GB3: Abbi Pulling battles for the podium, scores top five finishes in Monza, as Bustamante runs solid second race
- MACIEJ JACKIEWICZ
- 10 hours ago
- 7 min read
Abbi Pulling ended her GB3 season on a high at Monza, showcasing strong pace throughout the weekend and narrowly missing out on the podium with a fourth-place finish in race three, securing a top-ten position in the overall standings. Despite early technical setbacks on Saturday, Bianca Bustamante bounced back on Sunday with one of her strongest drives of the season, avoiding incidents to claim P14 in race two.
Abbi Pulling and Bianca Bustamante closed their GB3 campaigns at Monza with contrasting but encouraging finales. Pulling showed strong pace and scored her best result of the weekend with P4 in race three, while Bustamante bounced back from Saturday’s issues to claim one of her best finishes of the season with P14 in race two.
Abbi Pulling came to the championship as the reigning F1 Academy champion with Rodin Motorsport. Her first round at Silverstone was remarkable, as she scored two top 10 finishes and her first top five. The next two rounds were more difficult for Abbi, as she struggled with the car balance of her Tatuus. Her breakthrough moment of the season, however, came in the sixth round of the season at Brands Hatch, where after starting fourth in the reverse-grid race, she scored her first GB3 podium, as well as the first ever female podium in the rebranded GB3 era.
Bianca Bustamante’s season was a learning curve. Driving for Elite Motorsport, across the season she has been coming to grips with a new car, significantly quicker than the F1 Academy F4 machine, and got up to speed without however managing to reach the top-ten, barely missing out on a couple of occasions. Her best weekend was the Hungaroring round, where she finished thirteenth twice and fourteenth once.
Both Abbi and Bianca looked forward to the season finale at Monza, with both of them standing on the same podium during race three of the 2023 F1 Academy season. The event was also highly anticipated, as it was the first-ever GB3 round held on Italian soil.
GB3 cars went out on the Autodromo Nazionale Monza for the first time during the private test sessions on Thursday. These two thirty-minute sessions were crucial for all of the drivers to get to know the Temple of Speed. Another chance for the competitors to familiarize themselves with the Italian venue came on Friday, with two forty-five-minute free practice sessions. Overall, across the two days, Abbi and Bianca drove approximately sixty laps around the circuit in Monza.
The first important runs of the weekend took place on Saturday morning, as the two back-to-back qualifying sessions began Saturday’s track action for GB3. Abbi Pulling got very good laps in them, as she finished P8 and P9 in Q1 and Q2 respectively, although the result in Q2 could have been better, as her best lap was interrupted by yellow flags.
“Qualifying was a bit disappointing. I was P6 in Q2 before there was a yellow flag on my final lap, so I had to abort it, so who knows where I could have been. I was sitting in P6 before that, but everyone else improved, they didn't have yellows and I went down to P9,” Pulling commented after her qualifying sessions.
Bustamante’s qualifying meanwhile came to an unfortunate end in the middle of Q1. The Filipina had to pit after just ten minutes of the first qualifying session. She couldn’t continue her Q1 or compete in Q2 because of an engine issue, identified by the team as a hole in her intercooler.
Race one of the weekend was the only one that happened on Saturday. Abbi Pulling started in P8, while after technical problems in qualifying Bianca Bustamante began the race in P21. From the very beginning the main theme of the race was chaos – Isaac Phelps crashed into the wall on the run down to the first chicane, while in Curva Grande Rodrigo Gonzalez made contact with Bart Harrison. Unfortunately Bianca Bustamante was involved in this incident, as she had to go through the gravel in order to avoid Gonzalez and Harrison.
The race was red-flagged, shortened to twenty minutes and the drivers started from original grid spots. The race restart wasn’t fortunate for Abbi Pulling, as she made a mistake in the first chicane and had to take the escape road, dropping to P13. Bustamante meanwhile had a great start, making her way up to P14.
Bustamante’s great running position was short-lived, as on lap two after restart she was tangled in turn one by Patricio Gonzalez. The safety car was deployed, but only for one lap, as Bustamante was able to get going again. Despite that, she wasn’t able to close the gap to the rest of the pack in time for the new green flag.
The restart was good for Pulling, as she moved up two positions to P12. On the next lap, she made another move, this time for P11, and then for P10. Her pace was strong, as she was one of the fastest drivers on the track at that point. She then kept close to Noah Lisle in P9, alongside setting the fastest lap of the race on lap nine. Eventually this fastest lap was taken away by the winner – Alex Ninovic.
With every sector Pulling was approaching Lisle more and more, and in the last corner of the last lap she made an amazing move around the outside, which resulted in her securing ninth at the finish line. Bianca Bustamante finished in P17 after gaining one position when Enzo Tarnvanichkul retired from the race in the pits.
“In race one I had a really good first start, got to P7, but unfortunately there was a red flag. On the restart, I had to abort the corner – I wasn't confident if I was gonna make it with. I went through the cut through and I think I dropped down to 14th. And then, finished P9. So I just kept chipping away, and it was a reduced time race as well. So I think I was one of the only ones really moving forward. I'm quite happy with that. And it was all on-track overtakes. It wasn't anyone DNFing, it was all hard work for sure,” Pulling said after making many moves in race one.
The first race at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on Sunday morning was the second GB3 race, for which Pulling started in P9, and Bustamante in P20. The start was again chaotic, as the whole top three had to cut the first chicane. Alongside that, Newman Chi, Patrick Heuzenroeder and Reza Seeworuthun had to retire due to incidents. Amidst these incidents, Pulling moved up to P6 and Bustamante moved to P17.
Despite all the chaos the safety car was back in the pit lane at the end of lap two. But as soon as the neutralization ended, it began again: Isaac Phelps made contact with Bart Harrison in turn 2 causing the latter to find himself stuck in the gravel, while Kabir Anurag pushed Maxim Rehm off the track after Variante della Roggia, which resulted in Rehm not being able to continue the race. All of these incidents happened just behind Pulling, who therefore retained sixth, but Bustamante made two positions off the incidents, and was classified in P15.
Yellow flags ended on lap five, and it seemed, as this time the restart wouldn’t cause another safety car appearance. But just at the end of the lap, at Parabolica, August Raber locked up his front tyres and went straight into the wall. The female drivers remained in the same spots they were running before, but the safety car was deemed necessary again.
After two laps the race went green again and this time it held up until the end. Bianca lost one position on the restart and dropped to P16, while Pulling was under pressure from Keanu Al Azhari. The Alpine junior overtook Pulling in turn one and she fell to P7, however, both the British racer as well as Bustamante quickly gained two spots as Lucas Fluxá drove into the car of Noah Lisle at the last corner.
From that moment Abbi Pulling remained very close to the back of Al Azhari’s pink Tatuus, and while she wasn’t ultimately able to pass, she still finished P5, which is one of her best results of the year. Bianca Bustamante also clinched a very good result, finishing P14 in one of her most solid races this year.
“It wasn't really much of an exciting race from my point of view. I just stayed out of trouble, got a good start, chose a good line into turn one. Carnage unfolded around me but I just kept it clean,” Pulling reflected after the race.
The last race of the weekend and of the season went ahead on Saturday afternoon. After a penalty to Kabir Anurag, Abbi Pulling started it in P3, while Bianca was situated in P21 on the grid. At the start Pulling lost two places, but quickly regained one of them to run in P4. Bianca had an amazing start as well to go up to P18, but it was short-lived as on lap two, when she fell down to P20.
On lap three Abbi Pulling was engaged in a battle with Lucas Fluxá and in turn one the Spaniard overtook the Rodin Motorsport driver. Despite that, Pulling got up to speed again and on the next lap she overtook Fluxá in Curva Grande. From that moment the race for Abbi turned into a podium chase. She quickly caught up to the back of leading three, in which the drivers were constantly switching places.
Abbi was quick, but it was eventually not enough to overtake P3 at the rapid Italian circuit. She crossed the finish line just behind third Gianmarco Pradel. Bianca Bustamante lost two places across the race and took the chequered flag in P22.
With a great last round Abbi Pulling climbed to the top 10 of overall championship standings, ending the season in P10 with 231 points to her name. Bustamante wrapped up the season in P22 with 75 points gained across the year.
The whole season was not perfect for neither Abbi Pulling nor Bianca Bustamante, but there were moments when they showed their pace. The British driver especially made history in the championship, scoring the first female podium of the rebranded GB3 era at Brands Hatch. The last round showcased their strengths – Pulling was constantly in the top 10, even fighting for podiums in race three, while Bianca Bustamante, despite having issues on Saturday, had a great Sunday when she avoided incidents to get good points.