Mathilda Paatz achieved her first F1 ACADEMY victory after a penalty for Rafaela Ferreira on the final lap promoted the Aston Martin driver to the top step in the Reverse Grid Race.
Ferreira got the better of polesitter Kaylee Countryman off the line and navigated two Safety Car restarts to hold the lead onto the final lap. However, the Racing Bulls driver was handed a five-second time penalty for a false start before the chequered flag.
As a result, Ferreira plummeted from P1 to P10, which promoted second-on-the-road Paatz to her and Aston Martin’s first win in the all-female series, hours after she claimed her maiden podium in the Opening Race.
Alba Larsen looked to have snatched second away from Countryman at the final chicane, with both drivers marking their first trips to the podium, however a post-race five-second penalty for causing a collision with Emma Felbermayr dropped the Ferrari driver to P11.
As a result Countryman was promoted to second with Payton Westcott completing the podium ahead of PREMA Racing teammate Natalia Granada and Lisa Billard.
Ella Lloyd had taken seventh but dropped to 13th due to a post race penalty, with Felbermayr recovering from her incident with Larsen to claim P6. Megan Bruce was classified seventh while Ferreira was eighth.
After an early retirement following contact with Bruce, Alisha Palmowski will be hoping for better fortunes when she lines up on pole for the Feature Race. Lights go out on Sunday at 10:45 local time, but before that, you can check out an in-depth report of the F1 ACADEMY Reverse Grid Race by visiting the official website here.
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