F1 Academy Spanish Grand Prix: Abbi Pulling delivers a qualifying sweep

Heading into the third race weekend of the 2024 F1 Academy schedule, the big question was whether anyone could keep up with Abi Pring.

In Friday’s qualifying session, the answer was no.

The Alpine driver won Friday’s qualifying and will start both races at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix in first place, but Pring certainly had to work hard for pole position after several other drivers took provisional pole position during the session.

The evolution of the track was a big part of the story. As the time ticked away in the qualifying session, so did the sun in the sky, and lap times began to tick down with each passing lap. With two minutes remaining, Pring topped the timesheets and took provisional pole position, but several drivers were still on the track, gunning for that crucial tenth of a second or more to catch Pring at the top of the timesheets.

But in the end, it didn’t work.

Haas driver Chloe Chambers was closest, just 0.059 seconds off Pring’s fastest time, with local heroine Nerea Martí coming in third.

Dorian Ping, who is recovering from a rib injury that ruled him out of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will start from fourth place, while Bianca Bustamante, who comes into the F1 Academy weekend in fifth place in the standings, will start race one from that position.

“That was a nail-biting game,” Pring radioed to his team after the session.

Pring will again start from the front in race two. Under F1 Academy rules, the fastest time in the qualifying session determines the grid for race one, but the starting order for race two is determined by each driver’s second fastest time. Chambers will start third and Ping third in race two this Sunday.

Full preliminary results are as follows: