Hamda Al Qubaisi Dominates Aragon Testing, Tops Timesheets for Second Consecutive Day

Hamda Al Qubaisi showcased her speed and skill by setting the fastest time for the second consecutive day as testing came to a close in Aragon.

The talented Emirati driver recorded the only sub-two-minute lap of the day, clocking in at an impressive 1:59.937 in the morning session, underlining her dominance on the track. The weather remained sunny throughout the day, providing ideal conditions for the drivers to push their limits.

In the tightly contested morning session, the entire grid was separated by less than a second. Al Qubaisi’s blistering pace put her at the top of the timesheets, with Rodin Carlin’s Abbi Pulling finishing a close second and the top three drivers all within two tenths of each other. The morning session saw the drivers collectively complete 480 laps on the 5.344km track, showcasing their determination and competitiveness.

In the afternoon session, Filipino driver Bianca Bustamante took charge and led the way with a time of 2:00.152, ahead of Pulling and series leader Marta García, both of whom are teammates of Bustamante at Rodin Carlin. The drivers continued to push their limits during the second outing, completing a total of 384 laps and pushing the overall tally for the day beyond 850.

Bustamante, representing PREMA Racing, expressed her delight at the progress she made over the two days of testing: “I really enjoyed Aragon, I have never been here before, so I think it was a huge challenge for myself to keep on improving in the areas I had to work on. The extra track time helped me quite a lot to work on my craft and technique.”

She further added, “I think we hit our targets for this event, of course at first we were learning the track, but by the end, we were pushing performance and we hit the goals that we set and even went beyond them. For Day 2, we were quite consistent, not too far away from the ultimate pace, but on the last run of new tires, we eventually got the result of P1.”

Looking ahead to Round 4 in Zandvoort next week, Bustamante shared her thoughts and preparations for the upcoming race: “Zandvoort is a new track for me, and there is a lot of pressure because I want to perform well. We need to prepare as much as possible before the weekend, watching onboards and going into the sim. As always, I am not really looking for a result but growth and progression.”

With the impressive performances seen during the Aragon testing, anticipation is high for the upcoming round in Zandvoort, where drivers will continue to push their limits and strive for growth in the competitive championship.