Abbie Eaton is a British sportscar racer, who was a leading driver in the 2016 British GT championship.
Abbie started competing in the SaxMax junior championship in 2007, after four years of competitive karting. She was fourteenth overall in her first year, with a best finish of fourth overall.
She improved dramatically in 2008, to take fourth in the championship this time. Apart from two DNFs, she was never out of the top ten all season, although a win eluded her. Her best finish was second at Pembrey, and her lowest was sixth at Donington. She earned three podiums and two fastest laps.
In 2009, upon turning 17, she moved up to the Dunlop Sportmaxx Championship for production cars, driving a Vauxhall Corsa. She won her class fifteen times, and was crowned Class B champion at the end of the year.
Despite winning a championship in her first full season as a senior driver, she could not find enough sponsorship to race in 2010, other than a guest appearance in the Max5 championship for Mazda MX-5s. She was third.
In what would become a pattern for the next few seasons, she entered the Max5 championship in 2011, running for a part-season. Her best finish was fourth.
She returned to the series in 2012, but again, only managed a part-season, due to a major sponsor pulling out and an engine failure. Her best finish was fifth.
She did another part-season of four races in 2013, scoring a win at Oulton Park, and three other podiums.
In 2014, she made a full return to motorsport, in the MX-5 Supercup. Driving for the AE Racing team, she fought off Tom Roche and won the title by one point, after five outright wins.
Most of 2015 was spent racing a BMW M3 for Geoff Steel Racing in the GT Cup, a step up in power for her. She won one race, at Silverstone, and achieved five more top-three finishes: three seconds and two thirds. This left her fifth in the championship. She and her team-mate, Michael Symons, were never out of the top five, apart from two DNFs.
She raced a Maserati GranTurismo MC in the 2016 British GT Championship, driving for Ebor GT Motorsport. Her team-mate was Marcus Hoggarth. She was a creditable fourth overall, and second in the Pro-Am class, with one second place at Oulton Park, and two more fourth places, at Spa and Donington. Ebor was a new team for 2016, and they had their difficulties, although Abbie was able to perform well and finish eight out of nine races.
Despite her solid results in 2016, Abbie was not retained by the team for 2016. In future, she has expressed interest in both Le Mans, and the Australian V8 Supercar series.
(Image from http://www.racing.gt/2016/02/my-racing-bucketlist-abbie-eaton/)