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Bianca Bustamante
Filipina racing driver (born 2005) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Bianca Denise Bustamante (born January 19, 2005) is a Filipino racing driver who competes in the GB3 Championship for Elite Motorsport.[1][2]
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Junior career
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W Series
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From January 31 to February 4, 2022, Bustamante competed in a W Series test in Arizona, United States, along with 14 other prospective drivers.[3] She then participated in a second pre-season test in Barcelona on March 2–4 along with 11 other potential drivers and 9 automatic qualifiers from the previous W Series season.[4] On March 22, Bustamante was confirmed to compete in the 2022 W Series season.[5] She finished the season in 15th place scoring 2 points across 7 races.
Formula 4 UAE Championship
On January 9, 2023, Bustamante was announced to race under Italian team Prema Powerteam for the 2023 Formula 4 UAE Championship.[6] She finished the season in 27th place scoring 3 points across 15 races.
F1 Academy
2023 season
On February 3, 2023, Bustamante was confirmed as the second driver to compete in the newly launched all-female F1 Academy series with Prema Racing.[7]
Bustamante finished 3rd in the series' first race at the Red Bull Ring, but was promoted to P2 following the disqualification of Nerea Martí.[8] Having finished ninth in the second race, her car suffered a technical failure on the formation lap for the third race and did not start.[9]
Bustamante initially qualified 2nd for the second round at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, but was demoted to 8th for a track limits infringement.[10] Having recovered to fifth in the first race, Bustamante then won her first race in the reverse-grid second heat – earning personal congratulations from President of the Philippines Bongbong Marcos.[11][12][13]
Bustamante did not finish the first race of the weekend at Monza, before grabbing her third podium of the season in the following reverse-grid race and winning the third and final race of the weekend.[14]
Bustamante scored a total of 116 points, finishing 7th in the championship standings; one point behind MP Motorsport's Amna Al Qubaisi.[15]
2024 season
On October 18, 2023, McLaren announced the signing of Bustamante to the McLaren Driver Development Programme, representing McLaren for the 2024 season under ART Grand Prix. Bustamante was the first female driver signed to the McLaren Driver Development Programme.[16][17]
In Round 1 at Jeddah, Bustamante finished fifth in Race 1 and was promoted to sixth (from eighth) in Race 2 due to penalties for other competitors.[18][19][20] Bustamante qualified in fourth for the second round at Miami and finished the first race in ninth after stalling at the start, but set the fastest lap in consolation; in Race 2, she scored her first podium of the season with a second-place finish.[21][22] In Round 4 at Zandvoort, Bustamante crashed during qualifying and finished outside the points in both races – a pointless streak which continued in Singapore after she received a stop/go penalty in Race 1 for being out of position on the grid, before colliding with Tina Hausmann in Race 2 whilst recovering from a spin.[23][24]
Bustamante finished the season in seventh in the driver's championship[25] and left the McLaren Driver Development Programme at the conclusion of her F1 Academy campaign.[26][27]
Italian F4 Championship
2023 season
On May 24, 2023, it was announced that Bustamante would make her debut in Italian F4 at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, driving for Prema Racing in a one-off appearance, replacing Aurelia Nobels.[28]
2024 season
Bustamante returned to Italian F4 for the final round in Monza, driving for ART Grand Prix, the French team making their debut in the series.[29]
GB3 Championship
On December 19, 2024, it was announced that Bustamante will join GB3 Championship in the 2025 season with Elite Motorsport.[30]
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Formula E
On October 15, 2024, McLaren announced Bustamante and her F1 Academy successor Ella Lloyd as the line-up for the McLaren Formula E Team women's test pre-season testing for the 2024–25 season in Formula E.[31] She placed in third in the test.[32]
Personal life
Born in Manila, Bustamante resides between Laguna, Philippines, and San Jose, California.[33][34] Former GT racer Darryl O'Young acts as Bustamante's manager.[35]
In December 2023, she received backlash on social media after it emerged that she had liked several tweets critical of Formula One driver Lance Stroll, one of which used ableist language.[36]
In March 2024, vehicle rental company Avis ranked Bustamante the third-most influential non-European female racing driver; at the time, she had a combined 2.2 million followers across Instagram and TikTok.[37][38]
Karting record
Karting career summary
Complete Macao International Kart Grand Prix results
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Racing record
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Racing career summary
* Season still in progress.
† As Bustamante was a guest driver, she was ineligible for points.
American open-wheel racing results
USF Juniors
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete W Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Indian Racing League results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Formula 4 UAE Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete F1 Academy results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Italian F4 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
* Season still in progress.
Complete Formula 4 South East Asia Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Formula Winter Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete F4 British Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Euro 4 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete GB3 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
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References
External links
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