Alpine junior driver Abbi Pulling took her fourth consecutive F1 Academy win by dominating the first race of the weekend in Barcelona.
Once again, Pulling led every lap from pole position to win ahead of Nerea Marti, with Haas-supported driver Chloe Chambers taking the final place on the rostrum.Pulling successfully led into turn one, holding off a speculative challenge from Marti who was lightly clipped by Chambers at the first corner. The Safety Car was deployed before the end of the opening lap after Maya Weug and Amna Al Qubaisi ended up in the gravel at the exit of turn five following contact with Lola Lovinfosse.
After several laps behind the Safety Car, Pulling retained her lead at the restart from Marti and Chambers. Mercedes-supported driver Doriane Pin, who fell down the field after a poor getaway at the start, began to make progress, eventually passing Tina Hausmann to climb up to eighth.
Marti could not match the leader’s pace and Pulling remained focused out front to check off the remaining laps and win by just under five seconds from Marti, with Chambers less than a second further back in third. McLaren junior driver Bianca Bustamante took fourth ahead of Red Bull-supported driver Hamda Al Qubaisi.
Jessica Edgar had finished sixth on the road but was hit with a five-second post-race time penalty for a false start, which promoted Emely de Heus and Pin up one place each, with Edgar finishing in eighth. Hausmann and Lia Block completed the points positions.
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F1 Academy Spain race one results
| Position | Car | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | Abbi Pulling | Rodin |
| 2 | 30 | Nerea Marti | Campos |
| 3 | 14 | Chloe Chambers | Campos |
| 4 | 16 | Bianca Bustamante | ART |
| 5 | 8 | Hamda Al Qubaisi | MP |
| 6 | 7 | Emely De Heus | MP |
| 7 | 28 | Doriane Pin | Prema |
| 8 | 17 | Jessica Edgar | Rodin |
| 9 | 19 | Tina Hausmann | Prema |
| 10 | 57 | Lia Block | ART |
| 11 | 3 | Lola Lovinfosse | Rodin |
| 12 | 15 | Courtney Crone | Prema |
| 13 | 22 | Aurelia Nobels | ART |
| DNF | 88 | Jessica Edgar | Rodin |
| DNF | 64 | Maya Weug | Prema |
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F1 Academy
- Weug finally claims first victory in frantic F1 Academy season finale
- Pulling claims ninth win of season after another mistake by Chambers
- Champion Pulling takes eighth win after Chambers throws away lead
- F1 Academy’s extra Yas Marina race technically reopens title fight
- Damaged barrier forces cancellation of second F1 Academy race at Losail
John Beak (@johnbeak)
22nd June 2024, 21:38
Pulling away in the lead.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
23rd June 2024, 2:37
She may not have mathematically tied up the championship yet, but it would take either a significant downturn in form or some equally dominating results from another contender (or a bit of both I suppose) to stand in her way.
With only one non win (a 2nd), Pin is closest to her in the Championship and has had a 7th and 9th placed finish. In fact the remaining podium places have generally been shared by 5 drivers in the championship so they are of course diluting the chances of any one of them mounting a challenge.