GB3: Abbi Pulling secures top-6 at the Red Bull Ring

Abbi Pulling endured a mixed weekend in the GB3 Championship at the Red Bull Ring, where the Rodin Motorsport driver secured a top six finish, but was denied a stronger result in the final contest of the weekend by an incident beyond her control.

Photo credits: JEP

Abbi Pulling endured a mixed weekend in the GB3 Championship at the Red Bull Ring, where the Rodin Motorsport driver secured a top six finish, but was denied a stronger result in the final contest of the weekend by an incident beyond her control.

After three rounds of her maiden full GB3 Championship campaign, Pulling arrived at the Red Bull Ring among the series' frontrunners despite results that had not always reflected her pace. Returning with Rodin Motorsport in GB3 following her 2025 rookie season and her 2024 F1 Academy title-winning campaign, Pulling had now demonstrated race-winning speed in her sophomore season, regularly challenging at the front of the field.

After showing podium potential at Silverstone before being delayed by incidents outside her control, she made history at Spa-Francorchamps by becoming the first woman to win a race in the current era of GB3, converting pole position into a commanding lights-to-flag victory. Although another highly competitive weekend at the Hungaroring yielded only a fourth-place finish after two separate incidents led to retirements, Pulling once again showcased front-running pace and headed to Austria determined to turn her speed into another podium challenge.

Just one week after racing at the Hungaroring, the GB3 Championship travelled to Austria's Red Bull Ring for the fourth round of the season. The fast, technical Styrian circuit presented a very different challenge, with its heavy braking zones and short lap producing exceptionally close qualifying margins.

Rodin Motorsport enjoyed an encouraging start to the weekend, with Pulling showing competitive pace throughout Friday's practice sessions. She ended the day by setting the fastest time in the third and final practice session, finishing ahead of championship leader Nikita Bedrin.

The first qualifying session, however, proved considerably tight. Pulling's opening flying lap of 1:25.095 placed her eighth before she was edged back to ninth on the final runs as the field improved in the closing minutes.

The second qualifying session showed further progress. Pulling immediately dipped below the 1:25 barrier with a 1:24.994, briefly placing sixth before improving fractionally again to a 1:24.988. She ultimately qualified seventh, just six tenths away from pole position.

Race 1 took place under warm, sunny skies in the Austrian mountains, with Pulling lining up ninth on the grid. She made a clean getaway and safely negotiated the often-chaotic opening braking zone into Turn 1, where several drivers ran wide through the escape road. While avoiding trouble, Pulling was shuffled back behind Rodrigo Gonzalez and dropped to eleventh.

The opening lap was interrupted by multiple incidents elsewhere in the field, including a collision between Bouzinelos and Gilbert that required the deployment of the Safety Car.

When racing resumed with 16 minutes remaining, Pulling was right in the mix of the midfield battles; Dante Vinci and Rodrigo Gonzalez exchanged positions immediately ahead while Pulling remained close behind, waiting for an opportunity to attack.

Another Safety Car interrupted proceedings when Rodrigo Gonzalez crashed into the barriers with 10 minutes remaining, promoting Pulling into tenth place.

Following the final restart with five minutes to go, the Rodin Motorsport driver again found herself in the middle of an intense train of cars. Vinci and Campbell-Pilling battled directly ahead while Pulling remained patient, looking for an opening but simultaneously having to defend from Flynn Jackes behind.

Although overtaking opportunities remained scarce, Pulling stayed within striking distance throughout the closing laps. Several penalties for repeated track limits violations promoting Pulling from tenth to eighth in the final classification and allowed her to begin the weekend with another solid points-scoring finish.

Photo credits: JEP

Race 2 on Sunday morning presented a stronger opportunity, with Pulling starting sixth on the grid.

She initially made an excellent launch and briefly gained ground on Rehm before running slightly wide across the exit kerbs, allowing Patricio Gonzalez and Deagan Fairclough to slip back ahead. Pulling emerged from the opening lap in eighth.

She quickly regrouped and settled into an intense three-car battle for sixth place, steadily closing back onto Gonzalez while Fairclough attempted to break clear ahead. As the race progressed, Pulling repeatedly looked for opportunities to attack. Fairclough's ten-second penalty for track limits kept the battle alive, while additional penalties elsewhere ensured every position remained crucial.

With just two minutes remaining, Pulling launched her boldest attack of the race around the outside of Turn 3, committing to the move before ultimately being forced to slot back into line as Gonzalez defended.

Unable to quite complete the pass before the chequered flag, Pulling crossed the finish line in eighth after another competitive race, and was later promoted to sixth due to penalties ahead.

Although it fell short of the podium challenge, it nevertheless represented another solid result close to the top five.

The reverse-grid Race 3 offered Pulling arguably her best opportunity of the weekend. Lining up third on the grid, she immediately looked capable of challenging for victory. A delayed start followed after Deagan Fairclough's car stopped on the grid, necessitating an extra formation lap before the race finally got underway.

When the lights eventually went out, Pulling produced an outstanding launch and immediately attacked Patricio Gonzalez for second place into Turn 1. However, boxed in through the opening corner sequence, she was unable to capitalize fully and dropped into the thick of the leading pack, falling back to fifth.

Moments later, disaster struck; at Turn 2, Rehm was tagged into a spin by Lucas Fluxá - the spinning cars collected Pulling, with the Rodin Motorsport driver having nowhere to escape as Rehm, Campbell-Pilling and Pulling were all sent heavily into the barriers.

The Safety Car was immediately deployed, but Pulling's race, and effectively her weekend, was over through absolutely no fault of her own.

It marked the third retirement she had suffered in the last two race weekends after once again finding herself the innocent victim of incidents around her.

While the Austrian weekend ultimately produced a sixth place as best of the triple-header, Pulling's pace remained fast throughout. Following four rounds, Pulling now sits seventh in the GB3 Championship standings with 114 points.

The Rodin Motorsport driver will look to finally enjoy a trouble-free weekend when the series returns to the United Kingdom for Silverstone on 1-2 August, a circuit where she had already shown podium potential earlier in the season.