A dramatic day of racing in the F1 Academy produced its eighth winner and leaves one of the title challengers with one hand on the title.

Campos Racing’s Nerea Martí won her first race of the season in style in Paul Ricard as she executed a perfect start to jump Rodin Carlin’s Abbi Pulling and secure a commanding victory.

Race 1 Winner Nerea Martí said: “I am feeling really good. Finally P1. I have worked a lot, and finally I got the position. I overtook Abbi at the start and created a gap and was consistent with the gap. In Race 3 I will be starting P5 and I have opportunities to be on the podium.”

It was a great start to the day for the Spanish team as they achieved a double podium and points for all three drivers for the first time in a race this year.

As the lights went out, Martí’s electric reactions meant that she flew into Turn 1 ahead of pole-sitter Pulling. The Rodin Carlin driver did well to hold off both Lovinfosse and ART Grand Prix’s Léna Bühler early on, but her defence would ultimately cost her as she fell to far from the Campos Racing car out front.

Further down the field, it was difficult start for Rodin Carlin’s Jessica Edgar who fell five places and would eventually have to pit for a change of front wing.

Martí, who took a podium in Race 3 at Monza, extended her lead to over two seconds by Lap 4 while behind her there was a three-way scrap for P4 among the title contenders with series leader Marta García chasing both Hamda Al Qubaisi and Bühler.

The victor would be the Swiss driver, who managed to hold off her rivals to take P4, ahead of starting from on pole in Race 3 later this afternoon.

It wasn’t all plain sailing however for Spaniard Martí, who was slowly being caught by Pulling throughout and the British driver would get within just 1.2 seconds as the chequered flag waved.

Lovinfosse secured her second podium finish of the season with a P3 finish while García’s lead was marginally cut at the top by H. Al Qubaisi as we enter into the final five races of the season.

Marta García moves one step closer to the Series win after a Race 2 victory at Circuit Paul Ricard.

Race Winner, Marta García said: “I had a really good start – I made one overtake at the start and then overtook Amna after the safety car. It was really good, I had really good pace, I improved my Sector 1. For Race 3 now we have to push. I am starting from P4 so the target is at least a podium.”

The PREMA Racing driver showed once more what a perfect start can do for you at the French track as she overtook Carrie Schreiner and moved up into P2 early on Lap 1.

The race was then almost immediately neutralised after Lola Lovinfosse, fresh from her P3 in Race 1 the French driver stopped on track with an issue and was forced to retire. The Safety Car was deployed and gave García a great opportunity to move into P1 on the restart.

The Spaniard grasped her chance and fired past Amna Al Qubaisi on the straight before quickly extending her lead to 1.1 seconds.

The Emirati driver wouldn’t be able to hold onto P2 for long either as title chaser Léna Bühler was soon in her rearview mirror and dived down the inside on the last corner, before setting her sights on García.

Further down the field, MP Motorsport’s Hamda Al Qubaisi, García’s nearest challenger in the race for the trophy, navigated her way up to P4 to secure some valuable points in not only her chase for the title, but MP Motorsport’s position in the Teams’ Standings.

García continued to extend her lead out the front and would eventually finish four seconds clear of Bühler, who was not able to find the pace to catch up to the PREMA driver as she powered away.

The Spaniard would also finish with the fastest lap of the race with a 1:27.015. A. Al Qubaisi would eventually have to settle for P3.

Meanwhile, there were also points for Rodin Carlin duo Abbi Pulling and Jessica Edgar who both made small gains throughout the race.

Marta García made it two wins from three to put herself within touching distance of becoming the first ever F1 Academy champion.

Double race winner Marta García said: “It feels really good, honestly, I was a bit emotional after the race in the car. It has been a really hard few days particularly working on sector 1, but when you see the improvement it is really good. Race 2 I won, Race 3 I won coming from P4 with a mega start. Two fastest laps on the races also and I am really happy.”

With the result of Race 2 meaning that the title would be decided in Austin, García started in P3 as she looked to further her gap ahead of Hamda Al Qubaisi and Léna Bühler.

The Swiss driver started on pole for the race ahead of Rodin Carlin’s Abbi Pulling. The Brit had a troublesome start, falling two places as she was swamped by Lola Lovinfosse and García.

The #15 PREMA car got the best start of all, launching into P2 and beginning her hunt of Bühler.

It wasn’t long before the Spaniard, who also won Race 2 earlier today, was past the red-liveried ART Grand Prix car and storming off into the distance, establishing a lead of 1.5s within the first five laps.

Meanwhile, her teammate Bianca Bustamante went off on Lap 7 and fell to the back of the field, ultimately finishing in P15.

With the front three of García, Bühler and Lovinfosse settled into position, action was still happening further down the field as MP Motorsport’s Emely de Heus went wheel to wheel with Campos Racing’s Maite Cáceres down the home straight to move into P8 on Lap 12.

The glory however would go to García who, with the pressure on, secured her second win of the weekend and gave herself a 48-point lead at the top of the standings.

P2 for Bühler moved her up to P2 ahead of MP Motorsport’s Hamda Al Qubaisi, while Lovinfosse, in her home race weekend, secured her second podium.