ABBIE EATON MAKING PROGRESS IN HER SUPER2 DEBUT

PRESS RELEASE/Abbie Eaton – Photo: Velocity Magazine (Darin Mandy)

British international, Abbie Eaton has started her Australian racing career in a baptism by fire in the opening two days of the Dunlop Super2 Series at the Superloop Adelaide 500 in her Blackwoods, MIS Motorsport Insurance-backed Matt Stone Racing Commodore.

Having never seen the former Australian Grand Prix track before practice yesterday – or the former Todd Hazelwood, Triple 8 car she is racing –  she has made steady progress improving her times and gap to the top of the timesheets.

She admits the learning curve she has faced has been stratospherically vertical, however is largely using this weekend as an opportunity to get more seat time and establish herself in Australia with a view to progress further throughout the 2019 Dunlop Super2 season.

Today’s race saw Amazon Prime Video’s The Grand Tour Test Driver get underway well, edging past MSR team-mate Joel Heinrich in the early stages and getting to 12th by the mid way of the race and with the way that the opposition was engaging in battle in front of her, a top 10 was a reasonable target.

The Safety Car punctuated, time certain finished race didn’t allow the field to get into any sort of race rhythm. Eaton locked a brake late in the race at the final turn dropping a couple of positions coming home 14th.

The Superloop Adelaide 500 has been bathed in heatwave conditions, with temperatures approaching 40 degrees C (104 degrees F) under a searing South Australian sun.

Tomorrow, she will take part in the second race at 3:35pm local time over 19 Laps, with the Adelaide finale coming on Sunday 2:05pm, also a 19 Lap distance.

“What an experience that was today to be out there and get my first Supercars race under my belt,” Eaton said post race.

“It’s been a huge challenge, the race was a bit crazy to be honest with everything going on, it was hard to get a rhythm together.

“Like any racecar driver, I want more from myself and the car. I think we can continue to build over the course of the weekend. The guys at Matt Stone Racing have done a terrific job to turn the car around and get us on the grid.

“Thursday was very much about learning the track as much as possible and then now, we’ve moved to a phase of fine tuning the track knowledge and really working on car technique.

“I won’t deny it hasn’t been a challenge, but I’m so grateful for the opportunity presented to me by Blackwoods, MIS Motorsport Insurance and Matt Stone Racing.”

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