After missing the last 6 races of the British F4 Championship due to her F1 Academy Championship commitments, Abbi returned to RODIN Motorsport for the season finale at Brand Hatch GP.
Following Practice where the Alpine Academy and RODIN Cars backed driver got reacclimatised with the British F4 car, she hit the track for Qualifying on Saturday morning.
Frustratingly for the third time this season, an ill-timed red flags thwarted her, as the session was stopped just as she reached the start/finish line, with a lap good enough for P4 – which was denied due to the timing of the red flag.
As the session resumed for essentially a two-lap shootout, Abbi set the 9th fastest time - despite the traffic and manic end to the session.
Race 1 saw Abbi was immediately in the battle to move forward in the point, but she suffered front-wing damage on the opening lap, requiring her to pit for repairs – essentially turning her race into a test session, as she would cross the line P18 in a compromised race.
Race 2, starting from the second row - Abbi had a difficult getaway and fell to P6 in the opening lap – before quickly recovering back to P5 just one lap later and then quickly latched onto the gearbox of Martin Molnar ahead.
On Lap 4 of the race, a Safety Car for an incident involving race leader Jack Sherwood neutralised the field – this soon became a Red Flag and brought a stop to the race.
Sadly due to the tight schedule, the race was unable to be resumed – meaning Abbi would be classified P4, narrowly missing out on another podium finish of the season.
The third and final race of the day and British F4 Championship, took place as drizzle began to fall on the grid – providing a further element of jeopardy into the mix.
Abbi made a great start from P9, moving up into P6 at the end of the first lap in the challenging conditions of slick tyres on a damp track – before yet another Red Flag was called, due to the change in weather conditions.
This time the race however did restart, albeit starting from original grid positions – undoing all of Abbi’s great work.
As the race got underway a second time – now with wet tyres equipped, Abbi moved quickly up into P7, challenging teammate James Higgins for P6 – before being forced wide at the final corner and dropping down to P13 at the end of the opening lap.
Undeterred, Abbi made rapid progress back through the field, retaking 3 places on the following lap to move back into the points in P10, before gaining another position a couple of laps later up to P9.
Following a 4-lap Safety Car period, Abbi moved herself in P8 with 2 laps to go, before a small moment into Paddock Hill Bend, avoiding the spinning car of Bart Harrison ahead – meant she has to relinquish that position back she had just gained.
Abbi crossed the line in P8 for the final race of the season, recovering well from the opening lap drama and maximising her restarts well despite the tricky conditions.
Abbi Pulling:
“That is my final race weekend in Britisb F4 done. It has been a really good year with the team.
We missed seven races this year but I am happy with what we have achieved.
Qualifying was a bit frustrating with the red flag, especially as I just crossed the line and did a laptime that would have moved me up 4 spots but it was deleted and it put me on the back foot.
Race 1 I lost my front wing and had to box - the pace was good after then but it was not the result we wanted.
Race 2 I started 3rd and finished 4th in a race that was cut short after a big accident for my teammate - so I am really happy he is ok!
The final race of the year was a bit dramatic in mixed conditions! I made a great start to move up to 6th, before a red flag reset the grid.I made another great start gaining 4 positions before running wide at the end of lap one.
It cost me a few positions but I battled back up to 8th which was a good comeback!
It was great to come back to the championship, make history as the first female race winner and score multiple podiums.
I can't thank RODIN Cars enough for their support in British F4 as well as RODIN Motorsport for their great work with the car all season!"
Despite missing 7 races in total due to her F1 Academy clashes with the British F4 Championship, Abbi still finished P7 overall in the championship – taking victory at Brands Hatch Indy and two further podiums at Thruxton and Zandvoort for RODIN Motorsport.
Attention now turns back to F1 Academy, where Abbi will first be heading off for the Official Tests at Qatar and Abu Dhabi, before the final two rounds of the season take place at the end of November.
She leads the championship with a comfortable 95-point lead, aiming to add to her current 7 wins this season and bring home the championship title!
.svg)
