The 20-year-old from Spalding, UK, made the journey to the 2.8-mile Catalan venue keen to use her maiden podium in Formula 1 ®’s new-for-2023, all-female series as a springboard to continue closing the gap to the championship summit.
After promising pace at the same venue in pre-season testing, Pulling translated her pre-event promise into a second-row starting berth, in third.
From there, the Rodin Carlin ace was able to move forward one spot to finish second in the opening race and backed that up with another superb drive in the reverse-grid contest later that same afternoon.
Starting back in sixth, Pulling quickly made progress through the field to run fourth, then found a way by home favourite Nerea Marti for the final spot on the rostrum in third.
Fourth on the grid for the finale based on second-fastest qualifying times, Pulling then survived an early assault from behind to maintain position, and rounded the triple header out with another solid points haul.
As a result, the Alpine Academy racer rises to fourth in the F1 Academy standings after three of seven rounds, with Rodin Carlin now level on points for third in the Teams’ standings.
Next stop for F1 Academy is Zandvoort, known worldwide as the host venue for the Dutch Grand Prix, on 23-25 June.
Abbi Pulling said:
“From my side, it was a much better weekend, with a good haul of points, but there is still more performance to find.
We started in tough place during practice, running on degraded tyres, and it was a very big jump up to new ones for qualifying. I don’t think I quite made the most of it, with a few mistakes, but I was happy with P3 and P4."
“I didn’t get the best launch off the line in the first and third races, but managed to not only fight back, but also gain some positions. Going forward, the start will definitely be a big focus point for me during my preparation.
“I’m looking forward to Zandvoort next, it’s a track which really suits me and is very enjoyable to drive. I can’t wait to get back in the car and continue building on this weekend.”
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