Payton Westcott stormed ahead to take her maiden victory at the reverse-grid race at the F1 Academy Dutch GP.
For the last time at Zandvoort, Megan Bruce originally qualified for the position of pole-sitter for the reverse-grid race. Notably, Wild Card Zoe Florescu finished her first qualifying session in seventh.
However, post-qualifying, penalties were handed out, shuffling the grid. Instead, it was Payton Westcott who lined up on pole, being joined by Bruce on the front row.
Florescu was disqualified from qualifying after breaching the Technical Regulations. Her engine oil did not comply with the regulations. Therefore, she had to start the race from the last row.
The qualifying session was hectic, with drivers having to stick with the wet-weather tyres for the first part of the session until the track conditions changed. With 17 laps to go, the 18 drivers were ready to take on Zandvoort.
Solid starts and early Safety Car
Westcott had a good launch off the line from pole position. Last year’s winner, Nina Gademan, attempted to go down the inside of Bruce, while Bruce defended hard. The yellow flags were out as further back, Alisha Palmowski stalled twice trying to get away from her grid box.
A safety car was out on Lap 2 as Natalia Granada went into the wall at Turn 3 after big oversteer. The top three shifted, with Westcott still on top, but Gademan and Rachel Robertson close behind. As the Safety Car brought the pack closer together, the pressure was on.
Felbermayr went down the inside of Bruce as Alba Larsen took the opportunity to also pass Bruce at the same moment. The Ferrari-backed driver already looked strong and in contention for a podium.
Meanwhile, Bruce dropped down to seventh as Esmee Kosterman found her way through. Felbermayr attempted a bold move on the outside of Robertson for third. But with Larsen close behind, the Audi driver had to defend while simultaneously trying to overtake.
Larsen pushed her way through ahead of Felbermayr on Lap 6. The young driver had shown impressive pace and determination this weekend.
Further back, the battle between Bruce and Ella Lloyd heated up. The McLaren driver was all over the back of Bruce, trying to find a way through to seventh place.
Ten laps to go
The gaps between the fields were narrow with ten laps to go. The 17 drivers left scrambled to get into the top eight to secure points. Meanwhile, Larsen roared further ahead in the front, going ahead of Robertson and taking third from the Puma driver.
Soon after, Felbermayer and Robertson were wheel-to-wheel. Both drivers were desperate to move further up the pack.
Meanwhile, the Ferrari driver’s pace appeared strong as she stormed closer to Gademan in second. The fight was about to hit its boiling point when drama behind continued. Lap 9 brought out the yellow flags and then the second Safety Car as Jade Jacquet tumbled down the order.
The two ART teammates found themselves closer together than they wanted. Further ahead, Rafaela Ferreira suffered a lock-up while Felbermayr and Robertson continued their fight.
With only six laps to go, the Safety Car ended. Lap 11 saw a great restart from Westcott, as Larsen locked up but still managed to overtake Gademan for second.
Contact between Felbermeyr and Robertson almost ended in the gravel after a bump into Robertson’s rear tyre. The battle was on in the middle of the pack as several of the drivers continued to go wheel-to-wheel.
Westcott was under pressure from Larsen behind. The Ferrari driver was 0.4 seconds behind, fighting hard to get close enough for the overtake. With only two laps to go, the battle for the podium was still not over. Up ahead, the top three were close, all hungry for the victory.
Last moments to fight
As they neared the end, Palmowski reported that something felt wrong over the radio. The championship leader was only 13th and did not look as competitive as normal.
Penalties shifted the field on the last lap as Felbermayr was hit with a 5-second penalty. And with that, she was out of the points.
Lloyd went toe to toe with Robertson, hungry for a strong finish as she went around the Puma driver for fifth place.
Westcott brilliantly kept ahead of the field to take the victory. The Mercedes driver took her maiden win and her first top-two finish. Meanwhile, Larsen also achieved her best finish, taking second place. Gademan once again ended up on the podium steps with a P3 finish on home soil.
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