Brazilian driver Bia Martins concluded her debut season in the HRacing Cup, and again showed her potential with another charge through the field. However, a mechanical issue in race 2 shortened her journey into the final round.
Brazilian driver Bia Martins completed her first full season in a touring car series in her career. The HRacing Cup - a national competition based on Hyundai HB20 machines - held the 5th and final round of its inaugural season on the last weekend of October, at the Ayrton Senna Circuit, in Goiânia.
In addition to establishing the female presence in the newly opened competition, Bia Martins – who built her career mainly in karting, had the opportunity to acquire new knowledge about touring car racing and be tested in various types of adversities that arose throughout the year.
And she not only showed her talent maximizing her opportunities, through her ability to overcome challenges and progress in adaptation work, but she also wrote her name in the history books of the series, by achieving a podium in the 4th round.
In the last two races of the season, Bia faced different scenarios and she almost clinched another podium. In race 1, held on Saturday, Martins started in 22nd place – on a strong grid of 29 entries – and had another great performance, climbing the order over her opponents to reach front-running positions.
At the end of the first lap she had already gained 9 places, moving up to P13. She maintained her position over the next few laps, but despite being overtaken, she maintained a steady pace until the end, finishing the race in 14th place overall-7th in the Rookie class.
On the morning of Sunday, October 29th, in the intense heat of 30°C, the drivers headed back out on the Ayrton Senna Circuit for the last battle of 2023.
This time, Bia Martins would have a "slightly easier" mission to try to reach a place on the podium, starting from 14th position. However, unfortunately the season ended with an unexpected development.
Still on the formation lap, her HB20 #555 suffered a problem with the brake system, but it was possible for her to continue. Despite the unforeseen circumstances, she managed to gain a position on the first lap and defend well against pressure from the other drivers for much of the race. But the issue grew and with just a few laps to go a brake fluid leak forced her to retire, ending the season in with un unwanted outcome.
“This season in HRacing was one of extreme professional growth."
Despite the problem faced in the final race, Bia Martins - as she had already said to our team - always values the "glass half full" and highlighted the many positive points experienced throughout her debut season in touring car races: "I arrived at this final session happy with the opportunities and with what I managed to do throughout the rounds!"
Martins finished the championship in 7th place among the 28 rookies – with a podium achieved in the 4th round – and certainly if it weren't for the mechanical problem in the final race she would have had a great chance of reaching the podium in the class once again: "Today we had everything we needed to reach the podium, but due to a mechanical problem it wasn't possible. I can only thank everyone for the support, especially my sponsors for believing in my work.” – she concluded.
Bia Martins plans to compete in another season in the HRacing Cup in 2024, with the aim of continuing to evolve in touring cars racing and seek even better results next year. While looking forward to making official announcements for the future, she continues working behind the scenes at various competitions, as performance coach, helping other drivers with physical and mental preparation for their respective races, through her project PilotUp.
