Bianca Bustamante secures P13 in encouraging Portimão Eurocup-3 opener
- RACERS
- 19 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Despite illness early in the weekend, disrupted qualifying sessions, multiple safety cars, Bianca Bustamante’s Portimão Eurocup-3 Winter Series weekend demonstrated tangible progress, with her P13 finish in Race 2 equalling her career-best result from GB3, as she kicked off her campaign in the new Dallara 326.
The 2026 Eurocup-3 Winter Championship opener at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão marked a significant new chapter in Bianca Bustamante’s career, as the Filipino driver stepped up to the highly competitive Eurocup-3 Championship following her rookie GB3 campaign.
After a year of steady development in GB3, where she progressed consistently after graduating from Formula 4, Bustamante now faces an even tougher challenge in a near-30-car field and at the wheel of the new Dallara 326, a lighter and faster car representing another step up in performance.
Bustamante joined Palou Motorsport in collaboration with Prema Racing, returning to the Italian powerhouse after her inaugural F1 Academy campaign. Pre-season testing had shown encouraging pace, and expectations were optimistic heading into Portimão, on her first race weekend to the track.
However, her first day at the track was a bit compromised by illness: Bianca arrived at the event battling flu symptoms and a high fever, which inevitably impacted her condition during practice on Friday. Even so, she remained close to the top 20 in the early sessions, showing promising signs despite less-than-ideal circumstances.
In Saturday morning’s first qualifying session, Bustamante posted a 1:37.491 to provisionally sit P21 with a few minutes remaining, positioning herself for a potential improvement on her final push lap. However, a red flag triggered by Kolovos halted the session prematurely, and it was not resumed. Denied the chance to improve, Bustamante was classified P24 on the grid for Race 1.
The 30-minute opening race featured early drama, with multiple stallers at the front of the grid; Bustamante reacted swiftly at the start, climbing immediately into P20 and then P19 ahead of Nogales with a very strong getaway for the Palou Racing driver. A safety car was deployed after Trappa went into the gravel with damage, neutralizing the field at the end of Lap 1, as Bustamante ran P20 behind Powell and Eyckmans.
Racing resumed at the start of Lap 4, but the pack remained tightly compressed. Nogales slipped past, dropping her to P21, and Panetta followed through on Lap 5 to demote her to P22 before another safety car was required when Beckley stopped on track.
The second restart brought further chaos: a Turn 1 crash involving Pradel, Perard and Dall’Agnol triggered yet another neutralization. Bustamante navigated the incident cleanly and emerged P20, though Harrison soon edged ahead. After racing resumed on Lap 11, she climbed to P19 with a decisive move on Campos and entered more midfield duels.
The closing laps saw intense battles, with Dall’Agnol just a tenth ahead at the line on Lap 13 and Campos applying pressure from behind. By Lap 16 she had slipped to P22 as Campos and Viisoreanu found a way through, but Bustamante fought back on the final lap to reclaim a position from Viisoreanu and finish P21. It was a solid season opener, with the Filipina competitive in the thick of the midfield and demonstrating determination in repeated restart situations.
Saturday afternoon’s sprint race once again saw Bustamante start P24, and she again wasted no time advancing. A chaotic start included El Feghali stalling and multiple position changes at the front, saw Bustamante launching cleanly into P20.
Contact between Giovannelli and Kolovos at Turn 8 brought out another safety car at the end of Lap 1. At the restart with 11 minutes remaining, she held P20, running closely behind Cui while establishing a small buffer to the cars behind.
When Heuzenroeder slowed with technical issues, Bustamante briefly rose to P19 before El Feghali reclaimed the position. Another stranded car triggered yet another safety car with six minutes to go. The final restart, with just over two minutes remaining, proved decisive.
Bustamante executed an excellent restart, passing El Feghali and capitalizing on damage to Trappa’s car. She engaged in a fierce battle with Sztuka as further incidents eliminated Lammers and shuffled the order. In a superb closing sequence, she overtook Sztuka and Cui while Viisoreanu spun, surging into P16 on track. A final-lap safety car froze the positions, and she crossed the line P16, which would be later promoted to P13 after post-race penalties.
The result equaled her personal best finish from her 2025 GB3 season and marked a highly encouraging performance in a significantly strong field.
Sunday morning’s second qualifying session offered 20 minutes to set the grid for the final race. Bustamante’s first representative lap, a 1:38.0, placed her P25. She found over half a second but remained in the same position before improving further to a 1:37.1 to advance to P24, again narrowly missing out on a higher slot in a tightly packed field separated by a few tenths of a second.
Starting P23 for Sunday’s final 30-minute race, Bustamante made another strong getaway, climbing to P19 and then P18 after passing Barbuy. Amid early incidents, including a crash ahead at Turn 5, she navigated through the chaos and had climbed as high as P15.
However, in avoiding the incident she ran over the kerb which inadvertently activated the pit limiter, dramatically slowing the car and costing her multiple positions. Although she rejoined without mechanical damage, she was now forced to restart effectively from P23.
Following a safety car period, Bustamante again delivered a strong restart with 19 minutes remaining, passing Kolovos to move into P22 and closing steadily on Campos. A five-second track limits penalty complicated her recovery, and Kolovos briefly retook the position on Lap 9.
Undeterred, she mounted another charge, overtaking both Kolovos and Beckley to climb to P21 by Lap 21. Her pace strengthened notably, including a personal best 1:38.205 in which she improved across all sectors. She gained time on Viisoreanu ahead while simultaneously building a margin over those behind in an effort to overcome the time penalty.
When Sztuka pitted with issues, Bustamante rose to P20 on the road. Despite her late push, she ultimately crossed the line P20 but fell just 0.02 seconds short of retaining a top-20 finish after the penalty was applied.
Despite illness early in the weekend, disrupted qualifying sessions, multiple safety cars and some setbacks, Bianca Bustamante’s Portimão weekend demonstrated tangible progress; her P13 finish in Race 2 equaled her career-best result from GB3, as she kicked off her campaign in a strong field and in the new Dallara 326.
Consistently fighting for positions, executing strong starts and navigating incidents cleanly, Bustamante leaves Portimão with positive momentum as the Eurocup-3 Winter Championship season continues next weekend at Jarama.
