Emma Felbermayr Tops Austin Practice Ahead Of Palmowski

Emma Felbermayr set the pace during the opening and only practice session at the Circuit of the Americas, clocking a 2:08.949 around the Austin track to lead the field ahead of standings leader Alisha Palmowski, f1academy.com reported.

Felbermayr Leads Practice Ahead of Palmowski in Austin

The Audi driver established the benchmark time in a heavily contested opening session that saw frequent changes at the top of the timesheets. Felbermayr finished nearly two tenths of a clearance ahead of Red Bull Racing driver Alisha Palmowski, with Nina Gademan securing third quickest for the weekend opener.

Track evolution dictated much of the running as drivers pushed the limits of the Austin circuit. Early in the session, Felbermayr became the first driver to post a recorded time at 2:17.563, quickly superseded by Gademan and later MP Motorsport teammate Alba Larsen. Larsen broke into the 2:09 bracket midway through the session with a 2:09.733 lap.

Track limits at Turn 1 proved challenging for the grid, resulting in multiple deleted lap times as competitors probed the boundaries of the asphalt. Payton Westcott caused a brief yellow flag period following a spin at Turn 19, though the driver recovered cleanly and returned to the pits without major incident. Mathilda Paatz missed the entire session while engineers worked on her PREMA-operated #8 Aston Martin.

Late Improvement Secures P1 for Felbermayr

As the clock ticked down to the final minutes, Palmowski posted a 2:09.127 to briefly seize the advantage less than a tenth ahead of the Austrian driver. Felbermayr answered immediately on her final push, dropping below the 2:08 barrier to secure the top spot by 0.178 seconds over Palmowski at the chequered flag.

Gademan finished the session in third place, followed by Westcott in fourth and Rachel Robertson in fifth. Despite holding the lead during the middle phase of practice, Larsen slipped to sixth ahead of Lisa Billard and Natalia Granada. Ella Stevens and Rafaela Ferreira rounded out the top ten positions.

Qualifying Schedule at Circuit of the Americas

Competitive running resumes at 16:30 local time (UTC-5) with the official qualifying session. The fastest lap times recorded during qualifying will determine the starting grid for Sunday’s Feature Race, while the second-fastest times will set the order for Friday evening’s Opening Race.