Free Practice 1-
Doriane Pin’s dream of keeping her title hopes alive got off to an ideal start as the PREMA Racing star topped the first practice session around Lusail.
Abbi Pulling of Rodin Motorsport was close behind in second, as the Alpine driver tries to secure the Drivers’ title this race weekend.
Aurelia Nobels in her ART Grand Prix machine was the first to hit the track, but it wasn’t long before she was joined on track by the MP Motorsport duo of Emely De Heus and Amna Al Qubaisi.
It was a slow start to the session for Standings’ leader Pulling, who had an issue with her car’s starter motor. The Brit spent the first part of the session in the pit lane but got out on track with just under 20 minutes of the session to go.
Rodin Motorsport’s Jess Edgar looked comfortable around the Lusail circuit as she went top of the timesheets early and continued to improve over the practice session.
Hamda Al Qubaisi tried her best to knock her off the top spot, but despite going purple in the first and second sectors, was unable to beat the 1:57.592s benchmark set by Edgar.
With the track improving, Doriane Pin of PREMA Racing put her Mercedes to the top with a time of 1:56.654s. This would be he quickest time of the session with Pulling getting close to her title rival.
Free Practice 2-
Doriane Pin made it two-for-two in the second Free Practice in Lusail, edging ahead of title rival Abbi Pulling at the chequered flag.
It was a closely-fought session, with the top three separated by only 0.142s as Wild Card driver Alisha Palmowski made her mark in third.
Driving under the floodlights around the Lusail International Circuit, the field had their eyes on preparing for both tomorrow afternoon’s Qualifying and their first-ever night race.
Hamda Al Qubaisi was the first to get a time on the board, clocking a 1:58.348 as the initial benchmark. Setting the field’s quickest time yet in Qatar, Standings leader Pulling went top on a 1:56.453, whilst Chloe Chambers slotted into second in the Haas-liveried car.
The Brit continued to lower the time to beat to a 1:56.038, before Maya Weug eclipsed her effort by 0.019s. Pulling quickly regained the top spot on a 1:55.785, going two tenths clear of the Ferrari driver as Palmowski climbed into the top three.
Less than seven minutes were left on the clock as the fight for P1 ramped up. Block seized the top spot on a 1:55.517, only for the Williams driver to be immediately beaten by Palmowski’s 1:55.477.
Pin then went fastest of all on a 1:55.043, whilst Pulling kept in close range of the Mercedes driver, sitting in just six hundredths adrift.
Entering their final attempts, Palmowski staked her claim on the quickest effort of the day, becoming the first driver to break into the 1:54s and putting her 0.107s ahead of Pin.
The top spot then shifted into Pin’s hands on a 1:54.914 until Pulling wrestled it away by 0.019s. It appeared to be job done, but Pin wasn’t finished just yet and snatched the fastest lap away from the Alpine driver with a 1:54.794.
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