Marta Garcia has officially sealed the 2023 F1 Academy title after taking a thrilling victory in Race 1 at the Circuit of the Americas while Hamda Al Qubaisi claimed an assured victory in Race 2 in what proved to be an eventful eight laps.

Inaugural champion and Race 1 winner Marta Garcia said: “I’m feeling really good, amazing. When I won, when I crossed past the chequered flag, I didn’t really feel it, I don’t know why!

“But after that, during the cool down lap, I started being a bit emotional, thinking of everything, all of the hard work we’ve been doing this year with the team.

“It’s great to obviously win the title, being the first champion of F1 Academy it feels amazing.”

It was a good start from Garcia, but the Spaniard had to fend off a charging Abbi Pulling off the line.

The Rodin Carlin driver, still searching for her first win of the season, looked determined to edge into the lead, but Garcia managed to hold position and find some air as the first lap progressed.

Further back, Jessica Edgar gained a place into fourth and showed strong pace, fresh off the back of her pole position in Friday’s Qualifying 2.

Meanwhile, A battle unfolded at the rear of the field between Emely De Heus, Chloe Grant and Maite Cáceres as they all looked to get into Turn 1 first, but the trio tangled, resulting in all three finding themselves out of the race.

This prompted a Safety Car to be deployed as the cars were removed.

With the Safety Car peeling back into the pits at the end of Lap 6, Garcia was faced with the challenge of managing the pace and holding off Pulling and Nerea Martí.

It was another solid start from the Prema driver, yet Pulling remained in her mirrors.

Title contender Lena Bühler managed to retake P4 from Edgar, before soon afterwards pulling off an impressive
move up the insider of Martí into Turn 1.

The Spaniard wasn’t giving up, though, and tried to fight back, which then brought Edgar, new McLaren development driver Bianca Bustamante and Hamda Al Qubaisi behind into the duel.

The battle allowed for Garcia and Pulling to break away at the front as Pulling continued to pressure the PREMA Racing driver.

Meanwhile Bustamante overtook Edgar for P5 after the latter made an error into Turn 12.

While Pulling’s race engineer shared words of encouragement with the #10 driver, she wasn’t able to find a way past Garcia, despite getting within touching distance on the final lap.

Garcia crossed the line to take her seventh
victory of the 2023 season, as well as clinching the inaugural F1 Academy title.

Race Two

Two cars stalled on the grid as the race began, with Bianca Bustamante and Amna Al Qubaisi initially unable to get away, but it was a solid start from pole-sitter H. Al Qubaisi, while a close battle unfolded between Jessica Edgar and Lena Bühler behind.

H. Al Qubaisi quickly stretched out a decent gap from Chloe Chong, who had started alongside her on the front row, while a charging Bühler soon overtook the PREMA Racing driver for second place.

Chong came under further pressure on Lap 2 from Edgar, who eventually swept past the 16-year-old.

Further back there was a sense of déjà vu as Marta Garcia and Abbi Pulling – who enjoyed a thrilling race-long duel in Race 1 earlier in the day – once again went head-to-head, this time for P6.

With Garcia having sustained some damage to her front wing from a Lap 1 tussle with Edgar, Pulling kept on her tail.

Pulling looked at making a move around the outside, before Garcia took the inside line to maintain fifth place.

After the high of her title win earlier in the day, Garcia suffered much worse luck in Race 2.

The inaugural champion was shown the black and orange flag on Lap 4, requiring her to pit due to the damage on her car.

This didn’t stop the Spaniard from continuing to battle with Pulling, with the Rodin Carlin driver getting ahead just before Garcia made a visit to the pit lane where she subsequently retired from the race.

A determined Pulling’s next target was Nerea Martí, who she overtook before next setting her sights on Chong in P4.

Meanwhile Bustamante was enjoying an impressive comeback after stalling on the grid.

The #16 car had worked her way up to eighth place by Lap 7 of 8 as she continued to close in on Campos Racing’s Lola Lovinfosse.

Up ahead Chong fought hard to defend from Pulling but ultimately lost out to the Alpine Academy driver, while Martí soon followed through to push Chong down to P6.

Amid so much action going on behind her, it was a much quieter drive in the lead for H. Al Qubaisi, who secured her fourth win of the 2023 season.

The MP Motorsport driver finished ahead of the ART Grand Prix car of Bühler in second,
while Edgar claimed the final podium position.

Hamda Al Qubaisi, Race 2 winner said: “Really happy, good points for the team and for me as well.

“I haven’t got a podium since Zandvoort, so it’s nice to finally get up there on that top step and it gives me a bit of hope, a bit of motivation for the final one tomorrow.

“We’ll give it all for tomorrow – we have nothing to lose!”

What’s Next

Round 7 concludes in Austin with Race 3 on Sunday at 09:40, marking the final event of the 2023 F1 Academy season.

While the drivers’ title has been wrapped up, the teams’ crown is still to be decided, with PREMA Racing and MP Motorsport fighting for the top spot while Rodin Carlin’s Edgar will start Race 3 from pole position and look to take her first win of the season.