Bianca Bustamante returns to top-15 at Jarama in Eurocup-3 Winter Championship
- RACERS
- 16 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Bianca Bustamante had another weekend of steady progress, with improved qualifying pace and consistent racecraft, culminating in a top-15 finish in Sunday’s Eurocup-3 WInter Championship race at Jarama.
One week after her Eurocup-3 Winter Series debut in Portimão, Bianca Bustamante returned to action for the second round of the championship at Circuito de Jarama, located just outside Madrid. Competing once again as the only woman in the highly competitive 28-car field, the Filipina driver delivered another weekend of steady progress, improved qualifying pace, and consistent racecraft, culminating in a top-15 finish in Sunday’s final race.
Following a challenging but encouraging opening weekend in Portugal, where illness early in the event disrupted preparations yet still resulted in a career-equalling P13 finish, Bustamante continued adapting to the lighter and faster Dallara 326 machinery as she builds experience ahead of the full Eurocup-3 season.
Driving for Palou Motorsport, Bustamante showed clear improvement during Friday’s practice sessions at Jarama as she learned the track. Across both sessions, she significantly reduced the gap to the front runners, gaining confidence on the narrow and technical circuit known for its limited overtaking opportunities and demanding rhythm.
The progress carried into Saturday morning qualifying, where she set a first representative lap of 1:26.076, placing P24. Improving further on her second push, Bustamante dipped below the 1:26 barrier with a 1:25.719 lap. Despite the improvement, the extremely tight field meant she finished qualifying P25, only 1.3 seconds off pole position.
Starting from P25, Bustamante made an excellent launch when the lights went out, immediately gaining a position to slot into P24. She navigated the tight opening corners cleanly amid heavy traffic, although contact from behind left her car carrying some damage early in the race.
A first-lap incident between Strauven and Perard at Turn 1 brought out the safety car, with Bustamante running P23 when the race was neutralized.
At the restart with 20 minutes remaining, the field returned to green flag conditions as the leaders battled at the front. Bustamante settled into a consistent rhythm, running 1:27.3 lap times while pressuring Kolovos ahead. Her persistence paid off as she completed an on-track pass and gained further positions when Lorenzo Campos and Benjamin Beckley encountered trouble, promoting her to P20 before another safety car interruption.
Following the final restart, Bustamante continued advancing. Issues for Eyckmans and Harrison allowed her to climb to P18, where she enjoyed cleaner air and maintained steady pace to the finish. Managing tyre wear effectively, she crossed the line in 18th place, in another clean and encouraging top-20 result to begin the weekend.
The afternoon sprint race saw Bustamante again start from P25, aiming for another forward charge. Chaos unfolded immediately at Turn 1 as Egozi, Tarnvanichkul and El Feghali collided while battling three-wide for the lead, triggering an instant safety car and later a red flag for cleanup. Bustamante avoided the incident and moved up to P23 under caution.
When racing resumed with 12 minutes remaining, she gained another position on the restart before engaging in a close battle with Harrison. After Gino Trappa went off at Turn 1, Bustamante advanced to P21 while running within a tightly packed midfield group separated by only tenths of a second.
However, luck ran out as she first lost a position to Perard while managing emerging issues. A safety car was deployed again after Kolovos became stranded in the gravel, and shortly afterward Bustamante's engine problems eventually forced her to pit, ending her race prematurely and denying her another likely top-20 finish.
Sunday morning’s second qualifying session however marked an extra step forward. Bustamante posted a 1:25.990 early in the session before improving again on her final run to a 1:25.607 lap. The time placed her P22 on the grid, closer to the top 20 than on Saturday and just 1.2 seconds from pole, showcasing again tangible progress in pace.
Starting P22 for the final race, Bianca again made a strong getaway and quickly moved into the top 20 as early drama struck the leaders, with Al Azhari running deep into Turn 1 and surrendering the lead to Lammers.
Despite her positive start, intense midfield battles reshuffled positions during the opening laps: Stevenheydens and Bostandjiev fought back while recovering drivers, including Al Azhari, Barbuy and Campos, pushed Bustamante briefly down to P23.
Another safety car followed soon after when Eyckmans got stranded in the gravel, resetting the field with 21 minutes remaining. At the restart, Bustamante stayed close to Campos as overtaking proved difficult on the narrow Jarama layout. Soon after, another incident involving Panetta, tagged into the gravel by Dall’Agnol, triggered yet another caution period, promoting Bustamante to P21.
A subsequent restart saw further chaos at the front and another safety car after Campos went off at Turn 1. Bustamante executed a solid restart to climb into P19 before racing resumed again with eight minutes remaining. The Filipina went side-by-side with Bostandjiev and completed a move for P18, then inherited P17 after contact between El Feghali and Perard resulted in a crash and another neutralization.
The final two-lap sprint restart proved again hectic, with the tightly packed field battling wheel-to-wheel. Bustamante lost a few positions amid the scramble and crossed the line just outside the top 15. However, post-race penalties promoted her to 15th place, securing another top-15 finish following her P13 result at Portimão.
Across a disrupted and incident-filled weekend, Bianca Bustamante demonstrated consistent improvement in pace and raced smartly on a circuit she had never previously competed at. The Palou Motorsport bt Prema Racing driver recorded two top-20 finishes and a best result of P15 while keeping out of trouble and gaining valuable experience in the very tight Eurocup-3 field, especially positive in the smaller qualifying gaps.
Bianca Bustamante will next return to action at MotorLand Aragón for the final round of the Spanish Winter Championship on 14.15 March, continuing preparations for her first full Eurocup-3 season campaign.