RACE 2: Felbermayr seals redemption with last-lap dash to maiden victory in Canada

After being disqualified from her first F1 ACADEMY podium earlier in the day, Emma Felbermayr avenged the result during Race 2 in Canada, sealing a maiden victory in a frenetic final lap sprint to the chequered flag.

Nina Gademan came within half a lap of victory, but a late Safety Car left the Alpine driver vulnerable and she couldn’t hold on as Felbermayr and Ella Lloyd snuck past to deliver a 1-2 finish for Rodin Motorsport.

Reverse grid polesitter Chloe Chong initially held firm off the line as Gademan stuck close behind in second. Felbermayr, Lloyd and Tina Hausmann almost went three-wide at the start after the Kick Sauber driver squeezed across to the right, with Lloyd managing to slip into third.

Spotting her opportunity a few corners later, Gademan dived up the inside of Chong, who left the door open long enough to enable Lloyd and Felbermayr to follow through.

Felbermayr made up another place on Lap 2, utilising the slipstream to swoop past Lloyd, who had no time to fight back as she tried to fend off Doriane Pin. At the same time, Chambers risked a move of her own on the Mercedes driver on Lap 5. Going side-by-side into Turn 2, the Red Bull Ford driver spun across the run-off and tumbled down to P14.

Pin then tried to overtake Lloyd at the final chicane, but both cut the corner. Although the Mercedes emerged out in front, Pin was ordered over the radio to give the position back to Lloyd. Behind them, Tommy Hilfiger’s Alba Larsen made a move stick on Alisha Palmowski for fifth.

Out front, Gademan had built a comfortable 1.4-second gap over Felbermayr, but was shown the black and white flag for track limits.

After swapping positions with Lloyd on the next lap, Larsen tried to take advantage with a late-braking move into the hairpin. Tapping the rear right of Pin’s car, the Mercedes driver was lucky to hold on to fourth, with the Dane shown the black and white flag for the contact.

Fortunately her MP Motorsport teammate Maya Weug was able to pull off the lunge on Aurelia Nobels in eighth. The PUMA driver fought back with the slipstream but didn’t have enough room, banging wheels into the final chicane and sending Nobels skidding over the run-off. This allowed Lia Block through into the final points-paying position.

Lloyd and Pin’s battle continued, with the Mercedes driver skipping over the final corner and emerging out in front. Yielding the place back to the McLaren driver left her vulnerable to Larsen, who pounced at the same corner one lap later to snatch fourth away.

Gademan’s lead out front was steadily being chipped away by Felbermayr to under eight tenths until contact between Hitech TGR teammates Nicole Havrda and Aiva Anagnostiadis necessitated a Safety Car on Lap 14.

Left with one racing lap remaining, Gademan went early in her sprint to the line. Sticking with her, Felbermayr dived to inside of the Dutch driver at Turn 9 to take the lead, while Lloyd followed through, snatching second at the hairpin.

With only a few turns to go, Felbermayr was in a race against time. Bouncing over the kerb at the final corner, the Austrian managed to keep her foot to the floor to take the chequered flag first. An all-rookie podium was completed by Lloyd in second and Gademan in third.

Standings leader Pin repaid the favour to Larsen, getting back through to fourth on the last lap. Palmowski finished in sixth ahead of Tina Hausmann and Block snatched the final point in P8.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Chambers will line up on pole for the third and final 17-lap race on Sunday. Lights go out for Race 3 at 10:55 local time (UTC -4).