Mercedes’ Doriane Pin led from pole position to take victory in Race 1 in Qatar as Abbi Pulling finished second to become the F1 Academy World Champion.
Pin got a great start to hold onto the lead as Pulling swooped past Maya Weug to take that all-important second place.
Weug ended in third as the 21-year-old British driver became the first champion after the inaugural season of the series back in 2023.
On her way to winning the title, Pulling achieved seven wins, three second-place finishes and a third-place finish from the 11 races.
Pulling crowned World Champion in Qatar
On Lap 1 of 14, Pulling managed to get past Weug on the opening lap, boosting her chances of becoming the F1 Academy champion.
At the end of the first lap, Pin managed to build a lead over one second to her championship rival Pulling, giving the Mercedes driver a fighting chance.
Elsewhere down the order, Red Bull’s Hamda Al Qubaisi jumped up to fourth ahead of Lia Block who fell down the order to sixth.
Wild Card Alisha Palmowski climbed a place up to fifth in her first-ever F1 Academy race.
By Lap 6, Pin had stretched her lead over Pulling to over two seconds after setting the fastest lap of the race.
On Lap 8, the gap between Weug and Pulling had gone over four seconds, as it was looking more than likely the Ferrari driver would have to settle for a podium finish after starting on the front row.
By Lap 9, Pin had also extended her lead once again to over three seconds as she looked set for victory in Race 1.
However, with Pulling in second place, the Alpine driver was on course to win the title barring any late dramas.
As the race entered the final few laps, Pin could only extend her lead as Pulling’s race engineer calmly told her to bring the car home over the radio.
Bianca Bustamante lost the car between Turn 4 and Turn 5 on Lap 12, spinning around off the track before she got going again.
Pin took the chequered flag first but it was Pulling who crossed the line as the new F1 Academy champion, screaming over the radio in pure joy.
Weug rounded off the podium places ahead of Al Qubaisi in fourth and debutant Palmowski in fifth.
Block took sixth place, Jessica Edgar in seventh and Nerea Marti in eighth.
Finally, Aurelia Nobels finished in ninth and Emely De Heus rounded off the point-scorers in Race 1.
READ MORE: Mercedes’ Doriane Pin takes double F1 Academy pole in Qatar
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