ABBI PULLING MAKES HISTORY WITH SPA WIN IN GB3
Abbi Pulling made history at Spa-Francorchamps with a landmark win in Race 1 of the GB3 Championship. The British driver converted pole position into victory and became the first woman to win a race in GB3.
It was already a historic weekend before the race even started. On Friday, Pulling took her first GB3 pole position with a lap of 2:12.566. She was only 0.020 seconds ahead of Maxim Rehm, while the top four were covered by just 0.039 seconds. In such a close qualifying session, Pulling still found the lap she needed.
That pole also made her the first woman to take a pole position in GB3. One day later, she turned that record into something even bigger.
The race was not simple. Heavy rain and thunderstorms hit Spa earlier in the day, and the original start procedure had to be abandoned. Around five hours later, the race finally got underway in better conditions, with Pulling still starting from the front.
When the lights went out, she made the start she needed. Pulling kept the lead on the run to Les Combes and quickly opened a small gap while the drivers behind her fought for position.
Her early advantage was then erased by a Safety Car. That meant she had to control the restart under pressure, with the field close behind and the long Kemmel Straight ready to punish any mistake.
Pulling handled it perfectly. She waited until the right moment, accelerated cleanly out of the final chicane, and gave the cars behind her no real chance to use the tow. From there, she rebuilt her lead and controlled the race from the front.
Nikita Bedrin, the championship leader, moved into second late in the race and tried to chase her down. But Pulling had already done enough. She crossed the line first and took the biggest win of her GB3 career by just over six tenths of a second.
After a post-race penalty for Rehm, the final podium became Pulling in first, Bedrin in second and Martin Molnar in third.
The result matters because it is not just a symbolic win. Pulling was not gifted the race. She took pole, nailed the start, survived the restart, managed the pressure and won on merit.
It also shows how far she has come since winning the 2024 F1 Academy title. That season was dominant. She took nine wins, 10 poles and finished on the podium in every race she contested.
Her F1 Academy title gave her a fully funded move into GB3 for 2025. That first season was a learning year, but she still made progress and became the first woman to stand on a GB3 podium. She finished the year 10th in the championship with one podium.
Now, in her second GB3 season, Pulling has turned that progress into a race win. Spa was not just another step forward. It was proof that she can fight at the front in one of Britain’s main Formula 3-level championships.
The achievement also fits into the wider story of women in junior single-seater racing. Jamie Chadwick made history in 2024 by winning in Indy NXT at Road America, becoming the first woman to win in that series since 2010 and the first woman to win an Indy NXT race on a road or street course.
Pulling’s Spa victory now becomes another major moment in that same story. It is the kind of result that gives weight to the progress being made, because it came in mixed conditions, under pressure and against a strong field.
For Pulling, this was more than her first GB3 win. It was a weekend where she made history twice: first with pole, then with victory.
Share this content:
