Chloe Chambers and Abbi Pulling tackle Formula E Rookie Practice at Miami

Formula E kicked off their first ever trip to the Miami International Autodrome with a Rookie Practice session, featuring 11 rookie drivers including two women, Abbi Pulling and Chloe Chambers.

Photo credits: Alex Bierens de Haan / Formula E

Formula E kicked off their first ever trip to the Miami International Autodrome with a Rookie Practice session held on Friday afternoon. The 40 minute session featured 11 rookie drivers including two women, Abbi Pulling and Chloe Chambers, who both have experience at the circuit from their seasons spent in the all-female W Series and F1 Academy championships - although with a different layout to the one Formula E is using.

Chambers returned to Mahindra Racing for the test after impressing in her first outing for the team during the Women’s Test in late 2025. The American star topped the timesheets that day ahead of Nissan’s Abbi Pulling, who had taken the headlines in the inaugural Women’s Test the year before. 

Pulling continued her development with Nissan by joining teammate Gabriele Minì at the cherry-blossom team, with Nissan being the only team to utilize both cars in the practice session. 

All 11 cars headed out on track in unison as the green flag flew, slowly winding their way around the palm-tree lined circuit as they settled into the all-electric machinery. After a few cautious laps the times began tumbling down with Chloe Chambers setting a strong 1:01.974 within the first six minutes of running.

Pulling and Chambers both improved their lap times within the opening 10 minutes of the session, dipping to a flat one minute time while Citroën Racing’s Théo Pourchaire drew on his testing experience to slip below the minute mark with a speedy 58 second lap! 

Of the two women in the session, it was Pulling who dipped below a minute first by setting a 59.228s lap just as the first quarter of the session rounded out. The GB3 podium scorer continued to improve her lap time to a 58.1, while Chambers headed into the pits with 30 minutes left on the clock. 

Pulling soon joined her in the pits - along with a handful of the other rookies - to reset and prepare for the next runs. Although the session’s goal is to give rookie drivers the chance to learn Formula E machinery and embed themselves within a team across a race weekend, it is also useful for the teams themselves as a data collecting exercise.

As the session approached the halfway point, Chambers was one of only a handful of cars on track and was able to get some clean air running - something that allowed her to improve her lap time and dip below the one minute mark for the first time. 

At the halfway point of the session it was full time driver - but still a rookie - Pepe Marti who sat at the top of the timing board with a 56.133 second lap, with Pulling in 9th and Chambers in 11th. 

Photo credits: Mahindra Racing

Pulling headed back out on track with 18 minutes left on the clock with Chambers joining her a few minutes later and the two began working on improving their lap times. Pourchaire became the first driver to dip into the 55-second range as Pulling whittled her lap down to 57 seconds - Chambers then improved her lap by a few tenths before both women headed to the pits to prepare for their final 10 minutes of tracktime, although not before Pulling had a brief scary moment with a half-spin while going through turns 6 and 7.

With only a few minutes left in the session the drivers returned to the track with both women amongst them. These final moments saw a flurry of drivers take Attack Mode - a 50kW power boost with all-wheel drive - and the lap times tumbled down further with every passing second. 

Chambers managed to sneak by Pulling in the final stages of the session and set a fantastic 56.857s lap with the Nissan driver close behind on a 57.230s. After the chequered flag fell most drivers headed to the grid for practice starts, allowing them to help their teams collect valuable data while also gaining more experience themselves.

Chambers and Pulling were 10th and 11th in the session, while it was Envision Racing’s Zak O’Sullivan who topped the timesheets with a 58.810s lap. On the 300kW power mode, however, Pulling was seventh fastest with a 57.818 lap that left several drivers behind. Chambers finished tenth on the 300kW power, four tenths behind.

This FP0 was far from the last of the rookie running for season 12 as there will be a full-day rookie test held after the Madrid E-Prix later this year where fans could see Pulling, Chambers or other women get back behind the wheel of the Gen3Evo cars.

Photo credits: Nissan