Philippine motorsport fans are in celebration as 18-year-old Filipina racing driver Bianca Bustamante scored her first career win at the second round of the 2023 F1 Academy. Bianca Bustamante secured her first F1 Academy win in Race 2 of the Circuit Ricardo Tormo round of the series in Valencia, Spain. The young Pinay racing driver savored her moment on top of the podium as the Philippine national anthem, “Lupang Hinirang,” played on the background.
Bustamante had, again, another stellar racing weekend which started in impressive drives in both free practice sessions using the number 16 PREMA race car. The Filipina racer continued her awesome drive into the qualifying time trial session. Despite setting P2 and P5 on-track for both race grid-setting sessions respectively, Bustamante, along with multiple other drivers were hit with post-session lap time deletions due to track limit infringements. As a result, Bustamante was classified P8 in Q1, which meant pole position for the reverse grid Race 2 and P13 in Q2.
“What a weekend! We were on the backfoot after we learned about the lap times being deleted from Qualifying but the mentality of the entire team was to bounce back harder and that’s exactly what we did. Race 1 gave me a lot of confidence knowing I had the pace and ability to make overtakes,” shared Bustamante.
It was clear that the young Filipina had the pace to challenge the top runners, which she showcased by making overtakes and putting herself up to P5 by the end of Race 1. Brimming with nervous confidence, Bustamante lined up in pole position for Race 2 with the goal to have a clean start and put herself in the driving seat to dictate the pace of the pack. As was characteristic of her even in 2022, the young driver demonstrated her ability to get off the line quickly and led the race for the first time in her professional career right from Turn 1 on the first lap. With clean air ahead of her, Bustamante looked right at home, driving in a cool and composed manner despite immense pressure from chasing competitors. Bianca Bustamante managed to hold off the late attack with some inspired defensive driving and eventually took the win marking her first in the series.
“Starting on pole for Race 2, I was really feeling the nerves, knowing there were a lot of fast drivers behind me. However, we had a great getaway from the line and the team gave me an amazing car to take home my first ever career win!”
Starting all the way down in P13 for Race 3, Bustamante was looking to maximize her position at the final point-scoring opportunity of the weekend. Once again the young Asian driver displayed her ability to remain competitive and made up 6 positions over the course of 17 laps while remaining out of trouble in an action-packed race. She took a hard-fought P7 finish along with 6 valuable points, taking her total points tally from the weekend to 26.
“I am extremely delighted with my performance in Race 3 as well, knowing where we started on the grid. Valencia is bound to remain a special circuit in my heart. Full focus on the next weekend as we aim to challenge for the win regularly in the upcoming rounds,” said Bustamante.
Bustamante’s astounding performance in Round 2, highlighted by her win in Saturday, solidified her footing in the series. Tears of joy streamed down her face seeing the Philippine national flag featured on the podium as she was presented with the winner’s trophy. Thousands of Filipino fans and supporters poured their wishes and hearty congratulations on social media, filled with pride watching one of their own carrying the flag on the international stage.
Six races into the series and with consistent top 10 finishes, Bianca Bustamante currently sits in P6 of the drivers standings with PREMA Racing comfortably on the top of the teams standings. Bustamante has established herself as one of the championship contenders, improving each time out in her F1 Academy car. She managed to hold her own despite the setbacks from post-qualifying lap deletions to take a major points haul and continue her strong momentum in the highly competitive inaugural season of the all-female racing series. Next race of the series will be on May 19-21 in Barcelona, Spain.
For more information and updates on the upcoming F1 Academy races, please refer to the official F1 Academy website.
