Ginetta alumni have scored a triple win at the Miami F1 Weekend this May. Read more about the race weekend in our blog.
Ginetta Junior graduates Lando Norris and Abbi Pulling dominated the racing in Miami this weekend.
Lando Norris
Lando Norris made his car racing debut in the 2014 Ginetta Junior Championship. Originally planning to only do the latter half of the season, Norris competed the whole season winning the Rookie title. He finished 3rd overall, achieving 4 race wins, 11 podiums and 9 pole positions along the way.
Norris claimed his first ever car racing win at Croft. He led from pole and defended the position against eventual championship winner Jack Mitchell.
In 2019 Norris became the first Ginetta Junior graduate to land a full time F1 drive. He immediately showed his talent. After opportunities in Monza and Sochi didn’t materialise into wins, many knew it was just a matter of time before he got his maiden F1 victory.
This weekend in Miami with his upgraded McLaren, Norris managed to close the gap to the leading pack after being held behind Perez. After the top 5 stopped for tyres, Norris found himself in the lead. A safety car played into Norris’ hands as he pitted for tyres and came back out in first place.
He then pulled a big gap to the three time World Champion Max Verstappen to claim his first F1 victory. This success makes him the first Ginetta Junior graduate to win an F1 race.
Abbi Pulling
In F1 Academy, Ginetta Junior and GT5 challenger Abbi Pulling put her stamp on the weekend. She claimed double poles and two race wins.
Pulling qualified half a second ahead for Race 1 and four tenths ahead for Race 2 to secure both pole positions. At the chequered flag of Race 1, Pulling had amassed a 5 second gap and repeated the win in Race 2 with a 3 second gap to the second place finisher.
Pulling’s dominant weekend put her top of the championship standings in her bid to become the second F1 Academy champion.
Ginetta is proud to see its graduates gain success at the highest level of motorsport. With the likes of Zak O’Sulivan in F2, Luke Browning leading the F3 Championship, Freddie Slater in F4 and Alisha Palmowski in GB4 following in their footsteps, we expect many more to come.
