Bianca Bustamante denied chance to convert promising Monza pace after technical issue

After demonstrating increasingly competitive speed in the first qualifying and battling consistently inside the top 20 during the opening race, Bianca Bustamante's Monza weekend ended in disappointment when a technical issue on the formation lap prevented her from even taking the start of Sunday's second contest.

Photo credits: Fotocar13

Bianca Bustamante's encouraging progress in the Eurocup-3 Championship couldn't be reflected in outright results at Monza, where the Palou Motorsport driver once again demonstrated increasingly competitive pace especially in the first qualifying. After battling consistently inside the top 20 during the opening race, the Filipina's weekend ended in disappointment when a technical issue on the formation lap prevented her from even taking the start of Sunday's second contest.

Bustamante arrived at Monza encouraged by the steady progress she had made during her rookie Eurocup-3 Championship campaign with Palou Motorsport. Stepping up to one of Europe's most competitive Formula Regional-level championships in 2026, the Filipina has focused on adapting to the new Dallara 326 while steadily improving her racecraft and consistency against a highly competitive international field.

After scoring her first top-20 finish of the season at Paul Ricard, Bustamante took a significant step forward at Portimão with a career-best 14th-place finish before building further momentum at Imola, where three solid recovery drives and three consecutive top-20 finishes showcased her growing confidence and increasingly competitive pace as she continued to close the gap to the frontrunners.

The championship returned to Italy for the fourth round of the season and the halfway point of the campaign, visiting the iconic Monza circuit. The Temple of Speed has traditionally been one of Bustamante's favourite venues, having enjoyed previous success there, including a victory during her 2023 F1 Academy campaign, and she arrived hoping to continue her encouraging form.

The Palou Motorsport driver steadily built confidence throughout Friday's practice sessions, posting a best lap of 1:42.948. Once again, her pace suggested that fighting for another top-20 result would be well within reach.

Qualifying provided further evidence of the progress Bustamante has been making. Midway through the session she posted a 1:43.0 to climb to an impressive 13th position, remaining inside the top 15 for much of the session in what was shaping up to be one of her strongest qualifying performances yet.

The session was interrupted by a red flag with five minutes remaining. Once running resumed, Bustamante improved again to a 1:42.868 as the entire field found more pace on the rapidly evolving track. Unfortunately, heavy traffic compromised her final flying lap just as she looked capable of making another significant improvement. Unable to put together her best sectors, Bustamante ultimately slipped to 23rd.

Photo credits: Fotocar13

Saturday afternoon's opening race immediately produced drama before the lights had even gone out, with several cars stalling on the grid and forcing those behind to take avoiding action.

Bustamante made an excellent getaway, immediately climbing to 18th through the opening corners. Although Caretti briefly reclaimed the position, the Filipina fought back on the second lap to retake 18th, once again showing increasing confidence in wheel-to-wheel combat.

Running strongly inside a tightly contested midfield group, Bustamante soon came under pressure from Trappa. The Hitech driver found a way through, while Pradel and Barbuy also capitalised on the battle, shuffling the Palou Motorsport driver back to 22nd by lap three.

Bustamante however immediately began fighting back, regaining one place before settling into an encouraging rhythm. With cleaner air ahead, she steadily improved her lap times and soon mounted another charge through the midfield.

Passing Trappa once again, Bustamante climbed back into 19th position. At this stage she was comfortably quicker than Campos behind, gradually extending her advantage while establishing a gap of around four seconds to Tye ahead and three seconds over her closest pursuer.

With ten minutes remaining, the race was neutralised after Bostandjev became stranded in the gravel at Lesmo 1, bringing out the Safety Car and eliminating the gaps that Bustamante had worked hard to build.

The restart with just four minutes remaining produced another intense sprint to the finish. Bustamante remained glued to the back of Tye while Pradel began dropping backwards into the same battle.

Campos eventually found a way past the Filipina, while Kolovos also joined the fight. Despite the pressure, Bustamante continued battling hard, gaining another place by overtaking Dall'Agnol before taking the chequered flag in 19th after another determined contest in which she had gained several positions from her starting place.

However, a post-race ten-second time penalty unfortunately dropped Bustamante down to 25th in the final classification, denying her the reward her racecraft had deserved.

Photo credits: Fotocar13

Sunday morning brought a second qualifying session on a damp Monza circuit, with slippery conditions, particularly through the opening sector, making timing crucial as the track steadily improved.

Bustamante initially climbed to 13th with a 1:49.528, but as the circuit dried rapidly the lap times tumbled across the field. The Palou Motorsport team elected to bring her into the pits midway through the session for adjustments before sending her back out for the decisive closing minutes.

Just as Bustamante was putting together a significantly faster lap, another red flag interrupted proceedings with five minutes remaining after Filippo Fiorentino went off the circuit.

The stoppage initially left Bustamante classified only 29th without a representative lap, but the session then resumed for one final opportunity.

Improving through every sector, she produced a best time of 1:44.075, but with only one flying lap available, the effort was enough for 29th on the grid.

Despite the grid position, Bustamante and Palou Motorsport had a strategy that offered genuine optimism for Race 2, having preserved a fresh set of tyres from the previous sessions.

Unfortunately, that opportunity disappeared before the race had even begun.

During the formation lap, Bustamante's Dallara suddenly slowed after the first chicane before coming to a halt with a throttle failure. Unable to return to the pits or take the start, the Palou Motorsport driver was forced to park the car, bringing her weekend to a premature and frustrating conclusion before the green flag had even fallen.

It was an unfortunate ending to what had otherwise been another encouraging step forward, particularly throughout practice and qualifying - compromised only by traffic - and another determined battle in Race 1.

She will now look to convert that growing pace into stronger results when the championship resumes at Silverstone on 11-13 September.