Abbi Pulling delivered a solid performance at Knockhill, securing three top-ten finishes in the British Formula 4 championship despite a gearbox issue that hampered her race 3, as she now prepares for her next F1 Academy commitments.
Alpine Academy driver Abbi Pulling delivered a strong performance at the seventh round of the British Formula 4 championship held at Knockhill, Scotland, securing three top ten finishes. The current F1 Academy championship leader achieved a sixth-place finish in race one as her best result of the weekend, gaining two positions from her starting grid spot. Despite battling gearbox issues in race three, she demonstrated remarkable defensive driving to finish seventh, collecting more valuable points.
Pulling arrived at Knockhill fresh off her third podium finish of the season at Zandvoort, where she placed second in race two. Strong performances in pre-event testing and free practice sessions indicated that the Rodin Motorsport driver had the pace to contend at the front at the tricky Scottish circuit. Knockhill is a challenging track where limited testing takes place during the season, and its layout often results in very close margins, with one-tenth of a second making a significant difference on the starting grid.
In her previous seasons in British Formula 4, Pulling had achieved a sixth-place finish in 2020 and a fourth place in 2021. She aimed to improve on those results in her third season, which she is contesting alongside her F1 Academy commitments.
The weekend started positively for Pulling, who climbed the order in Wednesday testing and was second fastest in the second session, just a tenth behind championship leader Deagan Fairclough. She maintained second place in the third session, ending the day with a personal best time of 48.209 seconds.
On Friday, Pulling was just outside the top five, but her strong start was encouraging as she headed into qualifying with hopes of securing a front-running position. Qualifying on Saturday proved tricky, with several interruptions. A red flag came out just three minutes into the session when Scoular went off on his first lap.
The session resumed with 17 minutes left, but drivers barely completed a lap before another red flag halted proceedings, caused by Higgins' incident. When the green flag waved again, Campbell-Pilling set a new benchmark time, overtaking Cui, whose time had been the fastest in the first half of the session. Pulling initially fell to P14 but climbed back to P11 before the third red flag with five minutes remaining. After a quick interruption for Fu's Virtuosi Racing car, the session resumed.
Pulling moved up to fifth with a time of 48.615 seconds with two minutes to go. Deagan Fairclough secured double pole, ahead of Campbell-Pilling and Molnar. Abbi Pulling improved some sectors times but ultimately had to settle for seventh place in the fastest lap classification and eighth on the second fastest laps.
In the first 20-minute race of the weekend, Pulling started from P8. A crash involving Ella Lloyd, whose car flipped at the first corner, immediately brought out a red flag. After a lengthy recovery period, the race restarted with original grid positions.
Fairclough lost the lead at the restart to Campbell-Pilling, who moved into the lead. Pulling gained one position, passing Harrison on the first lap. However, Campbell-Pilling had jumped the start and received a 10-second penalty.
Despite setting purple laps, Campbell-Pilling struggled to break away, with Fairclough staying within a second. Ninovic was also two seconds behind after passing Molnar.
up to seventh place, Abbi closed in on her teammate Sherwood, just half a second ahead, setting her fastest sectors.
A safety car was deployed for Berg, who went off the track. The restart with nine minutes remaining saw Fairclough setting the fastest lap and overtaking Campbell-Pilling on lap 13, with Ninovic also aiming to move up. Pulling, two tenths behind Sherwood, resumed her chase, joining a group of cars battling for the final podium step led by Molnar under pressure.
Deagan Fairclough won race one, while Campbell-Pilling crossed the line in second but dropped to P8 after the penalty. Abbi Pulling gained a position at the chequered flag due to the penalty and finished P6, moving up two positions from the start in a very solid drive.
On Sunday morning, the conditions were again sunny and dry in Scotland. The reverse grid race as usual provided opportunities for action and points; Abbi started from P6 on the grid but lost one place to Harrison at the start, and eventually dropped to P8.
Ninovic ran off after contact with Higgins, allowing Abbi to gain a position and move to P7. Pulling then defended from Fairclough while attacking Harrison; Fairclough, who was starting eighth after the double pole position on Saturday, set the fastest lap and made a bold move past Pulling, who also dropped behind Harrison, moving back to P8.
Ninovic's troubles left his car stranded on track, resulting in a red flag with three minutes to go. Pulling gained P7 after Daryanani received a penalty, and the race was not resumed.
In the final race of the Scottish weekend, starting positions were based on the fastest laps from Saturday's qualifying, placing Pulling in seventh. At lights out, Molnar snatched second from Campbell-Pilling, while Fairclough retained the lead. Campbell-Pilling regained second on lap two, although Fairclough had now built a one-second margin.
Fairclough extended his lead, while Campbell-Pilling faced a two-second gap over Molnar, who had to watch his mirrors for Ninovic.
Meanwhile, Abbi Pulling closely followed Harrison in seventh, two-tenths up the road. The Alpine Academy driver continued to search for an opportunity to pass Harrison, with Seewooruthun closing in on the battle. However, she then faced a gearbox issue and, having lost fifth gear, she had to fight elbows out to held position in the second half of the race.
Abbi, under attack from Seewooruthun, lost touch with Harrison as she focused on defense. Despite the worsening technical issue, she held off the Hitech car with a masterful defense.
Fairclough secured his ninth race win of the season, ahead of Molnar, who managed to stay within the five-second margin once Campbell-Pilling received a penalty - with Ninovic taking third. Abbi held on brilliantly to take P7, concluding a solid weekend.
"It was slightly disappointing considering our pace in testing" - Pulling reflected. "Race 3 was very tough due to a gearbox issue which progressively worsened throughout the race."
Despite the challenges, Pulling's performance at Knockhill demonstrated her fighting spirit and racecraft, adding valuable points to her championship campaign.
The next round is scheduled for August 24-25 at Donington, but Pulling will miss the next two triple-headers of British F4 due to clashes with the F1 Academy. The all-female championship in fact will now head to Zandvoort, Netherlands, in two weeks, where Pulling aims to continue her superb start to the year, having claimed four wins and six podiums in the first three rounds.
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