Lena Buhler wins Race 2 to ignite F1 Academy title race

Léna Bühler held off PREMA Racing’s Bianca Bustamante to take her second win of the season in another action-packed ace in Monza.

With Amna Al Qubaisi on pole position on a quest for her third reverse grid win of the season, all the cars got away well. Nerea Martí, starting in P2, attempted the overtake on the Emirati driver on Lap 1, but was forced to give the position back after taking the lead off the track.

Hamda Al Qubaisi, who was looking for a strong points-paying result after finishing in P8 in Race 1, came together with Rodin Carlin’s Megan Gilkes and fell to the back of the field. The MP Motorsport driver was forced into working her way back through the pack for the remainder of the race.

ART Grand Prix driver Carrie Schreiner, put on a defensive masterclass in Race 2 in Zandvoort, but wasn’t quite able to keep teammate Bühler behind this time around and the Swiss driver moved into P3 on Lap 3.

As the pack headed into Turn 1 onto Lap 4, contact between Martí and A. Al Qubaisi left the Campos Racing driver with a piece of her front wing missing and the MP Motorsport driver facing the wrong way. The Campos Racing driver would slowly fall down the field after sustaining the damage, before receiving a drive through penalty for the incident.

Bühler continued to lead teammate Schreiner, but the German driver would soon come under pressure from the #16 red and white PREMA of Bianca Bustamante car as the Filipino powered round the outside of Curva Alboreto on Lap 5 to move into P2.

The powerful slipstream at Monza was once again tricky to navigate, with Bühler unable to breakaway, and Abbi Pulling closing in on the leading pack. The Rodin Carlin driver set the fastest lap of the race before being getting locked into a four-way battle between Bühler, Schreiner, Bustamante for the race lead.

Schreiner and Pulling would scrap for positions for the rest of the race, with Bustamante briefly taking nipping into the lead ahead of Bühler. The Filipino driver would have to give the place back to the #7 ART Grand Prix car having made the move off-track.

Further down the field, Rodin Carlin’s Gilkes retired from the race and a collision between García and Emely de Heus left the Dutch driver in the gravel and unable to continue. Lola Lovinfosse would also be forced to retire after receiving a black and orange flag late on.

But despite the persistence of Bustamante, Swiss driver Bühler would hold onto the lead to close the gap on H. Al Qubaisi and García in the driver’s standings. Pulling secured P3 having missed out on a podium in Race 1 by just 0.016 seconds. Pole-sitter A. Al Qubaisi executed a phenomenal recovery drive to cross the line P7 and gain valuable points for MP Motorsport in the Teams' Standings.

Léna Bühler, Race 2 Winner:

“I am quite happy. The race was tough, the last few laps Bianca was really fast behind me and it is very difficult without slipstream. I start in P5 and finish in P1 so it is good points for the title race.”

As It Stands

Bühler closes the gap on H. Al Qubaisi and García at the top of the drive’s standings as Pulling leapfrogs Martí into P4. PREMA continue to close the gap on MP Motorsport in the Teams’ Standings, with the Dutch team’s advantage reduced to 49 points.

What’s Next

Round 5 concludes in Monza with Race 3 kicking off at 9.00am. Abbi Pulling starts on pole as she looks for her first win of the season.