Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Rodin Motorsports’ Abbi Pulling topped a wet F1 Academy qualifying session at Zandvoort, as the conditions caught out many of her fellow competitors.
The Alpine junior set her best time in the first half of the 30-minute session, before Bianca Bustamente brought out a red flag. While Pulling was unable to improve as the track began to dry, she still held on from Mercedes-AMG junior Doriane Pin, with Nerea Marti in third.
Pulling was the first driver to set a sub-1m48s lap, putting her almost a second clear of Prema’s Maya Weug in second.
ART Grand Prix’s Bustamente had a couple of wild moments, coming close to hitting the wall at the banked Hugenholtzbocht early in the session. Amna Al Qubaisi and Chloe Chambers were also caught out by the same corner, both spinning but rejoining without contact.
ART GP’s Lia Block moved up to third with a 1m48.193s as Pulling went faster still just before the halfway point of the session, extending her gap over Weug to 1.215s. Block was looking impressive on the wet track, immediately improving to go second with an improvement next time around.
Prema’s Doriane Pin moved up to third, although still over a second slower than Pulling.
Pulling was still pushing on, running off under braking at T11, with Block mirroring the off-track moment, as Bustamente had another spin on the run from Turn two.
With the rain having eased off, the drivers pitted before looking to improve in the final 10 minutes.
Wildcard driver Nina Gademan jumped up to an impressive second, although Pin immediately demoted her to third.
However, there were no further changes before another off from Bustamente at turn three, this time running straight on and making hefty contact with the wall, brought out the red flag with six-and-a-half minutes on the clock. With her right-front suspension damaged, the apologetic McLaren junior would take no further part in the session.
When qualifying resumed, all the remaining drivers were out on track straight away as the track dried, with Pulling backing off to make space for a late run. Block showed that the conditions were still tricky as she took to the escape road at Tarzan.
Nobels was the first of the leading runners to find extra pace, jumping to second with a 1m47.219s lap, before being deposed again by Pin, with Weug moving up to fourth.
Despite these late improvements, Pulling retained top spot despite not being able to go faster in the latter stages. Pin however beat Pulling to race two pole, her second-best time being 0.011s faster.
Hamda Al Qubaisi, who finished the session in ninth, will be investigated for a red flag infringement.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Abbi Pulling Rodin 1m46.746s
2 Doriane Pin Prema +0.120s
3 Nerea Marti Campos Racing +0.424s
4 Maya Weug Prema +0.467s
5 Aurelia Nobels ART Grand Prix +0.473s
6 Nina Gademan Prema +0.809s
7 Chloe Chambers Campos Racing +0.920s
8 Lia Block ART Grand Prix +0.939s
9 Hamda Al Qubaisi MP Motorsport +1.093s
10 Jessica Edgar Rodin +1.122s
Race 2 grid
1 Pin 1m46.986s
2 Pulling +0.011s
3 Weug +0.406s
4 Nobels +0.454s
5 Marti +0.566s
6 Gademan +0.613s
7 Block +0.784s
8 H Al Qubaisi +0.897s
9 Carrie Schreiner Campos Racing +0.942s
10 Tina Hausmann Prema +0.990s