BIANCA Bustamante capped a productive F1 Academy stint in Jeddah with another points finish in Race 2, surviving a crash-filled contest Saturday night at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Bustamante, who was 10th in the grid at lights out, managed to find on-track pace for key overtakes in the race which helped her cross the line at P8, an impressive performance for her first weekend with McLaren in F1 Academy.
Post-race penalties benefit Bustamante
But after post-race penalties, most notably to erstwhile race winner Doriane Pin, Bustamante was bumped up two places to P6.
The 19-year-old added eight points to her haul to settle in P4 in the driver’s championship standings with 18 markers to her name.
Abbi Pulling of Alpine leapfrogged Pin for the lead in the standings after the Mercedes-backed driver stumbled to P9 in Race 2.
Pin was handed a 20-second penalty for taking the checkered flag twice in the race, not knowing that the race had already ended and she crossed the line first.
Pulling leads with 44 points
Pulling is ahead of the pack with 44 points with Ferrari’s Maya Weug and Pin completing the top three with 33 and 32 points, respectively.
Bustamante hopes to build on her optimistic opening weekend when the F1 Academy season resumes at the beginning of May.
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