A grey and windy Knockhill greeted Abbi for the 7th weekend of racing in the 2024 ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA. Testing in the build up to the event had been encouraging with the Alpine Academy and RODIN Cars supported driver completing Wednesday’s test day in P2 overall.
Qualifying was littered with red flags to rescue cars that had been caught out by the Butchers chicane. As a result, there was only time for one real qualifying run, which produced a mixed grid. Abbi managed to keep out of trouble, unlike some of the grid, and would line up P8, P6 and P7 with just 0.8 seconds covering the top 16.
The red flag was quickly brought out at the start of race 1 to recover Ella Lloyd’s car after it took a dramatic roll through turn 1. At the second attempt, Abbi was up into P7 by the end of lap 1, hot on the heels of her Rodin Motorsport teammates, Alex Ninovic and Jack Sherwood.
Sticking on their gearbox, Abbi searched for a way through. Knockhill is not the easiest place to pass in single seaters with the final hairpin providing the best chance to get through and this is where Abbi attacked Sherwood most. The safety car came out on lap 7, neutralising the race, but was short-lived and Abbi was free to recommence her attack on Sherwood on lap 11.
Despite being the faster of the pair and never being more than half a second behind, finding a way past proved difficult, finishing the race in P6 when the chequered flag went out.
Sunday saw a complete change in the weather as the sun shone across the picturesque track, bringing the summer heat with it. Abbi lined up in P6 for the reverse grid race, but lost out at the start, dropping to P7. A lap later, her teammate Sherwood snuck through - but was only able to stay ahead for two laps as Abbi was back ahead.
Abbi was straight onto the back of Harrison, hustling him for a way through but had Fairclough breathing down her neck at the same time. For lap-after-lap, Abbi managed the tricky situation of attacking Harrison whilst keeping Fairclough at bay. When the flag dropped after 20 minutes of racing, Abbi came home in P7.
For the final race of the weekend, the field got away cleanly with the top 12 remaining unchanged as they completed Lap 1.
Abbi was resuming her battle with Bart Harrison from Race 2 as Reza Seewooruthun following close behind. Again, Abbi attacked Harrison, looking for a way through at the final hairpin or maybe into turn 1 with a run down the start/finish straight but to no avail.
At around the halfway stage, gearbox problems began to creep in, making shifting up and down through the gears difficult. This put Abbi on the defensive against Seewooruthun as he began to apply pressure. Abbi placed her car perfectly into the final hairpin, parking it on the apex and denying Seewooruthun of a move up the inside or a better exit onto the straight as he desperately tried to get through each lap.
Abbi was also mindful of a lunge into McIntyres, covering the inside but again, slowing the car on the apex and avoiding running out wide, preventing Seewooruthun from sneaking through. As this went on, Yuanpu Cui, Leo Robinson and James Higgins all joined in, adding to the pressure. However, Abbi was able to absorb it all, not putting a foot wrong and held P7 as the chequered flag flew.
Abbi Pulling:
"Overall, it was consistent weekend but I wanted to be consistently higher scoring more points. It is my last British F4 weekend before going into a bit break – as I will miss the next two weekends due to clashes with F1 Academy. So I will be back at Brands Hatch for my next round."
"P7, P6 and P7 was a consistent set of results – we just a bit unlucky with qualifying and the timing after the red flag. It was all so close, 1 tenth quicker would have put me P3 and then it is a different race!"
"We had good race pace, always putting pressure on the car Infront and attacking – it was just very hard to overtake.
The final race we had a gearbox problem where it would jump in and out of gear, eventually losing 5th gear and a significant amount of time each lap. I had to figure out the best way to manage it and I was happy how I defended and maintained my position despite the issue and maximised the result."
"Currently I am P6 in British F4 – only around 50 points behind P3, which is where we could’ve been challenging for with less difficult weekends at Silverstone and Zandvoort - where we had some misfortune, but it is all a part of racing.”
"Thank you to RODIN Cars for all their support as always!
I am looking forward to Zandvoort in 2 weeks’ time, back in F1 Academy Car with RODIN Motorsport and the Alpine Academy.”
Abbi leaves Knockhill sitting in 6th in the standings for the 2024 ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA. She will be missing the next two round of the championships due to a clash with her F1 Academy campaign, which resumes in just two-weeks time at Zandvoort on the 23rd – 25th August.
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