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How Eaton's Grand Tour has led to single-seaters

Having triumphed in club motorsport, and landed a prominent TV driving role, Abbie Eaton has struggled with that problem so many aspiring drivers face: raising a budget. Now her career has taken a new direction after joining the W Series grid

"Being in the limelight with The Grand Tour, people are just expecting you to jump into any car and be quick straight away, so it's a different kind of pressure. But ultimately if I don't say yes to these things, I'm not going to be racing which is what I love and what I want to do."

For Abbie Eaton, the past few years have been something of a rollercoaster both on and off the circuit. The 28-year-old Briton has gained a public profile for her role on Amazon's The Grand Tour as the show's official test driver. But it's on the world's race circuits where she wants her reputation to continue growing and make good on the promise she showed in club racing more than a decade ago.

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Author Stefan Mackley

A proud Yorkshireman, Stefan Mackley is Autosport's National Deputy Editor. Having graduated from the University of Central Lancashire with a degree in sports journalism he spent nearly four years working on local newspapers in Wiltshire - during which time he became an NQJ-qualified journalist and cut his teeth covering club racing at Castle Combe in his spare time.

Making the jump into motorsport journalism full-time, he joined the national desk for both Autosport magazine and Motorsport News in 2017 before becoming National Deputy Editor for the former in 2020.

His passion for motorsport stems from watching Formula 1 as a child with his father and is matched only by his love for Star Wars.

A better journalist than racing driver, he has so far competed in the Citroen C1 24 Hours and 116 Trophy with hopes of racing more machinery in 2021 and beyond.