The recently re-crowned F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling took victory in Race 1 at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
Alpine’s Pulling enjoyed a cool and calm race to win by over four seconds over a hard-battling Hamda Al Qubaisi and Doriane Pin.
A peculiar situation occurred in Abu Dhabi with the addition of a third race to make up for the cancelled Race 2 last time out in Qatar.
That opened up an extra two points for a third pole position and one more for the fastest lap in Race 3, which briefly stripped Pulling of her title.
Pulling’s crown was reinstated as she took pole for all three races in Abu Dhabi.
Haas’ Chloe Chambers lined up alongside the Alpine driver at lights out and swept into the lead at lights out with Red Bull’s H. Al Qubaisi chasing the duo.
Red Bull Ford’s Emely De Heus and Mercedes’ Pin followed in fourth and fifth.
Pulling took the lead as Chambers span out of contention at Turn 9, losing the rear of her Haas-liveried machine.
Meanwhile, as Al Qubaisi took second, De Heus passed Pin to take third.
By Lap 3, Pin passed De Heus into Turn 6 to take third and the Dutch driver was soon under pressure from McLaren’s Bianca Bustamante.
As the laps ticked by, Pulling held a 1.5s lead over H. Al Qubaisi, who in turn left Pin by just under two seconds.
By Lap 7, Pulling’s lead was up to two seconds as Pin began to close in on second place.
Setting a set of fastest laps, Pin closed to within a second of H. Al Qubaisi in the fight for the best of the rest behind Pulling.
With five laps remaining, the gap between second and third went under a second and then by Lap 11, the two cars were nose to tail and nearly side by side through Turn 9.
Meanwhile, a race-long battle between Tommy Hilfiger’s Nerea Marti and Ferrari’s Maya Weug for sixth had become a four-car tussle by Lap 13 with RB’s Amna Al Qubaisi and Sauber’s Carrier Schreiner brought into the action.
As the chequered flag came down on Pulling, the British driver had a 4.4s gap behind her to H. Al Qubaisi who was able to hold onto second over Pin.
Pulling’s victory was her eighth of the season, making her the winningest driver in F1 Academy’s short history.
De Heus had her best result of the year in fourth ahead of Bustmante.
Marti won her battle for sixth over Weug, A. Al Quabaisi and Schreiner with Puma’s Aurelia Nobels completing the top-10.
READ MORE – Abu Dhabi pole reinstates Abbi Pulling as F1 Academy Champion
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