Abbie Eaton made history at Silverstone by becoming the first female driver in Porsche Carrera Cup GB to achieve both pole position and an overall race victory, dominating in wet conditions to secure her maiden win at the penultimate round of her rookie campaign.
Abbie Eaton enjoyed a breakthrough weekend at Silverstone, becoming the first female driver in the history of the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain series to secure both pole position and an overall race victory.
The Rebelleo Motorsport driver delivered a stunning performance in wet conditions at the Silverstone National circuit to claim a historic pole position overall on Saturday, soon followed up by her maiden podium and ProAm victory. On Sunday, Eaton went on to top herself and claimed a remarkable lights-to-flag victory during Round 14 of the championship.
Eaton joined the Porsche-one make series earlier this year, after contesting the full Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe campaign last year, in her Rebelleo Motorsport team's debut year. In one of the biggest and most competitive fields, Eaton collected valuable experience and scored a podium finish as well as several top-five finishes in her debut season.
The British driver, who had also previously raced in the all-female W Series championship, then brought her Rebelleo Motorsport to the equally competitive Porsche Carrera Cup GB, in a ProAm entry. The season started with a promising outing at Donington, then took a significant step forward at Brands Hatch, where she narrowly missed out on a ProAm podium in her second ever meeting.
However, Abbie displayed class-leading speed and maintained her 100% points scoring record in the series at Thruxton, following two seventh place ProAm class results - and again just missed out on a podium in race 1 at Croft, where she nevertheless claimed a top-five.
Eaton kept scoring points at Knockhill despite a more challenging round that saw her finishing seventh and eighth - despite running tenths away from the class pace-setters in qualifying.
Eaton returned to the top-5 at Donington Park, where she battled changeable conditions throughout the weekend - which again could have resulted in a podium in Race 2, before she was unfortunate to sustain damage, causing the first DNF of the season.
The seventh round of the season saw the Porsche Carrera Cup GB championship heading to the home of British motorsport - Silverstone - on the 2.639 km National layout.
The pre-event test was already a big step forward for Eaton, who showed speed not only to run at the top-end of ProAm, but also to challenge for the overall top five.
Sporting a special white-and-graffiti livery the Rebelleo #44 Porsche 992 GT3 Cup car was an eye-catcher in the Silverstone paddock, as the Eaton partnered with FAT International to raise awareness on the skyrocketing costs of motorsport: a $33,000,000 tag on the white car in fact represented the financial burden it takes for a driver to go from karting to F1 today.
The Rebelleo Motorsport project's mission has in fact primarily been to democratise the sport and level the playing field. Among the initiatives, the team partnered with Global Karting League at Donington Park, highlighting an affordable arrive and drive electric karting championship as one of the solutions to the soaring costs of national karting.
On Saturday at Silverstone, the #44 machine continued to turn heads also on track: Abbie Eaton secured a groundbreaking pole position, clocking a 54.437 lap that put the British driver on top of the overall classification by 0.052 of a second - in an outstanding performance that made the popular racer the first woman to score pole position in the series - and established her as the driver to beat.
As the lights went out for the first race of the weekend, Eaton led the 25-car field early on in tricky, wet conditions. This resulted in several drivers making mistakes and going off track - as Eaton kept her cool and continued to lead ahead of Ellis and Rainford.
On the second lap, Rainford made a move stick for second, as several drivers struggled with increasingly slippery conditions. Ahead, Eaton also ran wide and handed the overall lead to Charles Rainford, with Gamble now also a close third.
Rainford went on to win the race, but Abbie Eaton held off the pressure and secured second overall - and her first victory in the ProAm class, preceding Angus Whiteside and Ollie Jackson. With her remarkable win, her pace and consistency were evident, positioning her third on the grid for Race 2.
Round 14 of the season was again marked by unpredictable weather, with some drivers opting for slick tyres while others chose wet-weather Michelins just ahead of the start.
From third on the grid, Abbie Eaton made the right choice and immediately took the lead from the start, showcasing her mastery of the wet conditions.
As the rain intensified, she pulled clear of the competition, maintaining her position at the front of the pack and keeping the Pro class drivers at bay. Whiteside in fact dropped to fourth, with George Gamble becoming Eaton's only rival for overall victory.
Abbie however was unfazed and continued to log great laps in extremely tricky conditions, navigating through traffic of the slower cars. The leading duo lapped all cars up to tenth overall, but the Rebelleo Motorsport driver made no mistakes, leaving no room for her competitor.
At the end of a spectacular 29 lap race, Abbie Eaton took the chequered flag and became the first female driver to climb the top step of the overall podium in Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain, leading Gamble by 1.6 seconds. By securing the historic win, she also became the ninth different race winner of the 2024 season.
Having swept the Silverstone round in the ProAm class, Eaton will now aim to keep momentum at the season finale at Brands Hatch, on October 5-6.
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