It’s a hot day in Singapore and the all-female series is about to race on the 19 turns of the Marina Bay street circuit. One thing is clear — because of the temperature and heat, tyre degradation will be a crucial topic in Race 2 and it will not be an easy race for the cars and neither drivers.
The drivers start the formation lap in the order they qualified on Friday, practising their starts: Abbi Pulling, Doriane Pin, Maya Weug, Lia Block, Nerea Martí, Hamda Al Qubaisi, Carrie Schreiner, Ella Lloyd, Chloe Chambers, Bianca Bustamante, Emely De Heus, Tina Hausmann, Jessie Edgar, Aurelia Nobles, Lola Lovinfosse and Amna Al Qubaisi.
Pulling gets the better start and it late on the brake in Turn 1, while Maya Weug and Doriane Pin are side to side throughout Turn 3 and the Ferrari driver manages to move up to P2.
Carrie Schreiner in P8 is under pressure from Bianca Bustamante and struggles a bit, while Aurelia Nobles moves up the field into points with P10. However, Nobles warns her team she hit a wall on Lap 2, though the car seems fine to continue for now.
Pulling is pulling away from Weug, the gap more than 1.3 seconds at the end of Lap 2. In P7, the Wild Card entry Ella Lloyd is all over the back of Hamda Al Qubaisi, seeing herself in P6.
Bustamante has a spin on the exit of Turn 7, which causes the Safety Car to be deployed on Lap 4. The McLaren driver has some problems rejoining the track as she falls to P16, joining at the back of the Safety Car train.
Schreiner is noted for failing to follow race director instructions, which will be investigated under the session.
The Safety Car of course erases the gaps and as the Safety Car is ending on the end of Lap 4, the drivers are getting ready for a restart. Pulling restarts relatively early, but manages to stay in front. Lia Block in P4 is side to side with Nerea Martí behind, but defends from the Spanish driver.
Chloe Chambers is looking for a chance to pass Schreiner, though doesn’t have enough space to do so on Lap 5.
Amna Al Qubaisi and Lola Lovinfosse move up the field to P12 and P13 respectively, leaving Tina Hausmann and Bianca Bustamante at the tail of the pack. As they make contact, Bustamante says the Aston Martin driver turned into her. Hausmann is likely to get a penalty for it, which is told to her over the radio.
Chambers pulls it over the curb in the first few turns of Lap 7, really going for Schreiner as she gets advice from her race engineer. She had o 0.4 gap to the Kick Sauber driver in P8. Pin is also 0.4 seconds behind Weug in P2, hoping to reclaim her starting position.
The day goes from bad to worse for Hausmann as she spins off track into the wall, but she gets back quickly as the track is cleared with a green flag. Bustamante overtakes Jessie Edgar for P14, leaving the American Express-supported driver at the back with Hausmann who’s now more than 24 seconds behind Edgar.
During Lap 9, Chambers knows it will have to be a move on the brakes if she wants to pass Schreiner — and if she doesn’t, then she’ll be under pressure from Emely De Heus in P10.
Abbi Pulling gets another fastest lap, knowing she has to get into the clean air and just drive her race.
She tries it on Lap 10, but goes incredibly deep, her tires possibly overheating. Schreiner goes deep into Turn 10 and Chloe Chambers finally makes the move stick and moves up to P8. Though Schreiner is all over the back of her again, determined to take the position back.
Aurelia Nobles defending from Amna Al Qubaisi, but doesn’t manage to do so for long as Al Qubaisi gets just short of points to P11. Nobles thinks Al Qubaisi brake tested her, but it’s unlikely it will be investigated.
As the final lap start, Lap 12, Pulling gets 3 seconds ahead of Weug while Pin in third loses some time behind the top two, not having a brilliant end to the race as she did yesterday.
And like expected, Pulling crosses the finish line in P1, taking yet another win for herself and adding even more points to her championship lead — and as it was yesterday, Weug follows in P2 and Pin in P3, completing the podium.
The finish order of Race 2 after these three brilliant drivers is: P4 Lia Block, P5 Nerea Mart, P6 Hamda Al Qubaisi, P7 Ella Lloyd, P8 Chloe Chambers, P9 Carrie Schreiner, P10 Emely De Heus, P11 Amna Al Qubaisi, P12 Aurelia Nobles. P13 Lola Lovinfosse, P14 Bianca Bustamante, P15 Jessie Edgar and P16 Tina Hausmann.
