After a summer break, F1 Academy returns to action in Zandvoort for Round 4, with Abbi arriving as championship leader.
The Alpine Academy and RODIN Motorsport driver hit the ground running by topping both sessions of Free Practice in dry conditions.
The heavens opened on Saturday morning for Qualifying, however Abbi continued her impressive form by topping the times through the session with a sizeable margin on her rivals – before a red flag was deployed with 6mins to go.
This created a problem with traffic due to the RODIN Motorsport cars being position at the end of the pitlane, meaning Abbi would have a disrupted final few minutes of the session.
Ultimately her pace still meant she would take Pole Position for the opening race of the weekend – whilst her second fastest-lap meant she would start from P2 in the second race on Sunday.
Race 1 was due to take place on Saturday evening – however heavy rain and winds gathered on the formation lap, requiring the start procedure to be delayed. Ultimately the conditions worsened, leading to the race being postponed until Sunday morning.
The rescheduled opening race saw Abbi make a great start from Pole Position and immediately open out a gap of 0.8s by the end of the opening lap.
She continued to increase the gap out front to 3-seconds by lap 5 and began to control the gap at the head of the pack – setting the fastest lap in the process.
Abbi managed the rest of the race fantastically, leaving her under no threat from behind – taking her 5th victory of the F1 Academy Season in dominant fashion.
Race 2 saw Abbi drop to P3 at the start – but was immediately on the attack in the opening lap to regain lost ground.
She would keep the pressure on Maya Weug throughout the opening stint, looking for a way through on this notoriously difficult circuit to overtake on.
Abbi would keep the pressure on throughout pushing for P2 all the way to flag, just falling short by 0.4s at the chequered flag – sealing her 8th podium of the F1 Academy season.
Abbi Pulling:
"Zandvoort is a track that I love! I am really happy with the first half of Qualifying as I had a considerable margin - but sadly being at the back of the pitlane after the Red Flag, meant there was lots of traffic for the rest of the session - so it was a bit of a shame to miss out on double pole by 0.02, but it is what it is!
Race 1 was a bit dramatic being rained off sadly due to the conditions being too bad - so both races were all packed into Sunday.
A big thanks to everyone at the circuit and the marshals for being flexible to let us fit in both races, I think all of us in F1 Academy really appreciate!
I was very happy in Race 1 to have a dominant race - taking fastest lap and securing maximum points.
It was a quick turn around into Race 2 - I didn't get the best getaway and made a little mistake from the less grippy side of the grid which meant I fell to P3.
I put as much pressure as I can onto Maya the whole race, but Zandvoort is such a hard track to overtake on - I just couldn't get through.
I was faster than the two cars infront, but I just couldn't make use of it sadly.
I finished P3 but still extended the gap at the top of the championship standings overall over the weekend - which is the most important thing!
I am looking forward to Singapore and I am preparing very hard for this race - as it should be pretty brutal but very exciting!
As always a big thank you to RODIN Motorsport and the Alpine Academy for all their hard work and supporting me."
Following another great performance at Zandvoort, Abbi strengthens her championship lead on 190 points – 71 ahead of her nearest rival.
Singapore hosts the next round of F1 Academy on the 20th-22nd September. Abbi will be wearing a special helmet for this race DESIGNED BY FANS, which you can enter HERE until the 30th August at 12:00 BST.
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