Fantastic fifth shows Abbi has the pace to challenge

A fantastic fifth place in race two of three was the highlight of the opening weekend of Abbi Pulling’s British F4 season opener at Thruxton over the weekend.

However, the Gosberton race ace’s strong finish was sandwiched between a pair of 12th places in races one and three – meaning she was 13th overall after the first meeting of the campaign.

Qualifying went well for Pulling ahead of Saturday’s first race, with the teenager second fastest behind her JHR Developments team-mate Matthew Rees.

The elements were against her in race one, though, as the team opted to run with wet tyres like much of the grid.

But, with no more rain falling on the Hampshire track, her great start – which saw her take the lead early on – was wiped out and she soon fell down the order.

James Hedley, one of those who braved slick tyres, was the eventual winner.

Starting on the back row of the field in the reverse grid race on Sunday, Pulling was in sensational form.

She rocketed up the field from the back row to finish in the top five of a race again won by Hedley, making ten passes in the process.

Back on the front row for the finale, the South Holland speedster again started well but the race was quickly red-flagged following an incident that blocked the circuit at the final chicane.

That meant that the race needed to be rescheduled for the end of the day and after the final British Touring Car Championship race.

With more rain falling in that time, Pulling didn’t manage as good a start and fell back to fifth before losing performance in her car.

That hampered her progress and she ended up nursing her car home to another 12th position.
Pulling said: “The championship isn’t won at the first round, it’s a long season, and I am confident in myself and the team.

“It’s annoying Snetterton is a month away as I want to redeem myself. I definitely had the pace for a win this weekend but things didn’t quite go right.

“Overall, the weekend was disappointing results-wise. We have shown we have a lot of pace, but we’ve been so unlucky in so many circumstances.

“I got up to third in race three, but I had no front left grip and we will have to investigate why the car lost so much pace. I couldn’t drive it any better, especially for the last five minutes.”

The series resumes at Snetterton in Norfolk over the weekend of June 11-13.