Alpine Academy driver Abbi Pulling (Rodin Carlin) claimed her seventh F1 Academy podium in the series finale at Circuit of the Americas last weekend. Rounding out the inaugural season of the all-female series, Abbi secured a top five championship finish in a season of highs and lows for the British driver.

 


Starting the weekend off strong, Abbi finished Qualifying 1 in second to set herself up for a front row start in Saturday’s Race 1 and a seventh place start in the afternoon’s reverse grid Race 2. In Qualifying 2 Abbi finished in fifth, less than four tenths off Jessica Edgar in first, securing herself a top five start in Sunday’s Race 3.

 

 

On Saturday Abbi kept the pressure on Championship leader Marta Garcia in Race 1. Keeping herself within one-second of the Spaniard for the entire race Abbi ultimately finished in second place to claim her seventh podium of the season.

 

 

Lining up seventh on the reverse grid in Race 2 Abbi was forced to take evasive action at the start to avoid Bianca Bustamante who stalled two places ahead of the British driver on the grid. Demonstrating her race craft, Abbi completed a series of overtakes to make up four places throughout the race. Crossing the chequered flag in fourth she took the extra point for Fastest Lap.

 

 

In Sunday’s Race 3 Abbi suffered a slow start, moving down a place to sixth where she remained until the chequered flag. Abbi closed out the weekend with a hattrick of point scoring positions across all three races, finishing the season fifth in the championship with 177 points, just four points off Nerea Martí in fourth.

 

 

Abbi Pulling, Rodin Carlin: “Austin was a fun but tough weekend. We started off in Free Practice struggling with how the car was taking all the bumps on track but, with a setup change going into Qualifying the car felt great and we managed to pick up second in Qualifying 1. Unfortunately, as the track evolved throughout the day I didn’t quite adapt enough and was only able to come away with fifth in Qualifying 2. Securing a spot on the second step of the podium in Race 1 and fourth in the reverse grid Race 2 was great and we showed great pace in getting the fastest lap as well. It was great to be able to race on the Formula 1 support bill for the first time this season, nothing compares to racing with the atmosphere of an F1 weekend. Thanks to Alpine Academy and Rodin Carlin for their support throughout the season.”