Hunter Abbott

Hunter Abbott (born 4 December 1980 in Windsor, Berkshire) is a British racing driver and businessman.

He has raced sportscars, GT cars and Touring Cars.

Abbott began his racing career in 1995, in karting, winning the HKC Junior TKM Championship during his first year racing.

He moved to Senior TKM competing in the 1996 Super 1 National Kart Championships finishing 15th overall on his debut year.

For 1998 Abbott moved to Formula 100C Super 1 National Kart Championships where he finished the season 4th overall and ran as high as 2nd in the European Intercontinental A Championships.

In 1999 Abbott moved to Formula A and competed in the Super 1 National Kart Championships.

Abbott did not race between 2000 and March 2003 due to lack of funding.

In 2003, Abbott competed in a handful of Radical Enduro championship races driving a Radical Prosport and had several podium finishes.

For 2004, Abbott raced in the Radical Enduro championship with Martin Donnelly Racing partnering Nigel Redwood.

He missed the first two rounds of the championship but took eight victories and 11 pole positions in the remainder of the season, the most races any driver has ever won in one season of Radical Enduro.

In 2005, Abbott moved into the UK Oval Racing, joining the SCSA racing series in the RyanAir sponsored car run by Torquespeed Racing.

SCSA was a UK based championship, similar to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series which raced on the Rockingham Motor Speedway oval circuit.

He had a successful debut season, winning the Rookie Championship.

This led to him being awarded 'One to Watch' by Autosport Magazine and "Driver of the Year" by NASCAR team Roush Racing.

Abbott didn't compete in the 2006 season, instead competing in British GT, but returned in 2007 and finished runner-up to series champion Colin White.

2006 saw a move into GT racing for Abbott.

He entered the 2006 British GT season, driving in the GTC class with a Porsche 996 GT3 racing for RPM Motorsport.

The highlight of the year was finishing 2nd in the Pau Grand Prix.

After the Snetterton round of the championship Hunter left RPM and joined Paul Mace's Specialist Direct team also driving a Porsche 996 GT3.

After a brief hiatus in 2007, when he returned to Oval racing, he once again joined the British GT grid, beginning a long racing partnership with Rob Austin Racing.

Partnering Rob Austin in the teams Ginetta G50, the pair managed to finish second in the GT4 class of the 2008 season, taking three class wins.

At the Oulton Park round of the championship, Abbott had a spectacular 100mph crash in his Ginetta, flipping several time before coming to rest on its roof where it burst into flames.

Abbott was trapped in the car for 18 seconds while on fire.

The driver's door was jammed shut and he escaped from the car by crawling through the roll cage and out of the passenger side of the car.

Quick thinking by Abbott and efficient work by the race marshals meant that he escaped with only minor burns and injuries.

After 2 weeks Abbott returned to the series and took a double victory at Knockhill.

The partnership with Rob Austin Racing continued into 2009.

Abbott contested the first half of the 2009 season, with Abbott taking 4 class wins and several podium finishes along with new partner Gary Simms before stopping before the Knockhill event.

Abbott had a one-off outing after a late call from Stark Racing for the Snetterton round of the championship where he scored two-second places in the GT4 class.

He finished 4th in the GT4 championship after missing the second half of the season.

However, Abbott, with Rob Austin Racing and driver partner Henry Fletcher contested a full season in the GT4 European Series.

Abbott and Fletcher finish sixth in the 2009 championship, with three third-place finishes.

Abbott continued into the 2010 GT4 European Cup, entering the first three rounds and scoring one 2nd place and finishing fifth in the overall drivers standings.

After a last minute call up from CWS Racing, Abbott competed in the 2016 Dubai 24 Hour, finishing 2nd in the SP3 class driving a Ginetta G55 GT4.

The team had led the race until three hours from the end when a belt failure forced the car into the pits for an additional pit-stop.

In 2016 Abbott made a one-off appearance in the Spa-Francorchamps round of the British GT Championship.

He was 2017 Blancpain GT Series Asia Champion and won the RAC Trophy after victory in the 2021 Silverstone 500 race.

He is founder, owner and managing director of AlcoSense Laboratories, which designs, develops and manufactures alcohol breathalysers under the AlcoSense brand name.

In 2017, Abbott was awarded a "Gold Star" on the Wall of Champions at the Mercedes-AMG factory in Affalterbach, Germany, as a result of winning the 2017 Blancpain GT Series Asia championship while driving a Mercedes-AMG GT GT3 race car for GruppeM Motorsport, an AMG Performance racing team.

In 2018, Abbott was enrolled as a member of the BRDC as a result of his motor racing successes in the UK and abroad.