Spanish Grand Prix: F1 Academy Race 2 Results

The final race of F1 Academy around Barcelona saw a fight for the podium positions with a change of the lead and a new race winner.

Round 3 of F1 Academy saw Abbi Pulling continue her dominance from Miami as the British driver took double pole position in Friday’s Qualifying. For Race 1, Chloe Chambers joined Pulling on the front row whilst Doriane Pin was behind Nerea Martí in P4. With an early Safety Car, Race 1 saw a lights-to-flag victory for Pulling.

After Race 1, Martí, Weug and Bustamante were all equal on 51 points in the Standings. However, for Weug, the race unfortunately resulted in a five-place grid penalty for her due to the collision with Amna Al Qubaisi. Therefore, the grid for Race 2 today looked slightly different with Weug now starting at the back of the pack.

The rest was as follows:

Here is how the grid looks for Race Two ?

Sponsored by @AmericanExpress #F1Academy #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/nZ9rNYHNrj

— F1 Academy (@f1academy) June 22, 2024

But it was Chloe Chambers who took victory around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, achieving her maiden win in the championship. Let’s get into what happened for them to secure the win.

Lights Out

When the green flag was waved, it was Chloe Chambers who had a stronger start, getting ahead of Pulling. With Chambers taking the lead, Bustamante and Jessica Edgar were forced to use the escape run off.

Pulling was right on the back of Chambers, but her title rival, Pin, fell back through the order. Of course, yesterday, Pin stalled off the line and had to work her way through the field, and today, the start proved to be challenging once again.

Lia Block and Tina Hausmann were the two other drivers to have fallen back a couple of positions on lap one. After the first lap, it was Chambers leading the race and the American driver had begun to create a gap to Pulling behind.

Further back, on lap 3, Carrie Schreiner had Emely de Heus in her sights. But from Block in P8 to Weug in 15th, each driver was within one second of the one in front.

Edgar, who was in seventh, was noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage; the British driver was given a five-second penalty as result. Bustamante was also noted by Race Control but for a false start.

Bianca Bustamante recieves a 5 second time penalty for a false start. #F1Academy #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/eq7n8c9K3O

— F1 Academy (@f1academy) June 23, 2024

Pin, who was in sixth on lap six, attempted to overtake Bustamante, but couldn’t make it stick on her initial attempts. PREMA Racing then came over the radio to tell Pin that Bustamante may get a time penalty, which was the followed by the notification from Race Control.

Bustamante received a five-second penalty, keeping Pin behind her until lap seven. Pin made her move into Turn 7 to get into fifth. Meanwhile, Block overtook Edgar.

Fight for the podium

In F1 Academy, the 15 drivers don’t have to do a mandatory pitstop in the races. However, as they reached lap eight, it was clear that some drivers were struggling with the tyre life, including Pulling.

The Alpine-backed driver couldn’t seem to get close enough to Chambers to challenge for the race lead. Chambers created a 3.5 second gap to Pulling, who had Martí on her rear.

It was a train of four cars from P2 to P5 as Martí challenged Pulling for the second podium position and H.Al Qubaisi and Pin joined the fight. Pulling was forced to defend against the Spaniard, who was herself defending against the Red Bull-backed driver.

Pulling managed to stabilise as Martí came under more pressure from H.Al Qubaisi. Meanwhile, Chamber’s gap increased to 6.8 seconds. H.Al Qubaisi challenged Martí on the run down to Turn 1 and got the move done, taking P2.

Hamda Al Qubaisi is in podium contention! A textbook wheel to wheel pass to take P3#F1Academy #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/DhkEUB2QlO

— F1 Academy (@f1academy) June 23, 2024

Next up, Pin attempted to overtake Martí in a bid to make up the positions she lost at the start. However, with H.Al Qubaisi now in P3 and ahead of Martí, the pressure was on again for Pulling.

Final two laps

Further back, Lovinfosse challenged Edgar, getting ahead of the American Express-backed driver. Lovinfosse was then leading a train of seven cars. At the back of the pack, Weug and Aurelia Nobels made slight contact with Weug getting back ahead of the PUMA-backed driver, having lost the position a couple of laps ago.

Results

Chambers took her maiden F1 Academy victory today around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with a 6.695 second gap to Pulling in P2.

1 – Chloe Chambers

2 – Abbi Pulling

3 – Hamda Al Qubaisi

4 – Nerea Martí

5 – Doriane Pin

6 – Lia Block

7 – Bianca Bustamante

8 – TIna Hausmann

9 – Lola Lovinfosse

10 – Emely de Heus

11 – Carrie Schreiner

12 – Amna Al Qubaisi

13 – Maya Weug

14 – Aurelia Nobels

15 – Jessica Edgar

F1 Academy returns in August for Round 4 at Zandvoort.

Headline Image: X @F1Academy