It was an incredibly successful weekend for Abbi Pulling in Round 2 of F1 Academy as she stormed to two victories, giving her a comprehensive gap over Doriane Pin in the standings.
The British driver put together an immaculate performance, taking pole position in both qualifying sessions to give her a clear advantage in the races.
Race 1
The Alpine ace controlled the race from the beginning, leaving Pin a second behind by the end of lap one. This set the tone for what would become a flawless weekend for Pulling.
It was a different story for McLaren’s Bianca Bustamante. Starting from fourth should have been a fantastic opportunity for a points haul and potentially a podium, but she stalled on the grid at lights out. The remaining 15 drivers flew past her, sending her to the back of the pack.
Aston Martin star Tina Hausmann had a race to forget. An incident with Aurelia Nobels early in the race ended her session prematurely and forced her to retire. The contact at Turn 12 later resulted in Nobels receiving a 10-second penalty.
Meanwhile, the closest battle on track was for P4 between Maya Weug, Nerea Marti, and home hero Chloe Chambers. As the first two battled over a couple of laps, Chambers bided her time, eventually dispatching both drivers in a perfectly executed move.
Bustamante’s race went from bad to worse. Whilst attempting to move through the field, she pulled off a risky overtake on RB driver Amna Al Qubaisi. She crept ahead, but a five-second penalty for an earlier trip over track limits dropped her back down the order.
Chambers came close to losing sight of the podium when an attempted pass on Hamda Al Qubaisi allowed Weug to sneak back past. However, the Dutch racer overshot the corner, giving Chambers the chance to shoot into the final podium place at her home race.
The top three were Pulling, who won by a mighty 5.2s, followed by Jeddah Race 1 winner Pin, and Chambers.
A final penalty was handed to Weug, dropping her down to P6 behind Marti and Hamda Al Qubaisi.
The final points finishers were Jessica Edgar, Amna Al Qubaisi, Bustamante, and Lola Lovinfosse.
Race 2
Just as in Race 1, Pulling led from start to finish, granting her a haul of 55 points across the weekend.
Bustamante found redemption from her earlier errors. A strong qualifying performance helped her claim P2, her first podium of the season, despite a late battle with Pin.
The McLaren driver challenged Pulling at lights out, but the Brit managed to out-brake her and keep her lead.
Chambers seemed similarly determined after her maiden podium, charging past four drivers in rapid succession to improve from P8 to P4. She dispatched them all with relative ease on the opening lap.
Once again, there was heartbreak for Hausmann as her race ended early for the second day in a row. Lovinfosse was deemed at fault after a lock-up resulted in her running into the back of Hausmann’s Aston Martin. The Swiss driver had to retire due to a detrimental puncture, and Lovinfosse was handed a 10-second penalty for the incident.
Nevertheless, she fought her way through the field, dispatching racers to improve to P8. Once she reached Nobels, they battled for position over a number of corners. At Turn 7, a poorly-timed lunge caused Lovinfosse to lock up and tag Nobels, forcing the latter into a spin. Neither retired from the race, but the French 18-year-old was given her second 10s penalty of the day.
After a frantic 27 laps, Pulling won by a margin of 3.8s over Bustamante and Pin, taking her to 99 points in the standings.
Chambers followed up her impressive Saturday performance with a P4 finish, with Weug, Hamda Al Qubaisi and Marti behind her.
Amna Al Qubaisi, Carrie Schreiner, and Emely De Heus rounded out the top 10 points scorers.
F1 Academy next heads to Europe, joining the F1 circus in Barcelona on 21 June.
Featured Image Credit: Alpine Media