Following her maiden GB3 Podium at Brands Hatch GP last month, Abbi headed to Donington Park for the seventh round of the Championship.
Free Practice Thursday took place in Dry conditions – with Abbi setting the 3rd fastest time in the opening session of the weekend. Ending the day with a promising pace with 2/3 sessions well inside the top-10.
Friday was wet and windy, taking place during Storm Amy – with difficult conditions a factor throughout the day. Abbi performed strongly once again – setting the 5th and 3rd fastest times in the sessions she competed in during the wet running.
Qualifying 1 on Saturday morning was dry, but windy and cold…making switching the tyres on pivotal for all drivers and track position being vital.
Abbi consistently popped in and out of the top-8 throughout the session, but ultimately ended up being very unlucky with the timing of a red flag with 3-minutes to go, just as she was about to improve her best lap by almost three-tenths of a second. Leaving her P12 into the stoppage – only 0.127s from P8.
The session restarted with 2 minutes on the clock – with time for one-final flying lap, but with rain now falling…conditions meant that improvement was not possible – meaning Abbi would start from P12 on the grid for Race 1 on Saturday afternoon.
Qualifying 2 took place shortly after the first session, with all cars now on wet tyres as the rain fully arrived at the circuit.
Abbi took a while building up her tyres in the tricky conditions, popping herself P9 with 3-minutes to go. As the session reached the conclusion, Abbi had kept her tyres in good condition – finishing setting the 8th fastest time the chequered flag, just over a tenth from a top-6 result.
Therefore Abbi would line-up P8 on the grid for Race 2 on Saturday morning.
However Post-Session, Abbi was sadly disqualified from Qualifying for not weighing within 15-minutes of the end of the session.
Meaning she would start from the back of the grid in all races this weekend.
Race 1 on Saturday saw conditions dry up and Abbi made a brilliant opening lap! She moved herself into P13 ahead of the first lap, before gaining another position at the start of lap 2 – with another shortly after following a collision ahead.
The Safety Car was deployed on Lap 3, with Abbi now running in P11 and on the fringe of the top-10.
Racing resumed on Lap 6, with Abbi making a move up to P10 at the chicane – repeating the same move just one lap later to get to P8 with ten-minutes left to run.
Abbi then focussed on closing down the gap to P7 ahead, whilst trying to break the DRS to the car behind.
The second Safety Car was deployed with 6-minutes to go, with Abbi now running a superb P7 – gaining 10 positions in ten minutes.
Due to the recovery time required, the race would finish under the Safety Car – with Abbi crossing the line in a superb P7, after a great comeback drive from the back of the grid!
Race 2 on Sunday morning saw Abbi not make the best of starts from P16 – after a long hold by the starting lights, but she still moved herself forward into P14 at the end of the opening lap.
On lap 4 – Abbi made a move into the ‘Melbourne Hairpin’, which resulted in minor contact – but moved herself into P13, just before the Safety Car was deployed.
As the race restarted, she latched onto the back of the car infront – making a move stick on the following lap to move into P12.
She continued the pressure on the cars infront, as a train began to form in the fight for P9. Abbi was shuffled back briefly to P14 as they all bunched up at the hairpin, but battled back into P13 on the start of the final lap.
Abbi finished the race in P12, gaining four positions from her starting grid slot after the in-race penalties were applied.
The third and final race saw Abbi start from P20 on the grid, following a three-place grid penalty from the contact in the previous race.
She made a good start to move into P17, as the cars heading into ‘The Esses’ for the first time. A collision ahead saw the pack bunch up, leaving Abbi nowhere to go – as unavoidable contact caused severe front suspension damage, putting her out of the race and preventing her from making any further inroads.
Abbi Pulling:
"The weekend didn’t really go to plan. We were really fast though testing - with multiple top 5 finishes in testing , both in wet and dry conditions.
Unfortunately in qualifying I made a mistake and didn’t weight within the required time and ultimately the rules were the rules...
I had to then start from the back in every race - which sadly meant I lost some really good grid positions.
Race 1 I managed to make really good progress , and finish P7 despite most of the race being under safety car - I felt I showed what I can do , making up so much ground in such little racing time!
Race 2 I once again came through the pack from the back-of-the-grid, albeit progress was a bit more difficult this time around, so I ended up finishing P12.
I saved my best tyres for Race 3 - since we earnt points for every place you gain and I was starting from P20. I made a good start up to P16 but sadly got caught up in a crash infront, which I had no chance to avoid.
It sadly just wasn’t meant to be this weekend and it was a weekend to take on the chin - where we ultimately did not get the results our pace deserved.
A big thank you to the team for all their support and hard work as always, as well as Rodin Cars, all my sponsors and everyone who sent me messages of support.
I will be doing my upmost to make sure I bounce back strongly, giving my everything in Monza to end the season on a high and get the results we have proved we can achieve!"
Abbi next heads into the final round of the GB3 Championship season, which takes place at Monza on the 16-19 October.
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Photos by Mat Acton Photography & Jakob Ebrey Photography.
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