Pulling ends Day 2 of in-season testing fastest once more around Abu Dhabi

Abbi Pulling picked up where she left off after Day 1, continuing to set the pace across the second day of running at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Taking the P1 spot in both sessions, the Alpine driver set the best time of the morning on a 1:57.235 and followed that up with a quicker effort in the afternoon on a 1:56.746.

MORNING

The moment the green light was shown in the pitlane, Doriane Pin wasted no time getting back on track. However, it was her PREMA Racing teammate Maya Weug that initially set the pace during the opening 20 minutes, as the first driver to break into the 1:57s.

Lia Block went top momentarily, before Day 1 pace-setter Pulling returned to the top of the timing sheets on a 1:57.836. The Alpine driver lowered her best to a 1:57.396, whilst Bianca Bustamante moved up into second.

Further improvements filtered in, with Pin slotting into P2 — only 0.026s down on Pulling’s time, ahead of Weug. Whilst the top three returned to the pits, Chambers leapfrogged the Ferrari driver into third.

Pulling’s sojourn in the Rodin garage was briefly paused at the halfway mark, bettering her previous best by 0.019s. There was still more speed for the Briton to find when the track livened back up with under an hour to go.

Setting a 1:57.235, Pulling ended the first three-hour session of the day top once again, 0.187s clear of Pin. Chloe Chambers took the third-fastest time, closely followed by Weug, Hamda Al Qubaisi, Bustamante, Block, Amna Al Qubaisi, Carrie Schreiner and Tina Hausmann — with fourth to 10th separated by just over two tenths.

AFTERNOON

PREMA’s trio kicked off the afternoon’s running — the only team to take to the track inside the opening 30 minutes. Pin was the fastest driver in the early phases on a 1:59.041 and steady improvements saw her bring the benchmark time down to a 1:58.207.

Weug put herself on top next, with her 1:58.081 moving her eight thousandths ahead of Chambers. Nerea Martí then climbed up into the P1 spot with a 1:57.786 and continued to find speed, remaining quickest on a 1:57.786, 0.295s ahead of both Weug and Block who had posted identical times.

READ MORE: Pulling hails ‘productive’ Yas Marina debut after setting the pace on Day 1

Pulling regained her place at the top end of the order in second, before Bustamante jumped ahead of her and got to within 0.082s of the Tommy Hilfiger driver’s best effort.

With just over an hour to go, Chambers went quickest, setting the time to beat at 1:57.416. Bustamante immediately met that challenge, bettering the Haas driver by 0.072s.

As the clock ticked down, Pulling put her foot down, regaining the fastest time of the session on a 1:57.014. Delivering two consecutive best efforts three laps later, her time of 1:56.746 inside the final 30 minutes was enough to secure her place at the top of the timing sheets.

Martí finished three tenths down on the Briton’s time followed by Hamda Al Qubaisi, Bustamante and Chambers, who ended up over half a second adrift in fifth. Weug took the sixth-quickest time ahead of Block, Amna Al Qubaisi, Hausmann and Lola Lovinfosse.

The third and final day of the in-season test will get underway tomorrow at 09:00 local time (GMT+4) until 12:00, with the latter session starting at 13:00 and concluding at 16:00.