From a challenging trip due to travel restrictions to the first proper track work: Bruna Tomaselli - the first South American on the W Series grid - will be focusing on "getting familiar with the equipment and engineers" in this week's collective test.
The big breakthrough season for Brazilian Bruna Tomaselli came in 2019, when she had a remarkable USF2000 campaign on the Road to Indy Program.
In the American championship, Tomaselli was eighth in a strong over-20 car field, featuring some of the most promising talents that have since then continued to climb the ladder of international motorsport.
With ten top-10 results and a fifth place at Mid-Ohio as her personal best, Tomaselli caught the eyes of the all-female championship W Series and entered the assessment tests in late 2019 – for what should have been her F3 debut in 2020.
At the Almeria tests, Bruna made the cut and was selected as one of the six new entrants for the second season of the all-female championship.
While the on-track action was halted and the series was forced to scrap its sophomore campaign, Tomaselli continued an intensive preparation program in her native Brazil – both in single seaters and in endurance racing.
Making her debut in the national Imperio Endurance Brasil in a P3 prototype, the 23-year old claimed 2 pole positions, 3 podiums and 2 race victories out of the five contested races – once again confirming Tomaselli as one of the top up-and-coming Brazilian talents in any form of racing.
Having moved its only pre-season test from the scheduled Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia, to the north Wales venue of Anglesey, W Series' 2021 season finally got underway on Monday 17th May after the long wait. Almost two years after the 2019 season finale, the Autotecnica engines returned to roar at the remote yet spectacular racetrack overlooking the Welsh shores and the lady from Florianopolis officially became the first South American driver in the history of W Series.
"I did the selections in 2019 and that was the only contact I had with the car." – explained Tomaselli. "Now, we will have five days of activities and it will be very important to get to know the car, to work with the team and the other drivers on the grid."
Bruna's adventure at the five-day collective test already started with a challenge: due to the newly imposed travel restrictions to the UK, the Brazilian had to complete a stay in Mexico and was granted a special authorization before embarking for her 2021 journey. The new travel regulations proved even costlier for South African Tasmin Pepper, who will be forced to miss the test for a last minute change in the UK red list.
"It was a real marathon to get to here, but I want to enjoy every moment", continued the driver, who will be the only representative of a country with an immense motor racing history and background.
"The attention that everyone in W Series has with Covid protocols is great. We did tests before starting the activities and all precautions are being followed," she added.
This week's track activities follow a London meeting in March 2020, the only previous occasion where the selected drivers had the opportunity to get to know each other prior to the global shutdown imposed by the pandemic.
At Anglesey, Tomaselli will focus on the familiarization process with the technical personnel of the series. The championship has in fact an innovative approach that requires engineers to be assigned to drivers on a race weekend basis.
“[Anglesey] is a circuit that I have never raced on, but it is very interesting. I believe that the most important thing these days is getting familiar with the equipment and the engineers."
As W Series is also experimenting with car liveries this week, Bruna Tomaselli will drive a white-blue coloured Tatuus with her chosen number – which also corresponds to the year of her birth. "I am very happy to be able to use the number 97 this season, since it is the number that has stayed with me since the karting days" – concluded Bruna.
The season will feature a 8-event calendar, all in conjunction with Formula 1 and will get underway in Austria at the Red Bull Ring in 40 days time (26th June).
