Heading into the penultimate round of the Championship, Abbi had a 95-point gap at the head of the F1 Academy over her nearest rival, Doriane Pin.
Following a long break from the last round in Singapore, F1 Academy returned to the track in the desert at the Lusail Circuit in Qatar.
Abbi had a disrupted start to Practice 1, with a starter motor issue limiting her running to just 20 minutes in the opening session – but she still set the 2nd best laptime, despite this opening setback.
Practice 2 saw Abbi once again set the 2nd fastest time, exchanging fastest laps with her nearest rival Pin through the night session.
After a delayed start to qualifying, Abbi set the 3rd fastest time following the opening push laps - despite catching traffic in the final sector. After being held up in traffic, she elected to be the first of the runners to pit for new tyres for the next set of push laps.
Abbi would once again however catch traffic in the final sector on her next run by others starting their next set of runs, costing her over 2 tenths as she moved herself back up into 3rd into the final minutes of the session.
Despite the track position thwarting her progress, Abbi kept cool and retained a strong result at the chequered flag – meaning she would line up P3 for both Race 1 and Race 2.
Race 1 took place under the lights on Saturday night. Abbi made a great start to pressure the leaders and made a bold overtake on Maya Weug – moving into P2 and Championship winning position in the opening corners!
Abbi’s job was now to retain her position, with no mistakes as she reeled off the laps in pursuit of the F1 Academy title.
After extending her advantage to Weug behind in P3, Abbi could safely drive within herself for the remainder of the race, ticking off the laps whilst managing the tyres as she brought the car home.
Abbi would cross the line in P2, giving herself an unassailable lead in the standings and sealing the F1 Academy Championship title – with 3 races to spare after a superb campaign!
Abbi Pulling:
“It’s just everything that I wanted. It’s amazing being Champion. The team have worked so hard for this and they deserve it so much!
They’ve done everything that we’ve needed this year, RODIN Motorsport have given me everything that I’ve needed to do this. To do it in the fashion we have, I’m speechless.”
“It’s been incredible. Going into the year, I had no choice other than to win this. I’ve struggled financially in the past, and to get the prize for next year, I know it’s so early to be talking about next year, it makes me so happy and incredibly proud. “
“I can’t thank everyone who has got me in this position, Alpine, Rodin Motorsport, Rodin Cars and David Dicker, everyone in my team, I can’t thank them enough!
There’s so many people in my corner, my family, all the sacrifices my dad has made, it’s a big relief off of my shoulders and I've worked so hard for this.”
“I wanted to take that moment on the in-lap and really soak it up, and tell myself that I did this, the team did this — we did this! You don’t feel this way all the time!”
The second race of the weekend was sadly cancelled on Sunday morning, due to extensive barrier damage caused by an earlier race – that was unable to be repaired in the tight schedule of the day.
Following Abbi’s F1 Academy Championship success, she has therefore also had her 2025 season plans confirmed!
Her prize for winning the title includes a fully-funded seat in the 2025 GB3 Championship, where she will remain with RODIN Motorsport.
With the championship wrapped up, Abbi heads to the season finale of F1 Academy at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi next week to round off her excellent campaign – before heading into the Christmas break.