Alpine Junior Driver Abbi Pulling extends her championship lead by claiming another F1 Academy victory in the rescheduled Race 1 in Zandvoort.
Pulling lead the race from start to finish after a quick start, holding off her nearest rival Doriane Pin who picked up a five-second time penalty for a false start.
Pin fell out of the podium positions, gifting the place to Nerea Marti who finished ahead of Ferrari Academy Driver Maya Weug.
The race start was aborted yesterday after the formation lap as intense wind and rain reached the circuit, with mechanics flooding the straight to switch the drivers’ tyres.
All the drivers started the formation lap on slick tyres, but the race directors swiftly opted for full wets as the rain increased.
Race 1 was eventually called off and rescheduled to Sunday morning as the track conditions worsened in the heavy rain and wind.
The race was reduced to 13 laps around the sunny circuit, ahead of Race 2 set to start at 9:40 UK time after a short break.
Pulling got off to an excellent start, launching off the line to lead the pack heading into Turn 1 on the opening lap.
Pin briefly lost the second position to Marti after a slow start, but regained the position going into Turn 3 of Lap 1.
Wild Card driver Nina Gademan also made up a place on the opening lap, snatching 5th place from Aurelia Nobels around Turn 6.
A disastrous qualifying session for Bianca Bustamante saw her start in 15th place after crashing into the barriers at Turn 3.
As the drivers’ tyres began to warm up on the dry track, Carrie Schreiner climbed up to 10th place as Jessica Edgar tumbled down to 13th place.
Two drivers were noted for false starts on the opening lap, Doriane Pin and Lola Lovinfosse, while Tina Hausmann was noted for causing an incident.
The Iron Dame clung onto the back of the championship leader’s Rodin car, but Pulling pulled three seconds away from the rest of the pack by Lap 5.
Pin lost out on a potential lead after picking up a five-second penalty for the false start on the opening lap, needing to pick up the pace to gap the field.
Amna Al Qubaisi also received a five-second time penalty for a false start on the opening lap, running in 16th place on Lap 8.
The battle for third ensued on Lap 8 between Marti and Ferrari Academy Driver Weug as their tyres reached prime temperature.
Weug chased Marti down to just a 0.5s gap after her impeccable start, hoping to secure the third spot on the podium.
Meanwhile Pulling pulled 3.6s away from Pin hoping to move five seconds ahead of Marti sitting in third place on Lap 10.
Block looked down the inside of Nobels on Lap 11 but abandoned the move as she fell under pressure from the Red Bull Junior Driver Al Qubaisi.
After a patient wait, Al Qubaisi finally made the move on the Williams Junior Driver around the inside of Turn 1 on Lap 13.
Pulling extended her Championship lead after securing another F1 Academy victory, finishing ahead of Marti who gained the podium spot after Pin’s penalty.
Weug therefore landed the third spot on the podium ahead of Wild Card driver Gademan who becomes the best-placed Wild Card Driver in F1 Academy.
The Iron Dame fell to fifth place after the penalty, sitting ahead of Haas-nominated driver Chambers in sixth who entered Round 6 on equal points.
Nobels found the seventh points-scoring spot, ahead of Hamda Al Qubaisi who snatched the 8th place from Block on the final lap.
Kick Sauber driver Schreiner rounded off the final points-scoring positions after making up a place in the early stages of the race.
The drivers will return to the track in less than two hours for Race 2.
Discussion about this post