Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Rodin Motorsport’s Abbi Pulling took two poles and converted it into two wins in F1 Academy’s second round of the season in Miami.
Her title rival Doriane Pin was fastest in the first practice session by 0.07 seconds, but Pulling struck back by 0.2s in FP2 then grew that advantage to 0.574s in qualifying. Her second-best laptime also earned her race two pole by 0.408s over ART Grand Prix’s Bianca Bustamante, with Prema’s Pin 0.535s behind in third.
Pulling was unopposed up front in race one, winning by 5.248s. One of her potential rivals exited contention straight away as Bustamante stalled from fourth on the grid. Weug found herself in a three-car battle for fourth by lap three, as Pin and MP Motorsport’s Hamda Al Qubaisi gapped themselves from her in second and third.
Campos Racing’s Chloe Chambers held back in the battle with her team-mate Nerea Marti and Weug, and it worked out as when an opportunity then presented itself to pass both in one move she took it.
Marti eventually got by Weug too, but then an error dropped her back behind her and ART GP’s Aurelia Nobels who was carrying a 10s penalty for colliding with Pema’s Tina Hausmann.
There were several other penalties handed out during and post-race, which resulted in Chambers finishing third (and 12.81s behind the winner) ahead of Marti, Al Qubaisi and a penalised Weug.
Pulling had to get defensive against Bustamante at the start of race two, but was able to keep her at bay and then take a lights-to-flag win by 3.8s. Pin pressured Bustamante for second but never enough to make a pass possible, while Chambers went from eighth to fourth on lap one and then held that position as she lacked the pace of the podium trio.
Weug and Al Qubaisi finished fifth and sixth, with Marti finishing seventh after Rodin’s Jessica Edgar spun away the position.
Results round-up
Race 1 (13 laps)
1 Abbi Pulling Rodin Motorsport 25m58.659s
2 Doriane Pin Prema +5.248s
3 Chloe Chambers Campos Racing +12.810s
4 Nerea Marti Campos Racing +15.921s
5 Hamda Al Qubaisi MP Motorsport +16.797s
6 Maya Weug Prema +17.918s
7 Jessica Edgar Rodin Motorsport +20.823s
8 Amna Al Qubaisi MP Motorsport +20.935s
9 Bianca Bustamante ART Grand Prix +23.128s
10 Lola Lovinfosse Rodin Motorsport +28.935s
Pole: Pulling, 1m58.507s
Fastest lap: Bustamante, 1m59.322s
Race 2 (13 laps)
1 Pulling 26m00.656s
2 Bustamante +3.801s
3 Pin +4.671s
4 Chambers +9.281s
5 Weug +12.509s
6 H Al Qubaisi +13.929s
7 Marti +20.059s
8 A Al Qubaisi +20.249s
9 Carrie Schreiner Campos Racing +20.943s
10 Emely de Heus MP Motorsport +21.405s
P: Pulling, 1m58.714s
FL: Pulling, 1m59.490s
Championship standings
1 Pulling 99 2 Pin 65 3 Weug 51 4 Chambers 40 5 Bustamante 39 6 Marti 33 7 H Al Qubaisi 30 8 Edgar 18 9 A Al Qubaisi 12 10 Carrie Schreiner 9