Spanish driver Belén García announced that she will be back with G4 Racing for this weekend's round of Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine at Circuit Paul Ricard.
21-year old Belén García entered the first two rounds of the newly-born Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine as part of her part-time campaign with Spanish-Swiss team G4 Racing. Having been selected for the upcoming season of the all-female W Series championship, García opted in fact to enter selected rounds of the Formula Regional championship as a preparation for the remainder of her season – with the two series employing the same Tatuus T-318 chassis, albeit with different tyre suppliers.
Belén, who had been sidelined from single-seater racing thoughout 2020 due to the challenges posed by the global pandemic, returned behind the wheel of a fomula car for the first time in pre-season testing, as she completed the collective test days at Barcelona and Paul Ricard. At the season opener at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, García showed progress thoughout the weekend and, by the second race, the young Spaniard was back in the mix in the midfield of a strong 34-car grid.
At her home track in Barcelona, García endured a tougher weekend. While she proved her pace in practice, Belén couldn't capitalize on the significant improvements made due to a series of unfortunate contacts during the races.
"I am happy because I have improved my pace in the race and I have reduced the gap with those in front. I am optimistic about what I have learned and how this preseason has gone for me, although at home I would have liked to get a better result." – she commented after the second race meeting at Montmelo.
"I can't hide that, although it was not originally planned, I would like to contest one more race in Formula Regional and get that result I missed” - confessed Belén three weeks ago.
With the W Series 5-day collective test at Anglesey now under her belt, the Catalan driver has announced that she will make her return to FRECA for the upcoming Paul Ricard round.
In doing so, she continues her preparation program for the all-female F3 champonship, that will get underway in a month's time at Red Bull Ring, Austria.
The 2021 season was in fact scheduled to start at the French venue of Le Castellet, but a change in the F1 calendar forced W Series to a last minute change.