F1 Academy: Abbi Pulling unbeaten on Friday in Zandvoort

Abbi Pulling ended the first day of track action at Zandvoort unbeaten, having led both practice sessions ahead of Saturday’s F1 Academy qualifying - with Maya Weug and Hamda Al Qubaisi not far behind and showing strong pace in the fully-dry FP2.

Photo credits: Alpine

Abbi Pulling ended the first day of track action at Zandvoort unbeaten, having led both practice sessions at the Dutch circuit. Pulling led Maya Weug and Hamda Al Qubaisi in a fully dry second session, however gaps continued to be very tight among the front runners, as several drivers alternated at the top of the timesheets ahead of tomorrow's qualifying.

With F1 Academy returning to the two-practice session format, Pulling set the pace in the morning under mixed weather conditions, followed by a fully dry and sunny second session in the afternoon.

Chloe Chambers was the first to post a representative time, closely followed by teammate Nerea Marti. The Al Qubaisi sisters were the last two drivers to leave the pit lane, as everyone completed an out-in before times started to tumble.

Doriane Pin claimed the early lead with a 1:37.713, followed by Edgar, Hamda Al Qubaisi, Marti and Pulling as the session approached the first ten minutes. After a dominant weekend at Zandvoort last year, Hamda Al Qubaisi is aiming to showcase again her talent at the demanding Dutch racetrack - and soon took the top spot with a 1:37.5 lap that saw the Emirati leading five drivers separated by one tenth of a second.

Championship leader Pulling, however, reclaimed the top of the timing sheets by three hundredths of a second, with Weug and Pin also improving to third and fourth.

Chambers had a moment out of the very complex turn 3 but saved the car and made it back to the pits for a new set of tyres - although the session was then red flagged when Bianca Bustamante's McLaren-sponsored car found the gravel trap at turn 8, with the Filipina reporting oversteer while she was unable to downshift properly.

The session resumed for the final 16 minutes; on the fresh rubber, Campos Racing's Nerea Marti and Chloe Chambers climbed the order and grabbed the two top positions, before Jessica Edgar moved into second. With 5 mins to go drivers capitalized on fresh tyres, causing rapid changes at the top of the timesheets; Edgar went on top, then topped by Pin, Martin and Weug - with also De Heus and Hausmann making into the top five briefly.

Hamda Al Qubaisi ran competitive times and slotted into third - but Abbi Pulling, with a purple first sector, was again on a mission and beat Maya Weug by 1 tenth, reclaiming the lead with less than a minute to go.

Al Qubaisi set a new fastest second sector - but she couldn't quite challenge Pulling in sectors one and three, and remained third fastest.

With a 1:36.367, Alpine's Abbi Pulling swept the day and ended Friday unbeaten, ahead of Maya Weug and Hamda Al Qubaisi. Jessica Edgar had a solid session in fourth and preceded Nerea Marti and Doriane Pin, sixth fastest in a tightly-contested session.

Home hero Emely De Heus was a competitive seventh, and Tina Hausmann made her way back into the top ten in the Aston Martin-sponsored Prema. Amna Al Qubaisi made good progress in FP2 and also managed to break into the top ten with the ninth fastest time, ahead of Aurelia Nobels, Lola Lovinfosse and Chloe Chambers - with one second covering the top-12.

After a remarkable start of the day in seventh in the morning, wild card entry Nina Gademan was P13, preceding Lia Block and Carrie Schreiner, who couldn't quite replicate the performance from the morning session when she had shown great speed to contend for the top ten. Following her spin, Bianca Bustamante couldn't run on the new set of tyres and therefore rounded out the field in P16.

With 80 minutes of practice under their belt on Friday, F1 Academy drivers will now gear up for qualifying on Saturday morning at 10:15 local time, where the single session will shape up the starting grids of both races based on the fastest and second-best laps.