GB3: Abbi Pulling battles back to fourth at Hungaroring despite two unfortunate retirements
- RACERS
- 22 hours ago
- 4 min read
Despite suffering two unfortunate race-ending incidents, Abbi Pulling once again demonstrated front-running pace at the Hungaroring, securing an excellent fourth-place finish in the GB3 Championship, in her second-best result of the season to date.
Abbi Pulling endured a frustrating but ultimately encouraging weekend at the Hungaroring as the Rodin Motorsport driver demonstrated front-running pace throughout the third round of the GB3 Championship but was twice denied stronger results by getting caught in incidents.
The 2024 F1 Academy champion recovered from a difficult opening race before securing an excellent fourth-place finish in Race 2 - her third top-five result of the season - only to suffer another retirement after being collected in an unavoidable first-lap accident in the reverse-grid finale.
While the final results did not fully reflect her speed, Pulling once again ran among the championship's quickest drivers.
After an encouraging start to her second full GB3 Championship campaign with Rodin Motorsport, Pulling arrived at the Hungaroring carrying significant momentum following a breakthrough weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, where became the first woman to win a race in the current era of GB3, converting a pole position into a commanding lights-to-flag victory before adding another top-five finish.
Having also shown front-running pace at Silverstone despite being hampered by incidents outside her control, Pulling had consistently run among the frontrunners in all previous rounds of the season and climbed to sixth in the championship standings before the Budapest event.
The third round at the Hungaroring presented a very different challenge compared to Spa-Francorchamps. The tight and technical Hungarian circuit, renowned for its slower and flowing corners, limited overtaking opportunities and high temperatures, placed an even greater emphasis on qualifying. Pulling however looked set to for another weekend battling inside the top five.
She opened qualifying by setting a 1:36.974 to move into second before steadily improving throughout the session with laps of 1:36.389 and 1:36.263 as the field continually traded positions in an incredibly competitive grid. Her final improvement to 1:36.081 secured seventh on the Race 1 grid, with mere hundredths of a second separating several drivers.
In the second qualifying session, a 1:35.527 briefly placed her second before later improvements from her rivals shuffled her to fourth. Although she was unable to improve further during the closing stages, fourth place represented another excellent starting position.
Saturday's opening race at the Hungaroring presented an immediate challenge for Pulling after the closely contested qualifying session left the Rodin Motorsport driver seventh on the grid; when the lights went out, however, Pulling dropped to tenth through the opening corners, but immediately began working her way back forward, closing onto the group ahead led by Kyuho Lee and Peter Bouzinelos.
Although the opening lap had been challenging, Pulling remained in the midfield battles and looked increasingly capable of recovering. Unfortunately, that recovery was cut short on lap six.
Running in a tight three-car fight approaching Turn 2, Pulling was left with nowhere to escape as she was squeezed towards the outside wall, Pulling clipped the rear of Campbell Pilling's car before being launched into the barriers. Her Rodin Motorsport machine first struck the concrete wall before making heavy contact with the tyre barriers at the end of the run-off.
The accident brought out the Safety Car. Thankfully, Pulling climbed from the damaged car unharmed, but her race was over.
Sunday morning offered Pulling an immediate opportunity to bounce back, with the Briton lining up fourth on the grid. Once again, the launch proved difficult, dropping her to sixth into Turn 1. However, a first-lap accident involving Campbell Pilling and Peter Bouzinelos quickly triggered the Safety Car, while the retirement of Deagen Fairclough promoted Pulling back into fifth before racing had fully settled.
Following the restart with 18 minutes remaining, Pulling immediately resumed her pursuit of the leading quartet. Lucas Fluxá remained just ahead while Kyuho Lee shadowed the Rodin Motorsport driver from behind in an intense battle inside the top five.
Another Safety Car interruption arrived only moments later after further incidents, with a few drops of light rain also beginning to appear over parts of the track. Pulling negotiated the second restart cleanly, maintaining fifth while continuing to pressure the cars ahead.
As the race entered its second half, her pace became increasingly competitive. Running in 1:37.7, Pulling steadily closed on the battle ahead. When Rehm developed a technical issue and lost momentum, Pulling swept past to claim fourth place before the German was eventually forced to retire.
With fourth secured, Pulling focused on bringing home valuable championship points. Although Lucas Fluxá remained just out of reach around two seconds ahead, the Rodin Motorsport driver comfortably controlled the gap behind, stretching her advantage over the chasing pack to almost five seconds.
She crossed the finish line in fourth place, securing her third top-five finish of the season and her strongest result since her landmark victory at Spa.
The reverse-grid finale on Sunday afternoon unfortunately brought another cruel end to an otherwise competitive weekend. Starting ninth, Pulling made a stronger launch than in the previous two races and looked well positioned entering Turn 1. However, chaos erupted in the midfield when Deagen Fairclough became involved in contact with another car and was pushed into Pulling's path. With no opportunity to avoid the incident, the Rodin Motorsport driver suffered damage through no fault of her own.
Although she initially attempted to continue, the damage proved too extensive and Pulling was forced to park the car only a few corners later, prompting another early Safety Car.
It marked her second retirement of the weekend, both caused by incidents beyond her control, and prevented her from converting the pace she had consistently shown throughout the event into the results it deserved.
The series would return to action just a few days later at Austria's Red Bull Ring, where Pulling would look to turn her speed back into podiums.