Abbi Pulling claimed pole position for all three races in the final round at Abu Dhabi as she claimed back her 2024 F1 Academy world title.
Pulling had won the championship last time out in Qatar, but after Race 2 was cancelled due to barrier repairs and moved to Abu Dhabi as a third race, it meant an extra two points were made available in Abu Dhabi.
As a result, Doriane Pin still technically had a shot at the title with 84 points available from this weekend and Pulling’s lead standing at just 83 points – as she only needed just one point to become champion again.
Pulling did just by taking pole position for each race and securing the 2024 title in the final round.
With three races in Abu Dhabi, the fastest times of all of the drivers will set the grid for Race 1, the second fastest for Race 2 and the third fastest for Race 3.
Chloe Chambers finished second in the session ahead of Hamda Al Qubaisi.
Pulling crowned F1 Academy World Champion again
Bianca Bustamante for McLaren showed early signs of electric pace, topping the timing sheets with a 1:56.894s, more than eight-tenths quicker than Lia Block in the other ART car.
Red Bull’s Al Qubaisi soon split the top two to go second before Pulling eventually grabbed second with a time of 1:57.379s.
Pulling was still four-tenths back from Bustamante before Chambers for Haas improved to go second, a tenth off the Filipina racing driver.
The Alpine-backed driver eventually found the pace to set the fastest lap but Chambers went even quicker by 0.026s to snatch first place.
Pulling hit back with a lap time of 1:56.340s with the pair trading fastest lap times.
Pin had been in the pits for the opening half of the Qualifying session before she left the Prema Racing garage to take to the track.
Simarlily Ferrari-backed Maya Weug also waited until 15 minutes had gone before setting a competitive lap time.
Puma-backed Aurelia Nobels improved to go first but replays showed she cut the chicane at Turn 6 so her lap time was deleted by race control.
Bustamante improved to go third, narrowly off Pulling’s time by 0.088s.
Pin initially went second but her lap time was deleted, as her only legal lap time was only good enough for 14th.
Her race engineer reminded her that she hadn’t set a proper competitive lap time yet and she replied with “we need clean air” over the radio.
With five minutes to go, Pin finally managed to set a lap good enough for the top five, jumping up the order to fourth and 0.349s off Pulling’s best time.
Out of nowhere, Al Qubaisi went quickest with a 1:56.229s and ahead of Chambers who pipped Pulling’s time.
Weug eventually climbed up the order into sixth place but behind Pin who now dropped down to fifth.
Pulling improved to go back to the top with a 1:56.120s as Chambers also improved but was 0.081s slower than the Rodin Motorsport car.
With 30 minutes gone, the drivers completed their final laps and Pulling went even quicker setting a lap time of 1:56.081s.
With that last lap, she clinched pole position for all three races for the final round of the F1 Academy championship.
Taking the extra points for pole, Pulling was reinstated as the 2024 F1 Academy World Champion.
Bustamante finished in fourth, Pin in fifth, Emely De Heus in sixth, Weug seventh, Nerea Marti eighth, Carrie Schreiner ninth and Block in 10th to set the order for Race 1.
For Race 2, the grid will be as follows; Pulling in first, Chambers in second, Al Qubaisi in third, Bustamante in fourth, Pin fifth, Weug in sixth, Marti in seventh, Block in eight, De Heus in ninth and Schreiner rounds off the top 10.
READ MORE: F1 Academy adds third Abu Dhabi race as Abbi Pulling is stripped of title
