Pulling scores sixth win in Singapore as Pin reaches podium despite penalty · RaceFans

Alpine junior driver Abbi Pulling continued her unabated charge to the championship by taking her sixth win from nine races in the first race in Singapore.

Pulling converted pole position into her sixth win of the championship to further extend her lead at the top of the table.

Maya Weug finished second, while Mercedes junior Doriane Pin held onto the final podium position in third despite being penalised for jumping the start.

The original race start was aborted when McLaren junior Bianca Bustamante missed her grid slot. The field formed up for a second attempt, at which point Bustamante should have started from the pits, but failed to come in, earning herseld a 10 second stop-and-go penalty. The race distance was also reduced by a single lap.

When the lights went out, pole winner Pulling held the lead into turn one as fellow front row starter Maya Weug slotted into second ahead of Doriane Pin. Williams junior driver Lia Block ran fourth, with Haas-supported driver Chloe Chambers in fifth.

Weug kept Pulling in her sights over the early laps, but as the race progressed, she gradually dropped back from the leader. In the closing laps, Pin was hit with a five-second time penalty for jumping the start, which put her position on the podium in jeopardy. Entering the final lap, she sat just 4.6s ahead of Block, making for a tense finish for the Mercedes junior.

Pulling took the chequered flag to win by two seconds from Weug. Pin pushed hard over the final lap, setting the fastest lap of the race on the final lap. That proved crucial, as she finished 5.2 seconds ahead of Block, salvaging her podium by just two tenths of a second after her penalty was applied.

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Block therefore narrowly missed out on a podium in fourth ahead of Chambers, Hamda Al Qubaisi and Nerea Marti. Carrie Shreiner took eighth ahead of wildcard entrant Ella Lloyd in ninth, who dropped from sixth after also receiving a five-second penalty for a jump start. Tina Hausmann took the final point in tenth.

Pulling will start on pole position for Sunday’s second race, when Pin will join her on the front row of the grid.

Race result