In the mind of Ella Lloyd, victory in this 1era Race, its success has never made any doubt, because from the start, the McLaren driver perfectly succeeded in the second place until the first turn …
Taking the best about her teammate at Rodin Motorsport, ex Team Carlin, Emma Felbermayr, Lloyd seemed perfectly comfortable, quickly digging a gap of 1.3 seconds and this at the end of the first round!
Resistant during the restart under security car, she was not disturbed by the pressure that Agali Palmowski, then Maya Weug, tried to inflict her.
Having firmly installed in command and out of reach, Lloyd finally won his first victory in the F1 Academy series with 0.176 second ahead of her runner -up.
Satisfied with the work accomplished, Lloyd declared:
“I feel pretty good. My plan was to lead to the first turn and that’s what I did, I’m pretty happy with myself. Then, it was necessary to keep the pace and I think that my race was rather regular. »»
And she was continuing:
“I had quickly created a fairly large gap at the start, then the safety car entered the track, and the peloton obviously caught up with me. I rather managed the situation well, I remained calm, I did not make any error and I continued to attack until the end. »»
Until the final victory, amply deserved …
The reminders under Safety because are however a moment of tension for any pilot, especially for a beginner like Lloyd, who is only in his third weekend in F1 Academy after his participation as a guest pilot in the Wild Card de Singapore last year.
Cetail her reasoning, the Briton knew that her rivals would not react if she exploited her strengths. She specified:
“I thought of a good recovery. I hoped to be able to distance my pursuers a little, and that’s what I did. My runner -up did not have the slightest chance in turn 1, and I was then fast in the first sector. Obviously, with the aspiration, I thought they will catch up in the last two. I kept my composure, I was constant, I did not make any mistakes and I won. »»
And, she added again:
“They were behind me, but I knew they were too far to try a pass. Maya obviously attempted in the last turn, but I didn’t even bother to defend myself, because I knew she was too far. »»
His triumph became the 11th victory of the British team Rodin, the former CARLIN team in the series and in Djeddah, the first podium of a pilot supported by McLaren, during a Formula 1 weekend, remains a great accomplishment for Lloyd.
However, the 19 -year -old young woman is far from satisfied and now she will also aim for the final victory in the main race of this Arabian Grand Prix this Sunday.
Because Lloyd hopes to use his victory as a springboard to target victory again in this second race this Sunday.
“It’s pretty good. Mas This success is not where I wish, I want it to be in the main race, not on the reverse grid “” My goal is therefore that the main race gets better qualifications and that I can then win. »»
Conclusive:
“I think we took a huge step forward since Shanghai. We were fast during the tests here, the qualifications did not go as planned, but we showed our pace in the race. I hope that in the main race, we can continue to attack and try to win as many places as possible. »»
And why not a second 1era consecutive place!
With second place, Weug still managed to snack on important points against the championship leader, the French Doriane Pin, carrying her gap -3 on the prema pilot which finishes only fourth, achieving a better time of 2’05 »228thus proving to be the fastest on the track.
Despite everything, a racing not easy for the Frenchwoman who found himself engaged in several battles from the first laps, first with Hausmann for the sixth position, then with Felbermayr for the fifth and finally with Larsen.
In particular, this last act did not seem to be very … appreciated by Pin because of the defense deemed dangerous, set up by Larsen, as Pin communicated by radio.
In front of her, Palmowski completes the top three. The Campos team pilot showed speed from the qualifications on Friday, also giving the Lloyd leader in this first race.
Leaving fifth, Palmowski quickly went back to second place and remained an important presence in the Lloyd mirrors to the penultimate tour, when she found herself locked up in a battle with Weug who saw her retrograd in third place.
Before the main race, Doriane Pin occupies command AB provisional classification, totaling 37 points in front, his runner -up with 34Chambers with 26Palmowski Avec 24Lloyd with 19 and Larsen, six with 18 points.
François Leroux
Photos : F2 – TEAMS
The classification of the 1era Djeddah race
1 – Ella Lloyd – Rodin one 30’00 »870 – 13 tours
2 – Maya Weug – Mp Motorsport to 0 »276
3 – Alisha Palmowski – Campos at 1 »823
4 – Doriane Pin – prema at 2 »049
5 – Alba Larsen – MP Motorsport at 3 »352
6 – Tina Hausmann – Prema to 5 »158
7 – Chloe Chambers – Campos at 5 »643
8 – Nina Gademan – Prema at 9 »337
9 – Emma Felbermayr – Rodin at 10 »594
10 – Nobels Aurelia – ART GP at 11 »3
11 – Joanne Ciconte – MP Motorsport at 12 »650
12 – Lia Block – Art GP at 15 »648
13 – Rafaela Ferreira – Campos at 16 »383
14 – Aiva AnagnostiaDis – hery to 20 »836
15 – Nicole Havred – Hitech to 25 »730
16 – Farah Alyousef – Hitech at 1’38 »010
