F1 Academy winner Abbi Pulling completes record-breaking season

Championship winner Abbi Pulling has completed a record-breaking F1 Academy campaign.

The Gosberton driver rounded off a memorable season at the weekend with her ninth win to complete a podium finish at every race.

Pulling has won more races than any other driver in F1 Academy history and is the first to finish on the podium at every race in the season.

She said: "The team have worked so hard for this and they deserve it so much.

"They've done everything that we've needed this year and they've given me everything that I've needed to do this.

"It’s been incredible."

For once, it was not completely plain sailing over the weekend for the former Bourne Academy pupil.

In practice, Pulling had a slow puncture which limited the amount of running she was able to do, however, she still set a time good enough for second place.

This strong speed continued into qualifying where, despite challenges from Doriane Pin and Maya Weug, Pulling showed she was the class of the field and took pole position for all three races.

The three points from these pole positions ensured that Pulling secured the championship after a late change to the schedule.

They added the extra race from Qatar which meant that, if Pin scored every available point in Abu Dhabi and the Alpine Academy driver did not make the top 10, she would become champion.

That proved academic as Pulling then showed why she deserved to be champion as, despite losing the lead on the start to Chloe Chambers, she regained the position later on in the race to take the win.

A repeat of this situation happened in race two where Pulling was passed in the early stages by Chambers only for her to regain the lead to take the race win for a record-breaking ninth of the season.

In race three, although Pulling took the lead on the start, she came under pressure in the early stages from the Ferrari of Weug who overtook the Briton.

Pulling then came under pressure from home hero Hamda Al Quabasi, however, the Red Bull driver was attacked from behind by Lia Block who spun the Emirati around and ended her hopes of challenging.

This then caused a safety car which may have given Pulling an opportunity to try and take the win but, due to her aging tyres, the Rodin Motorsport driver could only hold second.

Following her epic F1 Academy win, Pulling has a fully-funded seat in the GB3 Championship next term with Rodin and their season commences on April 26-27 at Silverstone.