Chambers wins incident-filled F1 Academy race three in Montreal

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Chloe Chambers won lights-to-flag in F1 Academy’s race three in Montreal, which was disrupted by three safety car periods.

The Campos Racing driver converted pole into the lead when the lights went out, while her team-mate Alisha Palmowski faced a challenge for second from Rodin Motorsport’s Ella Lloyd. The pair touched wheels on the run to turn three, with Palmowski spinning down the order and then pitting with front wing damage.

Following close behind when the incident occurred, Prema’s points leader Doriane Pin was unable to avoid Palmowski’s machine. She did not sustain damage, but did lose two places to her team-mates Tina Hausmann and Nina Gademan. Lloyd, meanwhile, continued in second behind Chambers.

There was a separate incident a few corners later, with wildcard entrant Mathilda Paatz losing control before being collected by Hitech GP team-mate Aiva Anagnostiadis, resulting in both retiring. The incident brought out the safety car before lap one was completed.

It was not until lap eight of 17 that racing resumed, and Chambers controlled the restart to remain ahead of Lloyd, while Pin swiftly dispatched Gademan and Hausmann for third.

A mistake from Gademan exiting turn nine allowed Rodin’s Emma Felbermayr to draw alongside, but the pair collided into the hairpin. Felbermayr was sent spinning around, and MP Motorsport’s Alba Hurup Larsen had to drive off track to avoid her.

Meanwhile, Lloyd closed onto the tail of Chambers for the lead. Chambers was forced to go defensive into turn three but remained ahead of her pursuer. Their squabble was soon halted by the safety car returning to track – due to ART Grand Prix’s Lia Block rear-ending Campos’s Rafaela Ferreira under braking for turn eight.

Block retired on the spot with front-left damage while Ferreira spun and was then struck by Block’s team-mate Aurelia Nobels who soon retired in the pitlane.

The track returned to green with five laps to go, but it was not long before the race was neutralised once more. Felbermayr slammed into the back of ART GP’s Courtney Crone approaching turn eight, and the latter went no further.

The race finished behind the safety car, with Chambers taking her first win of the season. Lloyd scored her third podium of the weekend in second, and Pin added to her championship lead in third.

MP’s pre-event points leader Maya Weug recovered from 15th on the grid and survived late contact to finish sixth behind Hausmann and Rodin’s Chloe Chong, the latter making up three places to fifth.

Palmowski fought back to seventh ahead of Larsen, MP’s Joanne Ciconte and Felbermayr.

Race results (15 laps)