended her F1 Academy lead with another victory in the latest round at Barcelona, as Chloe Chambers also claimed a dominant maiden triumph.
The pair shared the front row for both races, with Prema’s Doriane Pin third on the grid. The Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior stalled at the start of race one, rejoining near the back of the field as Campos Racing’s Nerea Marti climbed from fourth to challenge Pulling. Marti was tagged by team-mate Chambers, though both continued.
Prema’s Maya Weug and MP Motorsport’s Amna Al Qubaisi collided on lap one and retired in the gravel, bringing out the safety car, and Weug was later handed a five-place grid penalty for the incident.
Pulling built a 1.2-second lead once racing resumed on lap seven and continued to edge further clear before taking her fourth straight victory by 4.473s. Marti came second to take a podium on home soil, with Chambers a further 0.7s adrift and ART Grand Prix’s Bianca Bustamante close behind.
MP’s Hamda Al Qubaisi was a lonely fifth ahead of Rodin’s Jessica Edgar who ran sixth until the final lap, where she lost out to MP’s Emely de Heus and the recovering Pin who climbed from 12th to seventh following the safety car period.
Chambers made the better start in race two to lead Pulling and Marti, while Bustamante challenged Hamda Al Qubaisi into turn one but missed the corner and rejoined in front of Pin, who bogged down at the start and slipped to sixth. Edgar also went off while overtaking Lia Block for seventh and was soon handed a five-second penalty.
Pulling ran wide and got airborne on a kerb, allowing Chambers to be 0.7s clear by the end of lap one. Chambers continued to pull away as Pulling struggled with her rear tyres, and eventually took victory by a commanding 6.695s.
Pin passed Bustamante early on before joining the three cars ahead battling for second. Marti tried to pass Pulling into turn one but then faded and dropped behind Hamda Al Qubaisi, who closed in on Pulling late on but had to settle for third. A further two seconds adrift, Marti held off Pin for fourth.
Block fought her way past Edgar at the halfway stage and gained another position at the finish from Bustamante, who was relegated to seventh by five-second penalty for jumping the start. Prema’s Tina Hausmann recovered from a slow getaway to take eighth, while Rodin’s Lola Lovinfosse prevailed in a seven-car battle to finish ninth ahead of de Heus.
Results round-up
Race 1 (16 laps)
1 Abbi Pulling Rodin Motorsport
2 Nerea Marti Campos Racing +4.728s
3 Chloe Chambers Campos Racing +5.463s
4 Bianca Bustamante ART Grand Prix +5.861s
5 Hamda Al Qubaisi MP Motorsport +8.255s
6 Emely de Heus MP Motorsport +12.365s
7 Doriane Pin Prema +15.811s
8 Jessica Edgar Rodin Motorsport +16.700s
9 Tina Hausmann Prema +20.357s
10 Lia Block ART Grand Prix +21.195s
Pole: Pulling, 1m41.396s
Fastest lap: Pulling, 1m42.282s
Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Chambers
2 Pulling +6.695s
3 H Al Qubaisi +7.017s
4 Marti +9.362s
5 Pin +9.806s
6 Block +15.422s
7 Bustamante +15.460s
8 Hausmann +22.013s
9 Lola Lovinfosse Rodin Motorsport +25.025s
10 De Heus +25.803s
Pole: Pulling, 1m41.544s
Fastest lap: Chambers, 1m42.942s
Championship standings
1 Pulling 147 2 Pin 81 3 Chambers 81 4 Marti 63 5 Bustamante 57 6 H Al Qubaisi 55 7 Weug 51 8 Edgar 22 9 Hausmann 14 10 A Al Qubaisi 12