Britain's Abbie Eaton, GT racing ace and The Grand Tour test driver, will compete at the upcoming Lydden Hill rounds of the 2019 TitansRX season.
Eaton will be a wildcard driver at the 'home of rallycross', making what will be her rallycross debut after spending much of her career in sportscar and touring car racing.
"Rallycross is something I’ve always wanted to do," Eaton said. "My Dad actually started off in rallycross and he loved it so it’s something that I’ve had on my bucket list for a while - to jump in with TitansRX should be pretty cool! Just to get stuck in on what is a proper rallycross circuit, an old-school one, is going to be something really special."
Eaton joins the TitansRX field following its two successful opening rounds in Essay, France, where the field of wide-ranging drivers proved to be close on pace in the single-make Pantera RX6 racing car. Indeed, Eaton is keeping an open mind about what she can achieve in her first mixed-surface event.
"To be quite honest I’ve got no expectations or anything because I’ve not even sat in the car, I’ve never even done anything purposefully on gravel, so to me it’s just an experience thing," she said. "If I can go out in the car each time and go quicker and quicker, that’s all I’m trying to do and if we can get some pointers off the drivers in it that’s always going to help."
TitansRX founder and CEO Max Pucher was thrilled to have secured the signing of Eaton for what promises to be one of the best events of the season.
"Lydden Hill will be magic as always and not only because it is the classic rallycross track, but because of the grand driver lineup to which we are just adding Abbie Eaton," he said, "I am so glad that she was able to clear her tight schedule for us and will be giving both TitansRX and rallycross a go with no experience with it whatsoever. That is true sportsmanship and motorsport spirit as we all love it."
Although Eaton is so far only set to do the two rounds at Lydden Hill this year, she has left the door open to competing in future rounds, should her home event go well.
"If it goes well and it’s enjoyable then I definitely want to jump in and get properly stuck in," she insisted. "I’m always looking for new challenges to push myself and what I can learn and gain new skills so if I get on with it and it is a lot of fun and they’re willing to have me then I’d be more than happy to do a full season."
Eaton won't be the only Brit on the grid at Lydden Hill, with fellow racer-turned TV test driver Perry McCarthy also making his rallycross debut at the event.
