Abbi Pulling

 

Abbi Pulling is a British single-seater driver who raced in F4 and the Formula 3-based Euroformula Open championship in 2020.

Prior to her step up to cars, she was one of Britain’s most successful karters of 2017. She won the Super 1 Junior TKM championship and the British ‘O’ Plate championship outright. She had been runner up in Super 1 Junior TKM in 2016. 

She made her car racing debut at the start of 2018 in Ginetta Juniors in the UK. Her first race was shortly after her fifteenth birthday and she proved herself capable of top-ten finishes, including a ninth place at Brands Hatch, but she only did a part-season. For the other half of the season she got back into a kart and trained further. 

She became supported by Motorsport UK in both competition and studies, and made her step up to senior competition in 2019. The season in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge got going a little slowly, but she became more and more confident and scored her best finish right at the end of the season: sixth at Donington.

In 2020 she switched to single-seaters, which had always been her aim. She raced in British F4 with the JHR Developments team. She had a cautious start to the season at Donington with a fifteenth and then a sixth place, then a disappointing non-finish, but she made up for it with her first podium at Brands Hatch. She posted three more podium finishes: thirds at Croft and Brands and a season’s-best second at Thruxton. The second place was particularly welcome after a nightmare meeting at Knockhill with two non-finishes, one from pole.

The Brands third place was one of the most impressive of the year. Abbi led after a lengthy caution period, having steered her way through a multi-car off. She was reeled in by Zak O’Sullivan and Christian Mansell, but it was a strong performance nevertheless.

She also had her first international race in 2020, when she was invited to take up a guest spot in the Formula Renault Eurocup F3 championship with Fernando Alonso’s FA Racing team. She joined the grid at Imola and finished both races in fifteenth and 16th place. 

She was announced as a reserve driver in W Series for 2021, having been passed over a year earlier due to her age. This was meant to be combined with another British F4 season, but funding ran out at the end of August. It had been a decent year for her, with three third places at Brands and Thruxton.

Her first W Series appearance was in July, at Silverstone, where she was eighth. She rejoined for Round 6 at Zandvoort and was seventh, but she really impressed in the two Circuit of the Americas races with a fourth place from pole and a second. After four races, she was seventh in the championship.

W Series gave her a full-time seat for 2022, although the season was shortened due to financial constraints. She picked up another second place fairly quickly at Catalunya, followed by a third in her home race at Silverstone. She was fourth in the championship.

Away from W Series, she accepted a guest drive in the UK Radical championship, sharing a car with her erstwhile driver coach Alice Powell.

W Series imploded at the beginning of 2023, but Abbi had already jumped ship to F1 Academy, another all-female series using F4 cars. She was one of the first drivers announced and drove for the Rodin Carlin team. Although she was expecting to dominate the championship, she struggled with car issues and a technical disqualification at Paul Ricard. Her best finish was third, which she managed three times, and she was fifth overall.

In 2024, she will continue in F1 Academy, as the Alpine team's supported driver. She is also set to contest the British F4 championship again.

(Image copyright Abbi Pulling)