Photo: Nissan
GB3 racer Abbi Pulling has signed a multi-year deal to join the Nissan Formula E team, where her responsibilies will be rookie test and simulator driver.
FE’s annual rookie test takes place in Berlin, and Pulling will drive one of Nissan’s cars in the next few runnings of the test.
The 22-year-old has already got FE mileage with Nissan, having driven on the final day of pre-season testing last November when teams were required to run a woman in at least one of their cars for at least one session.
“I’m really excited to be joining Nissan and extending our collaboration together, after driving for the squad during the all-women’s test in Jarama,” said Pulling.
“Everything the team did for me during the test was so professional. The time and effort put in to make sure I was prepared was great to see, and the crew were patient with me as a rookie.
“The Gen 3 Evo car is so unique, especially the 350kW mode in all-wheel drive which was very fun to use. It’s different from anything I’ve driven before, and it took some time to adjust to the increased power. I’m looking forward to my work in the simulator and to take the car on track as well when the opportunities arise.”
Nissan’s team principal Tommaso Volpe added: “We’re very pleased to welcome Abbi to the team as our official rookie and simulator driver on a multi-year agreement. We were very impressed with her speed, commitment, and professionalism during the all-women’s test in Madrid last November, and we’re very happy to extend and formalise our collaboration.
“She is very talented – she was able to adapt incredibly quickly to the car and comfortably top the timesheets, which is difficult in every category but even more so in FE, so she is the perfect candidate to join us in this role.”
At the time of her FE test debut, Pulling had links to Nissan by being one of the Alpine Formula 1 team’s junior drivers as the two brands are part of the same automotive group. However she decided to leave Alpine’s ranks this February.
She joined as a affiliate driver of the Alpine Academy in 2022, due to racing in Formula Regional where Alpine was not giving the drivers it supported junior status, then became a fully fledged member the next two years despite stepping down to Formula 4.
Pulling raced in the all-female W Series in 2021 and ’22, picking up a pole and three podiums in the centrally-run FRegional championship, then did two seasons in the F4-spec and all-female F1 Academy series. In her second campaign she became champion with nine wins, and also took a win en route to seventh in British F4.
Since stepping back up to FRegional-level competition in GB3 this year, she has had a best finish of fifth from three rounds.