The season-opening round at Silverstone proved to be a difficult start to Abbi Pulling’s sophomore GB3 campaign with Rodin Motorsport, but the British driver at was still able to impress with her pace.
The 23-year-old qualified strongly by placing fourth and fifth in the two qualifying sessions respectively. In the second session, she was the just 0.004 seconds behind Rodin teammate Maxim Rehm who was third, demonstrating her pace.
“Qualifying was ultimately a success,” said Pulling in her latest column, available in this week’s issue of Motorsport News. “We were in the ballpark of where we are aiming to be this season.”
However, Pulling suffered retirements in both of the opening two races: with damage in race one and then after a collision with VRD Racing’s Patricio Gonzalez in race two. The 2024 F1 Academy champion had been on course for her second podium in GB3 until she and Gonzalez came together at Vale.
The Mexican had originally overtaken Pulling for third through Becketts but was re-passed by the Rodin driver with a committed move around the outside at Stowe.
“I wanted to fight for the position,” said Pulling. “That move is one I am particularly happy with, even if my race did end when we came together just a corner later.”
On the run down to the heavy braking zone at Vale, Pulling squeezed Gonzalez to the inside as he attempted to get back onto the podium. The VRD driver consequently hit the inside kerb, which sent his car airborne and over the top of Pulling in dramatic fashion.
“I’m a firm believer that you make your own luck, and this was certainly unfortunate,” conceded Pulling. “There were definitely some things leading up to that incident that I could have done better. A better safety car restart, for example, could have meant we were never in that situation.”
The incident left Pulling in the gravel and out of the race, whilst Gonzalez dropped to 11th by the chequered flag. After the efforts of her Rodin mechanics, Pulling was able to salvage an eighth place to end her weekend.
“It was all hands on deck in the team to get the car out there [for race three],” she said. “I have to thank Jack and the rest of my mechanics for their efforts because they gave us the chance to leave Silverstone with some points.”