Abbi Pulling secures top-5 finish on GB3 debut
- LIAM REDFORD
- 2 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Reigning F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling stepped up to the GB3 Championship and secured a top-5 finish on her debut at Silverstone, where the Rodin Motorsport driver showed excellent pace throughout the event, including a best qualifying result of fourth.
Reigning F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling stepped up to the GB3 Championship and secured a top-5 finish on her debut at Silverstone. The Rodin Motorsport driver showed excellent pace throughout the event, securing a best qualifying result of fourth. Pulling drove superbly to finish race one in fifth and race two in sixth, before she was spun in race three which led to an unfortunate retirement.
The GB3 Championship moved into a new era for the 2025 season with an all-new Tatuus MSV GB3-025 car, along with a calendar incorporating more Grand Prix venues. Abbi Pulling was crowned 2024 F1 Academy champion after a phenomenal campaign which saw the Rodin Motorsport driver dominate as she won nine of the 14 races. She combined this with a program in the British F4 Championship where Abbi finished seventh in the standings, despite missing two rounds due to her F1 Academy commitments.
As part of the F1 Academy prize, Pulling graduated to GB3 Championship, with the 2025 season beginning at Silverstone before trips to Zandvoort, Spa-Francorchamps and the Hungaroring. The drivers then return to Britain for a second round at Silverstone in August, before tackling Brands Hatch and Donington Park. The season concludes at Monza in support of International GT Open in October.
In addition to the calendar changes, the new car also features a number of improvements. While the Tatuus MSV GB3-025 boasts improved power output to its predecessor, the drivers will also utilise a DRS system which compares to that used in FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3. As a result, the GB3 Championship provides a perfect platform for racers looking progress up the single seater ladder.
Ahead of the Silverstone season opener, the drivers were given a series of test sessions on both Thursday and Friday to gain further experience. At the end of Thursday’s running, Pulling had set the sixth fastest time overall and was less than half a second away from the quickest time set by Freddie Slater.
Two further sessions were held on Friday and Abbi enjoyed another positive day of running: she set an identical time to her best lap on Thursday as she remained solidly inside the top-10, ending the day seventh fastest overall.
Qualifying was held on Saturday morning with both sessions held back-to-back. The majority of the drivers struggled to match their best times from testing in the first session, however Pulling made a fast start. She was regularly the fastest driver in the final sector and as a result, she qualified in fourth position on a time of a 1:52.913.
The second qualifying session followed directly after with the drivers looking to use the knowledge gained from the first fifteen-minutes. Pulling improved her times from the first session with Abbi’s quickest lap placing her in sixth position.
Pulling lined up from fourth on the grid with the lineup set by the times from the first qualifying session. The Rodin Motorsport driver made an excellent start and held her position into Copse, before defending stoutly into Maggotts. At Stowe, Alex Ninovic made a great move to claim fourth position while Pulling slotted into fifth.
At the end of lap one, Pulling had a margin of over two seconds to Kai Daryanani behind her and this was crucial as DRS was enabled. Pulling was doing a nice job to remain within DRS range of Ninovic ahead as Freddie Slater was breaking away from the field out front. Pulling’s pace was extremely strong in the opening stages and by the end of lap four, her margin to Daryanani was now three seconds.
As the pace at the head of the field quickened, Pulling just fell outside of DRS range of Ninovic as the race approached halfway. Pulling remained consistent and this enabled her to remain just over a second behind her Australian teammate. With three laps remaining, the margin behind her grew to four seconds as she confidently established herself as a top-5 challenger.
On the penultimate lap of the race, Pulling was the second fastest driver on track behind Slater as she mounted one final challenge on Ninovic. Although Abbi was unable to find a way past her teammate, she was again the second fastest driver on the final lap to complete her first GB3 Championship race in an excellent fifth position.
For the second race of the weekend, Pulling started from sixth position with the grid based on the lap times set in the first qualifying session, while Deagen Fairclough lined up from the rear after a change of chassis.
From the third row of the grid, Pulling made a good start and settled into seventh position behind Indian driver Kai Daryanani. The safety car was then deployed at the end of the first lap after two cars had stalled on the grid.
The race was neutralised for only one lap and on the restart, Pulling did a superb job to defend from Patrick Heuzenroeder. This ensured she held seventh position while remaining within DRS range of Daryanani.
Overtaking was proving challenging despite the aid of DRS, however Pulling was confidently searching for a way past Daryanani. The JHR Developments driver also received a warning for excessive weaving as he fought hard to fend off the reigning F1 Academy champion.
On lap 10, an incident between Keanu Al Azhari and Dion Gowda resulted in the safety car being deployed. The race ended at a reduced speed with Pulling taking the chequered flag in seventh. Following post-race penalties awarded to two drivers, Pulling was subsequently promoted to sixth.
For the final race of the weekend, the grid was formed by the fastest times from qualifying with a partial reverse grid. As a result, Pulling lined up from fifth position. It was an extremely busy opening lap, with Pulling running side-by-side for the majority of the opening lap.
As the cars entered the Hamilton Straight, Pulling was on the outside line and contact from Dion Gowda on the inside turned both cars into the pit wall. It was an unfortunate end to the weekend for Abbi who showed exceptional pace on her GB3 Championship debut.
Although Pulling’s event ended in misfortune in race three, she displayed excellent pace throughout the weekend on her way to a top-5 result. She will now be looking forward to a trip to Zandvoort in the Netherlands which hosts the next round of the GB3 Championship on the weekend of 17th/18th May.