Abbi Pulling, from Rodin Motorsport, has achieved her first victory in the GB3 at Spa-Francorchamps, leading the race from start to finish from pole position. The competition, initially scheduled for Saturday, suffered a five-hour delay due to heavy rain.
Qualifying took place on Friday, with Pulling achieving her first pole in a Q1 session marked by a red flag. Meanwhile, the championship leader, Nikita Bedrin, from Velocity Racing Development, secured pole for the second race at the end of Q2.
The first race started behind the safety car due to a flooded circuit, but officials decided to interrupt the competition due to the extreme conditions. Thus, the race was rescheduled for later, taking the original slot of the second event of the weekend.
Finally, when the sun was shining on the track, Pulling made a good start and led towards La Source, where an intense battle for second position erupted. Maxim Rehm, her teammate, was attacked by Bedrin and Deagen Fairclough from Hitech GP, who made a late attempt to position himself better.
Bedrin managed to overtake Rehm, who lost positions due to an incident with the ground and reappeared in third position. By the end of the first lap, Pulling had already built a 1.2-second lead, but things became complicated with the appearance of the safety car due to the retirement of Peter Bouzinelos from Hillspeed, who got stuck in the gravel.
With 10 minutes remaining, the race was resumed, and Pulling pulled away again while Rehm took advantage of his teammate’s slipstream to reclaim second place. However, Bedrin passed Rehm again on the following lap, closing in on Pulling’s lead before the final lap.
Despite Bedrin’s attempts to reduce the gap, Pulling held firm and crossed the finish line with a margin of 0.6 seconds, thus becoming the first female winner in GB3 history. Rehm completed the podium, finishing 2 seconds behind, while Molnar finished fourth, with three Rodin cars in the top four.
Jin Nakamura of Hitech GP successfully defended his fifth position against Lucas Fluxa, who had emerged victorious from an intense battle in the early laps. Kirill Kutsov and Flynn Jackes finished seventh and eighth respectively, while Lewis Gilbert from Arden completed the top 10. Gonzales, who suffered damage to his right suspension, also had to retire due to an incident with Rowan Campbell-Pilling.
The second race will take place on Sunday, with Bedrin starting from his third pole this season, followed by Rehm and Pulling. The reverse grid race has been cancelled.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_1191b54044018a52fc286b666e9703abd798e6a3