Abbi Pulling secured a strong fightback at Silverstone - ending the weekend on a high at the fifth round of the GB3 Championship.

As the GB3 Championship moves into the second-half of the season, Abbi headed home to Silverstone for Round 5 of the Championship.

Abbi hit the ground running strongly in Thursday’s testing – as the Rodin Cars Ambassador setting the 3rd fastest time of the day, as they built up to the weekend.

Qualifying took place on a much cooler Saturday morning. Abbi ran in the top-ten for the majority of the opening session. Abbi struggled with an overall lack of grip throughout the session - ultimately just missing out on a lap time improvement in the final laps, ended up P12 at the chequered flag.
The second qualifying session was a similar story, with a difficult balance hampering Abbi’s progress – as she finished the session in P14, just missing out on the reverse-grid pole position for Race 3.

The opening race was initially delayed, following two aborted starts. Abbi got a good launch from P12 and battled hard through a solid opening lap – which saw her emerge from the opening lap in P11.
She immediately attacked the car ahead into Copse Corner, moving herself up and into the top ten early on, despite some sizeable contact from a rival in the process.
Abbi was soon up to P9 on Lap 5 and managed to DRS herself up this inside of her next rival at the end of the Wellington Straight – briefly claiming P8, before she was forced wide at Luffield and was forced back a place.
As Abbi pushed to recover her position, she unfortunately got baulked by the driver defending ahead – losing her momentum and two positions as the race headed into the closing stages.
She would cross the line in P12 at the chequered flag, following an unfortunate end to the race – despite a promising start.

Race 2 on Sunday morning saw Abbi have a difficult opening lap – as she was delayed through the apex of Vale Cotner and lost positions as they headed onto the Hamilton Straight.
Abbi was then unfortunately taken out of the race one lap later. A rival behind locked-up into Village Corner, hitting her rear right wheel and breaking the suspension in the process.
Sadly eliminating Abbi from the race before it really got started.

The third and final race of the weekend, took place in damp but drying conditions – following a downpour between the two races.
Abbi made a great start from P13, bravely going around the outside of two rivals in Copse corner, moving herself immediately into P11. Before gaining any other position with a bold move around the outside of Vale Corner – hauling herself into the top ten early on.
Abbi continued her strong progress, moving through the pack with her fellow Rodin Motorsport teammate Alex Ninovic.
She showed excellent race craft, making a second double-overtake on the Wellington Straight to move herself into P7 with two-laps to go.
Abbi’s strong pace saw her immediately latch onto her rival ahead onto the final lap . She closed the gap to move herself into the DRS zone on the Wellington Straight and ‘sent’ a bold move around the outside of Brooklands Corner, that so nearly paid off!

A very strong drive in challenging conditions saw Abbi secure P7 at the chequered flag, as well as 6 bonus points for her progress from P13 on the grid – closing out the Silverstone weekend with a great recovery drive.
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Abbi Pulling:‍

"Testing went really well and we were right on the pace and I was feeling comfortable. Qualifying conditions however didn’t work in our favour , so I ended up qualifying a bit out of position for the races.
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Race 1 I was able to move forwards and make up good ground - gaining 4 spots , but some contact dropped me back and killed the momentum. Ultimately it was very frustrating to finish where I started because we showed there was potential for much more.
The second race, there wasn’t much to say really as I was taken out on lap 2, but Race 3 was very positive!
Moving myself from P13 to P7 - which was very encouraging that I could show some of the potential we had all weekend!
Very pleased with the progress in that race, making some good moves on a tricky drying track and it was great to end a weekend with strong performance.

The aim is to continue the momentum into Brands Hatch, keep improving and hook up the entire weekend to maximise the potential we have been able to show a number of times this year.

Thanks as always to the team for all their hard work, Rodin Cars, F1 Academy , all my partners and to everyone who came this weekend ! It really means a lot to see so many of you at the track and I appreciate all of your support."

Following a strong ending to her Silverstone weekend, Abbi will be back in racing action at Brands Hatch GP, for the sixth round of the GB3 Championship on the 23-24 August.

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Photos by Mat Acton Photography.