Bianca Bustamante steps up to GB3 with Elite Motorsport

Bianca Bustamante climbs the formula ladder and will graduate to the GB3 Championship in 2025 with Elite Motorsport, marking her first full season in a mixed-gender single-seater series following her two-year stint in F1 Academy.

Manuela, Corinna Gostner, MP Racing Mercedes AMG GT3, Lenovo Gulf 12 Hours 2024 — Photo credits: CBR Media

Bianca Bustamante will step up to the GB3 Championship, as the Filipina star joins Elite Motorsport for the 2025 season, graduating from the all-female F1 Academy. It will be her first full racing season in a mixed-gender single seater championship.

“I’m very excited to begin my racing journey in the 2025 GB3 Championship with Elite Motorsport. We spent two days testing together in Spain last week with the old GB3 car, and it was very productive", Bianca said. "We got off to a great start together and I felt comfortable with the team straight away, a really professional environment."

Bustamante raced in the F1-promoted championship since 2023, making her debut with Prema in the inaugural season. With the Italian team, she scored a podium on debut in Austria, then climbed one step higher in Valencia, securing her first ever race win in single seaters. She returned to the podium twice in Monza, including another victory, and finished the year with 8 top-five results, 14 point-scoring finishes and seventh in the drivers' standings.

In 2024, Bustamante joined the McLaren Driver Academy Programme, and would move to ART Grand Prix representing the Woking-based F1 team.

Her sophomore campaign started with a top five in Jeddah, then secured a season's best of second in Miami. She again marginally missed out on a podium in Barcelona, before a streak of bad luck that she eventually broke at Abu Dhabi, where she finished on a high with another top five. She was again seventh in the standings, at the end of her two-year F1 Academy stint.

After a one-off in USF Juniors in 2022, Bustamante made her debut in W Series, where she scored points on her debut in Miami. At the series demise, she made her F4 debut in the Formula 4 UAE championship - again collecting points - before joining F1 Academy. Over her two years in F4 machinery, she has also competed in select rounds of Italian F4, Euro4 Championship, British F4, Formula Winter Series as well as the Macau F4 event.

The Filipina is therefore now ready to graduate to the bigger and powerful Tatuus MSV GB3-025 machine, employed in the series for the first time in 2025 and featuring a new chassis, higher downforce, a DRS system, as well as an upgraded engine, producing 280hp.

"I’m also really enjoying the higher downforce cars, the GB3 car is very responsive which gives me confidence to find the limits", Bustamante continued. " Honestly I can’t wait to jump into the new car in January, really excited to get started with Elite in 2025."

The series will expand for the first time to an European calendar, including rounds at Silverstone, Zandvoort, Spa Francorchamps, Hungaroring, Brands Hatch, Donington and Monza, for a 8-round and 24-race schedule. A key highlight to the GB3 Championship is a large amount of track time, with many testing opportunities as well as 3 races per weekend.

Bustamante, who has tested the car for the first time in Monza earlier this year and has subsequently started a testing program on the older GB3 car, will take on her first full season in a mixed-gender single seater championship.

"Two years ago, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of being able to compete at this level", she stated. "I’m so thankful to all my sponsors for believing in me and giving me this opportunity, as well as Elite Motorsport for the trust and confidence to give me this chance to join the team. I’m going to be pushing myself hard in the gym over the winter, to prepare for the most important season of my career to date. My heart is so full and just can’t wait to get to work!”

Bianca is the second female driver to announce her GB3 program: thanks to a partnership with F1 Academy, in fact, the 2024 series champion Abbi Pulling is also set to race in the series, in a Rodin Motorsport entry.