The Grand Tour

Grand Tour: What’s Abbie Eaton Doing Since Leaving the Prime Video Car Show

British racing driver, Abbie Eaton, rose to fame when she appeared on the second series of The Grand Tour as the test driver. We are taking a look at some of the many things Eaton has been up to since her time on the show starring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May.

Eaton is still listed as a test driver for The Grand Tour, so here is to hoping we might see her make a return.

W Series

Abbie competed in the W Series in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. In 2021, Eaton competed for the Ecurie W team and came 13th overall with 19 points and in 2022 she drove for Scuderia W and came 13th overall again with 11 points.

Unfortunately, it was announced this year that the W Series was not going to be continuing. When the news broke, Abbie took to her Instagram to share the news with her followers. She wrote:

“W Series season curtailed. A real shame this is the end for @wseriesracing 2022 season.

“A season I didn’t think I’d be able to make nearly 1 year ago, and one I knew would be a real challenge, both physically building strength and also mentally getting back to where I used to be pre injury.

“If you ignore being wiped out at Miami and Paul Ricard, and the car failure at Barcelona, I’ve actually been extremely pleased with my progress, just a shame my final position doesn’t reflect this not being able to capitalise on these final 3 races.

“But, more importantly, a big thank you to @wseriesracing and the team that work tirelessly to make things happen. I know it’s been a difficult year and an even more difficult few weeks but we appreciate every single one of you.

“Congrats to Chadders for another title. @jamiechadwick “

 

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A post shared by Abbie Eaton (@abbieeaton44)

Other racing

Eaton has also been competing in other racing series. As well as the W Series in 2021, she also competed in the GT Cup Championship GTO and the British Endurance Championship Praga.

Eaton raced for the JMH Automotive team in the GT Cup Championship GTO. She won the championship with 3 race wins, 4 pole positions, 4 fastest laps, and 3 podium finishes.

Driving for Team Praga Three Lions in the British Endurance Championship Praga, Eaton came 8th overall with 1 race win, 2 pole positions, 3 fastest laps, and 2 podium finishes.

A year since breaking her back

Eaton broke her back in a scary accident during the 2021 W Series at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin and as a result obviously had to take a break from racing and go through extensive rehabilitation. Abbie posted to her Instagram recently to acknowledge it being a year since the accident.

She wrote:

“Well guys it’s the 1 year anniversary since breaking my back at COTA…seems a lonnnngggg time ago!

“Feeling very grateful for my improvement and pleased I dug in and made this year work. It’s been rough, and I still get good and bad days with it but I guess this is the new me. Mentally a bit of work needed but it’ll come!

“Wish I was racing back at COTA this weekend but I’m enjoying driving the Holden at Donington Park instead.

“Enjoy the whacky hair photos when it was unwashed for a fair while at the early days of the injury”

 

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A post shared by Abbie Eaton (@abbieeaton44)

Working with Fisker

Fisker is an American electric vehicle company and Eaton has been working with them to promote the Fisker Ocean. Again, Abbie shared the news to her Instagram followers saying:

“Having a great time at Magna giving journalists a taste of the new Fisker Ocean in pre production form before SOP on 17th November.

“We set up a course with 5 stations to test the dynamics of the car including a launch zone, slalom, elk test, wet grip and high speed oval. “

 

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A post shared by Abbie Eaton (@abbieeaton44)

Richard Hammond’s Workshop appearance

Abbie recently made an appearance on Hammond’s Discovery + show, Richard Hammond’s Workshop and also featured on the DriveTribe video which showed the behind the scenes of the show. During the video, viewers saw Eaton join the team for the shakedown of the MGB GT racing car ahead of its racing debut.

Helping women in motorsport

There has been an emphasis on females in the motorsport industry recently. Eaton has done a lot of female racing drivers over the years and just recently was coaching some young aspiring female drivers with Porsche.

 

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A post shared by Abbie Eaton (@abbieeaton44)

On top of all of this, Eaton continues to raise awareness for the LGBTQ+ community and women in motorsport.

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