Abbie Eaton had a very promising start of her first ever Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe season - collecting a sixth place among a 48 car field with her newly-launched Rebelleo Motorsport project.
Abbie Eaton returned to a full-time racing program with her newly-launched Rebelleo Motorsport project in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe - kick-starting the season with a highly promising curtain-raiser at Circuit Paul Ricard. Eaton - who last raced full time in the all-female W Series championship in 2021 and 2022 - returns to GT racing with her own racing start-up, Rebelleo Motorsport. The team's long term goal is stated to make an impact on future generations, by leveling the playing field and "break glass ceilings well beyond the male vs female debate". By challenging the status quo in motorsport - Rebelleo Motorsport's mission is to break down barriers that prevent talented drivers from succeeding in the sport. Eaton - a two.time championship winning driver - has often shown how budget constraints can often hinder the career of the most talented drivers. With a race win in her only Blancpain GT Series race, Eaton has also race starts in British GT, Super2 Series, GT Cup and Britcar Endurance Championship, alongside her campaigns in W Series. With Rebelleo Motorsport, co-founder Abbie Eaton is teaming up with Dutch racer Daan Arrow - previously known as Pijl. An experienced GT driver with podiums and race wins in Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Italian GT and GT Open, Daan and Abbie aim to climb the order in the PRO class of the European Lamborghini one-make series. The team - which enjoys technical support of Bonaldi Motorsport - started off the weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard by focusing on learning the new Hankook tyre. Daan Arrow was behind the wheel of the Huracan Super Trofeo Evo2 for the first qualifying session, which put the #33 Rebelleo machine in third place in the Pro class and seventh overall - in a 48 car field. Eaton, at her very first start in the series, was eleventh overall and ninth among the Pro entries, having battled traffic. At lights out on Saturday, Yelmer Buurmnan (Iron Lynx) retained the overall lead, while Daan Arrow dropped to P28 having been sent into a spin by another car on the first lap. The Dutch driver, though, was on a mission and recovered to 20th in the matter of two laps. By lap 4, he was already up to P17 and continued to gain positions both in class and overall. Buurman led from Schandorff throughout the first stint, with Michelotto and Zonzini a bit further down the order. Daan Arrow had an unreal stint and, when the pit window opened, he was already up to P12 after the first lap contact. He pitted from the overall lead having extended his stint until 20 mins to go; Eaton rejoined in P11 after the round of pit stops. The #89 Iron Lynx Huracan had lost the lead after the driver change, as Nigel Schoonderwoerd found himself in fourth, behind the VSR Lambo of Gilles Stadsbader - who fought with the Target Racing car of Alex Au and Oregon's Sebastian Balthasar. Abbie Eaton settled in P13, then passed the ProAm entry of Colombini for 12th overall. Stadsbader preceded Balthasar and Brendon Leitch across the finish line, after both Au and Schoonderwoerd dropped down the order; Eaton lost one position on the final lap to Bronek Formanek, crossing the line in P13 overall, but held ninth in PRO.
Eaton took the start of race 2 from ninth in Pro and eleventh overall, holding position in a much calmer start compared to the hectic first lap of Saturday's race. Loris Spinelli kept the overall lead, as De Wilde got ahead of Balthasar after a slow start for Bonduel, who lost two positions.
On lap 5, Eaton picked up eighth in PRO and 11th overall, just before the safety car was deployed for the stationary cars of Hugo Conde and Pedro Ebrahim.
At the restart, Spinelli had to defend from Iron Lynx's De Wilde, while Karol Basz passed Balthasar at turn 1 - but they would swap back soon after.
Eaton battled with Egor Orudzhev - just before pitting for the mandatory driver change midway through the race. When all the front-runners had pitted, Andrzej Lewandowski found himself in the lead in the #16 VSR Lamborghini, ahead of Rodrigo Testa (Iron Lynx) and Marzio Moretti (Oregon Team).
Rebelleo Motorsport's Abbie Eaton completed a solid stint and handed over to Daan Arrow, who soon climbed the order to seventh overall and sixth in Pro - in what was shaping up to be a very strong race for the duo.
Lewandowski started to drop down the order and Moretti took over the lead, preceding Testa and Leitch. A tangle at the final corner dropped the Polish driver to ninth - with Daan Arrow also making up positions in the process: Eaton's teammate moved up to sixth overall on the penultimate lap of the race, having passed Soderstrom who then received a penalty for causing the collision with Lewandowski.
At the end of an exciting second race of the weekend, Moretti took the overall and Pro class win for Team Oregon, ahead of the Iron Lynx Huracan of Testa and the Leipert Motorsport Lambo of Brendon Leitch. With sixth place overall and in Pro, Abbie Eaton and Daan Arrow rounded out a really strong debut in the European Lamborghini Super Trofeo for Rebelleo.
"Lots learnt this weekend with the car on the new Hankook tyre, and our combined pace is about where we expected to start the year with but looking forward to making progress and finishing higher up the grid", Eaton commented.
With great points in the bag and a lot of experience collected, Abbie Eaton will be aiming to climb even higher at the next round of Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe, scheduled in a month's time at Spa Francorchamps, in support of the 24 Hours of Spa.