Felbermayr triumphs in thrilling F1 Academy final-lap showdown

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Rodin Motorsport’s Emma Felbermayr came out on top of a final-lap restart in F1 Academy’s second Montreal race.

There was pre-race drama, as she was disqualified from third in race one for having an underweight car, Campos Racing’s Alisha Palmowski got a 10-second penalty for colliding with Chloe Chambers and her other Campos Racing team-mate Rafaela Ferreira got a five-place grid penalty.

Rodin Motorsport’s Chloe Chong started race two on reversed-grid pole, ahead of Nina Gademan (Prema), Felbermayr, Tina Haussman (Prema), Ella Lloyd (Rodin), Doriane Pin (Prema), Palmowski and Chambers.

Lloyd made a great launch to jump into third, and Gademan was straight onto Chong’s rear. She took the lead on the inside of turn six, and Lloyd overtook Chong at turn seven.

Felbermayr almost forced Pin off at turn two and on the run to the turns eight/nine chicane, where Chong fell down the order after visiting the grass.

Lloyd slowed as lap two began and dropped to third, which grew Gademan’s lead gap. Chambers tried going side-by-side with Pin for fourth before the final chicane, and as they began lap three she hit Pin’s rear-right wheel.

It did not hamper Pin, who tried passing Lloyd around the outside of the hairpin. As they began lap five she came to blows with Chambers again, as she put a wheel on the grass then did not have enough grip to make turn one after touching Pin. She spun down to 14th, and as in race one set fastest lap after fastest lap in a recovery drive.

On lap seven, Larsen dived down the inside of Palmowski at turn six and Pin tried going around the outside of Lloyd into the final chicane but both locked up and went off. Pin rejoined ahead, and into the hairpin on lap eight had a big lock-up but still kept Lloyd at bay.

Prema told her to hand the position back, and Pin did so on lap nine. Larsen looked to benefit, but her lunge at the hairpin led to contact a black-and-white flag for causing a collision and gave Lloyd breathing room.

ART Grand Prix’s Aurelia Nobels and MP Motorsport’s Maya Weug were chasing their battle. Weug made a diving pass on Nobels at the hairpin on lap 10, then they clashed at and cut the final chicane. Nobels rejoined ahead, but both were overtaken by ART GP’s Lia Block. Chambers was now behind them, and took 10th when Nobels pitted.

Further up the road, Pin repeated her off-track overtake of Lloyd on lap 12 and it bunched the field up again. At the same time, Gademan’s lead was shrinking.

Pin was instructed to drop behind Lloyd, and after that occurred Larsen again tried diving past at the hairpin. It did not work, but she did get past at the final final chicane before the safety car appeared due to Nicola Havrda crashing into Hitech GP team-mate Aiva Anagnostiadis at the hairpin.

Racing resumed on the final lap, and Gademan returned to racing speeds early. Felbermayr dived down her inside at turn eight to snatch the lead, Gademan looked to reclaim it on the outside at the hairpin, but Lloyd got on her inside and demoted her to third as Pin got back past Larsen.

Felbermayr cut the final corner, but race control deemed no advantage was gained and she held off a train to win.

Race results (17 laps)