Motorsport driver Abbi Pulling from Spalding in strong position at top of F1 Academy championship

Abbi Pulling will head into the summer break in a strong position at the top of the F1 Academy standings.

Pulling produced another outstanding display in Barcelona over the weekend to open up a 66-point lead in the championship.

She won the opening outing of the weekend on Saturday to record her fourth consecutive race victory before finishing second in Sunday’s race.

The 21-year-old had impressed in qualifying by taking a double pole position for the main races on the Spanish circuit.

The Gosberton driver said: “It was a pretty intense qualifying and I was quite confident after free practice.

“We made a balance change going into qualifying and I had to get my head together a bit to get going but it was an amazing qualifying to be on the front row for both races.

“It turned out to be a brilliant weekend and a great haul of points.

“I struggled in race two with a small issue and it took a bit of management but, nonetheless, I was happy to have maintained my position.”

She held off the early challenge of Nerea Martí at the start of the first race before steadily increasing her advantage.

Pulling continued to build momentum despite a lengthy safety car stint to take a clean sweep of success with pole position, fastest lap and a lights-to-flag victory.

However, in the second race, she lost the lead on turn one and was unable to match the pace of eventual winner Chloe Chambers as the Haas driver went on to record her first F1 Academy win.

Pulling also had to fend off the challenge of Marti for the second successive race as the Spaniard just failed to find the room to pass the Alpine driver.

As Chambers continued to extend the lead at the front, a four-car battle for second spot unfolded as Pulling, Martí, Hamda Al Qubaisi and Dorian Pin were all separated by less than a second.

Struggling with oversteer, Pulling had to go on the defensive but quelled the constant threat of Al Qubaisi to claim her second podium of the weekend.

The race for the F1 Academy crown now takes a break until August 23-25 with the fourth round taking place in the Zandvoort.

Pulling will also be in action at the Dutch circuit on July 13-14 when she races in the next stage of the F4 British Championship.