Abbi Pulling wraps up British F4 season with Top-5 at Brands Hatch

Abbi Pulling concluded the British F4 season with strong performances at Brands Hatch, achieving two top-ten finishes, a top-five result, and narrowly missing a podium, finishing seventh overall in the championship standings despite missing two rounds.

Photo credits: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Abbi Pulling ended the British F4 season with two top-ten finishes at the Brands Hatch finale, including a top-five result and a near-podium finish, capping off a great second race of the weekend that saw the Rodin Motorsport driver finish fourth.

Pulling returned to British F4 after missing the previous round at the Silverstone National Circuit due to clashing commitments with the F1 Academy.

The British driver has enjoyed a remarkable campaign, her third in the series and her first since 2021, scoring a win and three podiums. The historic victory, the first for a female driver in British F4, came at Brands Hatch during the second round of the season, which also hosted the tenth and final round of the year.

The Alpine Academy driver is contesting a double program alongside the all-female F1 Academy championship, where she leads with seven race wins out of ten races to date, maintaining a 100% podium finish rate with race meetings to go.

To wrap up the British F4 campaign, Pulling returned to Brands Hatch, the iconic 3.916 km circuit in Kent that hosted 12 F1 GPs between 1965 and 1986. This time, drivers tackled the fast and challenging GP track layout, making pre-event testing particularly important.

During testing in the week prior to the event, Pulling showed good speed and was close to the top five. In the first practice on Friday, Abbi was also close to the top five, finishing sixth fastest, just half a second behind the pace-setter, Deagan Fairclough. In the second practice session that afternoon, which was interrupted by a red flag, she found more time and ended in the top ten in the combined results.

During qualifying on Saturday morning, Fairclough was immediately under the 1:30 barrier, with times tumbling quickly. A red flag came out with 11 minutes to go, and Pulling had yet to record a time. When the session resumed, Pulling secured a spot in the top ten with a time of 1:25.257. Another red flag with one minute to go left her in P10, with her second-fastest lap placing her P9 on the grid for race one.

At the start of the first race of the weekend, Fairclough made a good getaway, while Reza Seeworuthun struggled slightly. Abbi started in ninth place and maintained her position but was then involved in contact that broke her front wing, forcing her to pit. She rejoined the race at the back of the field.

Despite a lonely race from that moment, Pulling set great lap times, recording a 1:25.4, which was competitive with the top-six pace.

Ninovic went off into the gravel on lap 9, bringing out the Safety Car with six minutes to go, and the race ended under the caution. Unfortunately, Abbi didn't get a chance to make up positions and finished P19, although she would later gain one position after a post-race penalty for August Raber. Fairclough won from pole, ahead of Seewooruthun and Robinson.

The second race on Saturday was a make-up race for the postponed Silverstone round. Pulling was not on the grid as she wasn't initially part of the weekend due to her commitment to the F1 Academy round in Singapore, where she won both races and extended her championship lead.

The reverse grid race on Sunday morning promised plenty of action, with Abbi Pulling lining up from third place, providing a great chance for another strong result.

Pulling fell back at the start, while Ninovic and Sherwood made great starts. Abbi dropped to sixth but regained fifth after a mistake by Campbell Pilling. She then battled Molnar for fourth but the battling duo lost ground to Ella Lloyd, who held on to third.

Sherwood went off while leading, bringing out the Safety Car with 12 minutes to go. The race was then soon red-flagged due to barrier damage at Sheene's corner after Sherwood's car rolled over, though thankfully, he was unhurt.

The race was ultimately not resumed, and Abbi Pulling finished P4, just missing out on a podium. Only 50% points were awarded due to the partial race completion, but it was still a great result for Pulling, securing another top-five finish - the sixth this year.

The final race of the season saw wet conditions as rain started to fall in the afternoon. Pulling lined up from ninth place. In worsening conditions, several cars went off at turn 1, including Higgins. Fairclough led from Seewooruthun and Robinson, with the Safety Car out and then a red flag as more cars went off in the tricky conditions.

After a lengthy red flag due to weather, Pulling restarted in P9: at the green flag, she lost a few positions and dropped to P13. Despite the lack of grip, Abbi began to recover, passing Bearman and then Ella Lloyd on lap 3 to move into the top ten.

She set the fastest sector two time and gained on Cui; Raber and Fu went off track in unrelated incidents, bringing out another Safety Car with 10 minutes to go.

Pulling and Lloyd were running closely and were trying to catch Molnar just before the neutralization.

After a late restart, Abbi made some strong moves to finish eighth. Fairclough won the final race of the season by over four seconds from Robinson and Ninovic.

Abbi Pulling's eighth-place finish secured another top-ten result in the season finale: she ended the championship seventh in the standings despite missing two rounds due to clashes with the F1 Academy.

Abbi collected a historic victory — the first-ever for a female driver in British F4 — three podiums, six top-five finishes, and 16 top-ten finishes. After this positive end of the season, she now aims to focus on the F1 Academy series, which she currently leads with two more rounds to go, hoping to finish the year on a high.