QUALIFYING: Pin untouchable with double pole position in Jeddah

From start to finish, Doriane Pin was the driver to beat in the first Qualifying session of the season. Setting a 2:03.472 with six minutes remaining, the Mercedes driver’s hold on the top spot remained firm, taking both pole positions by 0.785s and 0.684s respectively.

Abbi Pulling and Ferrari’s Maya Weug were locked in a battle for second, with the Alpine driver beating out the Dutch racer for a spot on the front row for both races.

10 drivers bolted out the pits at lights out and immediately set about getting the medium tyres ready underneath them. Practice pace-setter Pin was the first to get a time on the board, before Pulling went top on a 2:05.501.

Breaking clear on her second attempt, Pin dropped the benchmark down to within the 2:04.599s. Pulling set on closing the gap down to three tenths as her Rodin Motorsport teammate Jessica Edgar filtered through in third.

Campos Racing’s trio opted to play the waiting game, holding off their outlaps until 18 minutes to go. It seemed to pay off as Nerea Martí slotted inside the top three on her second effort.

Out front, Pin improved her efforts once last time on 2:03.472, extending her advantage to over a second. After failing foul of track limits on her previous attempts, Weug managed to get a clean lap on the board, elevating her to second.

Reclaiming the P2 spot momentarily, Pulling leapt ahead of Weug before the PREMA Racing driver demoted her back to third inside the final five minutes. With only two final attempts at a flying lap remaining, Pulling clawed to within 0.785s of Pin’s best effort, but couldn’t dethrone the Mercedes driver.

Martí secured fourth for Race 1 and will be lining up ahead of McLaren’s Bianca Bustamante. Lola Lovinfosse claimed the sixth-fastest time ahead of Lia Block, Chloe Chambers, Aurelia Nobels and Jessica Edgar, who completes the top 10.

For Race 2, it’ll be a second row start for Lovinfosse going from fourth ahead of Martí. Haas driver Chambers will go from sixth ahead of Aston Martin’s Tina Hausmann, Nobels, Edgar and Bustamante.

Lights go out for Race 1 at 15:10 local time on Friday, followed by Race 2 on Saturday at 15:05 local time.