Abbi was confident coming into the 4th weekend of the 2024 ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA at Thruxton and for good reason. Having topped a day of testing around the Hampshire circuit a week earlier and taking 3rd in the final practice session on the Friday, she was on course for a strong weekend.
Continuing in qualifying where she left off from practice, set the 4th fastest time overall, 0.106 off of pole in a characteristically close session. This gave her 3rd on the grid for race 1, 9th for the reverse grid race 2, and 4th for race 3.
From 3rd, Abbi had a decent start but a messy opening lap from the whole grid, quickly saw the safety car come out on lap 1, soon followed by a red flag. Abbi had dropped to 5th and this is where she would take the restart from. With the track cleared and the drivers involved ok, the grid were ready for the restart. Getting off the line well, Abbi slotted in behind Jack Sherwood and Reza Seewooruthun for the shortened race.
Tucked up behind the pair, she retained a watching brief for the first few laps as the pair got increasingly closer to each other. Abbi pounced on this opportunity and passed the pair of them, moving into 2nd place in the first part of the complex. From there, it was a case of keeping her Rodin Motorsport teammate, Alex Ninovic, behind her, which she did comfortably, claiming another podium - finishing in 2nd position.
For the reverse grid race, Abbi was racing from 9th on the grid. In a busy midfield group through the first corner and down to the first complex, Abbi kept out of trouble; however, as the field made their way through the second apex of the complex, Abbi was tagged, pitching her one way, then the other and into Jack Sherwood, which damaged her front wing and put Sherwood into the barrier. A precautionary red flag was thrown to deal with the incident and Abbi got back to the pitlane to get the car checked over and a new wing for the restart.
When the lights went out, Abbi was back into trying to fight her way through the field, but despite the team’s best efforts to get her car sorted, she was carried a wounded car for the remainder of the race - struggling with the car and bringing it home in 12th position.
The final race of the weekend saw Abbi line up in 4th – a safer starting slot than her previous race. With curfew closing in, the decision was made to start the race under safety car, meaning a rolling start took place. Holding 4th across the line and into the first complex, Abbi was right behind the number 23 of Zack Scoular, who was looking for a way past Jack Sherwood as a train of cars began to form.
As Scoular went for a move on Sherwood into the final chicane, he went deep, slowing him on exit and bunching the group, including Abbi, behind him. This allowed Sherwood back past Scoular and Abbi got through too, but Reza Seewooruthun and Alex Ninovic were able to get a run and get ahead of her, dropping her to 5th.
Collecting herself and getting back into the fight, less than a second was between herself and the car at the head of the battle for 2nd. This battle became the fight for the lead after race leader, Deagan Fairclough came to a stop on the exit of the first complex, bringing out the safety car.
Due to where Fairclough’s car was, the marshals were unable to clear it in time for a restart, so the race finished with a dash to the line from the final corner, leaving Abbi in 4th, just shy of another podium.
Abbi Pulling:
"Overall a very positive weekend with a strong qualifying that put us in a good position to fight for trophies in the races.
Race 1 from P3 saw me come out on top with some squabbling in P2! I dropped to P5 before the Red Flag but battled back strongly and I was very happy with that"
"Race 2 I got caught up in a crash that I couldn't avoid and we were carrying damage the entire race which meant we couldn't unleash our full potential sadly."
"The final race started P4 but we couldn't really make any positions due to how many stoppages there were in the race - which was a bit of a shame."
"Strong points however all weekend, as I am now half way through my British F4 campaign - as I will be missing a few rounds due to clashes with F1 Academy. But I am very happy that our pace has always been strong and it gives me great confidence going further into the rest of the season"
"Many thanks for Rodin Motorsport, Alpine Academy and all my sponsors for allowing me to be racing in British F4 to keep me sharp and collecting more and more trophies!"
Leaving Thruxton, Abbi sits 5th in the standings - ready for the next round at Silverstone in just one weeks time on the 15th – 16th June.
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