Abbie Eaton

Abbie Eaton is a British sportscar racer, who was a leading driver in the 2016 British GT championship.

Abbie started competing in the SaxMax junior championship in 2007, after four years of competitive karting. She was fourteenth overall in her first year, with a best finish of fourth overall.

She improved dramatically in 2008, to take fourth in the championship this time. Apart from two DNFs, she was never out of the top ten all season, although a win eluded her. Her best finish was second at Pembrey, and her lowest was sixth at Donington. She earned three podiums and two fastest laps.

In 2009, upon turning 17, she moved up to the Dunlop Sportmaxx Championship for production cars, driving a Vauxhall Corsa. She won her class fifteen times, and was crowned Class B champion at the end of the year.

Despite winning a championship in her first full season as a senior driver, she could not find enough sponsorship to race in 2010, other than a guest appearance in the Max5 championship for Mazda MX-5s. She was third.

In what would become a pattern for the next few seasons, she entered the Max5 championship in 2011, running for a part-season. Her best finish was fourth.

She returned to the series in 2012, but again, only managed a part-season, due to a major sponsor pulling out and an engine failure. Her best finish was fifth.

She did another part-season of four races in 2013, scoring a win at Oulton Park, and three other podiums.

In 2014, she made a full return to motorsport, in the MX-5 Supercup. Driving for the AE Racing  team, she fought off Tom Roche and won the title by one point, after five outright wins.

Most of 2015 was spent racing a BMW M3 for Geoff Steel Racing in the GT Cup, a step up in power for her. She won one race, at Silverstone, and achieved five more top-three finishes: three seconds and two thirds. This left her fifth in the championship. She and her team-mate, Michael Symons, were never out of the top five, apart from two DNFs.

She raced a Maserati GranTurismo MC in the 2016 British GT Championship, driving for Ebor GT Motorsport. Her team-mate was Marcus Hoggarth. She was a creditable fourth overall, and second in the Pro-Am class, with one second place at Oulton Park, and two more fourth places, at Spa and Donington. Ebor was a new team for 2016, and they had their difficulties, although Abbie was able to perform well and finish eight out of nine races.

Despite her solid results in 2016, Abbie was not retained by the team for 2017. She impressed in a one-off drive in the Blancpain Endurance Series, winning the Am class in an AF Corse Ferrari 488, but this did not lead to any more outings. Later in the year, she had a guest drive in the British GT Championship in a Ginetta G55, coming ninth in the GT4 class.

Late in 2017, Abbie was named as one of the resident test drivers for Amazon TV's The Grand Tour. She has appeared on screen several times and remained part of the team for 2018 and 2019.

2018 did not feature a regular drive, but she did make some impressive appearances in the JET Super Touring Trophy, driving a Holden Commodore which was one of the oldest and heaviest cars on the grid.

Australia was the new focus of her racing aspirations in 2019. She signed up for the Super2 Series, the junior championship for V8 Supercars, driving a Holden Commodore for Matt Stone Racing. It was not the easiest of debuts at Adelaide; she finished two of her three races with a best result of fourteenth. No more funding for extra races was forthcoming and she had to return to the UK.

In November, she was offered the VIP car for the Saudi rounds of the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy, supporting the first Formula E race of the season. She was fourth both times. In August 2020, she made another guest appearance at the Berlin circuit, finishing seventh, sixth and fifth.

Shortly after her first Jaguar race, she was announced as a driver for the 2020 W Series, despite having been sceptical of the concept previously. Her debut single-seater season was not spectacular, with sixth places at Zandvoort and Red Bull Ring the highlights. The low point was a serious multi-car crash at Circuit of the Americas, which left her with broken vertebrae in her neck. She missed the last round.

Before her accident, she had also been racing in the Praga class of Britcar, sharing a Praga R1T with Gordie Mutch and Ashley Dibden. They won one race at Silverstone and were second at Oulton later in the year.

She recovered in time for the start of the 2022 W Series season, having been invited back as the last regular driver. She was thirteenth in the championship after an uneven year, with a seventh place in her home race at Silverstone being her best result.

There was no W Series in 2023, as the championship had folded due to financial issues, so Abbie went back to sportscars. She raced in the European Lamborghini Super Trofeo, sharing with Daan Pijl in a car run by Rebelleo by Bonaldi Motorsport. They were seventh overall, finishing third once at the Nurburgring. Driving a different Lamborghini Huracan with John Seale, she entered the Donington round of the British GT championship, but did not finish.

In future, she has expressed interest in both Le Mans, and the Australian V8 Supercar series.

(Image from http://www.racing.gt/2016/02/my-racing-bucketlist-abbie-eaton/)