Eurocup-3: Bianca Bustamante secures P18 from pit lane start in Aragon
- RACERS
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Bianca Bustamante concluded the Eurocup-3 Winter Championship at MotorLand Aragon with a weekend of development and hard-fought recovery drives, which included a P18 from a pit lane start as she now turns her attention to the start of the main Eurocup-3 season.
Bianca Bustamante concluded the Eurocup-3 Winter Championship at MotorLand Aragón with a weekend defined by steady development and hard-fought recovery drives, as the Filipina racer continued her adaptation to the light and powerful Dallara 326 ahead of her first full Eurocup-3 season.
The winter series served in fact as a crucial preparation phase for the main championship, offering drivers valuable mileage and experience in one of Europe’s most competitive Formula 3 Regional-level single-seater categories. Working with Palou Motorsport by Prema, Bustamante used the winter campaign to accelerate her learning curve and build confidence in the new machinery.
Across the winter rounds, she demonstrated clear progress, highlighted by encouraging results including a P13 finish in Portimão and a P15 at Jarama. While results at Aragón did not fully reflect it, the final event nevertheless also marked more important steps forward in her development.
The final round brought the championship to MotorLand Aragón, where Bustamante immediately showed promising speed during Friday practice. Competing in a tightly packed 28-car field, she set the 13th fastest time with a lap of 1:50.261, finishing just one second off the overall pace setter, an indicator that she would have the pace to compete comfortably in the midfield.
The performance reinforced the positive trend she had built throughout the winter series, confirming growing confidence with the car.
Saturday morning qualifying however took place in wet and difficult conditions, complicating the session for many drivers. Bustamante posted a 2:07.5 early in the session and later improved to a 2:06.769 during the closing minutes. Despite finding additional time, technical issues hampered her efforts, leaving her down in 23rd position on the grid. The result meant she would face an uphill battle across the weekend’s races.
Race 1 began under cold and windy conditions, though the track remained dry for the Saturday afternoon start. Bustamante lined up in 26th position and made a strong launch when the lights went out, immediately attacking Barbuy while defending from Dall’Agnol in a close early fight.
After running side-by-side battles through the opening lap, her teammate eventually moved ahead, leaving Bustamante in P26 but still engaged in midfield battles.
The race was soon interrupted when Stevenheydens ran deep into Turn 12, collided with Fiorentino, and crashed into the wall, triggering the safety car. Although unrelated to the incident, Bustamante was forced to pit and rejoined at the back of the field, with the neutralization allowing her to remain within reach of the pack.
At the restart, she began to move forward: Bustamante passed Giovanelli before overtaking Kolovos and Beckley on lap six to climb into P23. Her pace improved as she entered a battle with Viisoreanu for P22.
Further incidents ahead, including Bart Harrison hitting the wall, brought out another safety car on lap 9. By this stage, Bustamante had advanced to P21 and soon climbed into P20 after the restart while defending from Perard in an intense duel.
With a strong recovery drive and despite a five-second track limits penalty, she was able to secure a P20 finish in a heavily disrupted and chaotic opening race, demonstrating good racecraft after recovering from her earlier pit stop.
Bustamante again started from 26th position for the Sprint Race later that afternoon. With Stevenheydens starting from the pit lane, she immediately gained a position at lights out and advanced another place through the opening corners.
However, her race quickly unraveled when she was struck from behind on the opening lap, sending her into the run-off area with damage that forced her retirement, in an unfortunate end to what had begun as another promising effort.
Sunday offered a fresh opportunity with the second qualifying session. Bustamante initially set a 1:54.7 lap before finding over six tenths of improvement, only to have both times deleted.
She later produced a 1:53.456 on her final run, good enough for P22, but that lap was also deleted. The session proved particularly difficult overall, with 13 drivers seeing all their lap times removed, leaving Bustamante once again starting from the back.
The final race of the Eurocup-3 Winter Championship took place early Sunday afternoon. Following qualifying, several drivers including Bustamante were required to start from the pit lane.
Rejoining in P25 after the first lap, she slotted in behind Beckley and immediately showed competitive early pace. An early safety car was deployed after Bart Harrison ended up in the gravel following contact with Trappa, promoting Bustamante to P22 as damaged cars pitted.
At the restart, Bustamante delivered one of her strongest sequences of the weekend, passing Beckley and engaging in midfield battles before overtaking Barbuy to move further forward.
Another incident between Perard and Stevenheydens at the final corner triggered a second safety car, during which Bustamante advanced to P20.
Once racing resumed, she chased Feldmann while maintaining consistent pace in the 1:52.8 range, setting personal best sectors and continuing to gain experience in traffic. Although recovering driver Gino Trappa passed her later, both drivers moved past Strauven on lap 9.
Further gains came when Sztuka and Heuzenroeder collided, promoting Bustamante again. A five-second track limits penalty threatened her progress, but with Barbuy receiving an identical penalty, the fight turned into a strategic push to build enough margin over Beckley.
Bustamante responded by improving her pace, extending the gap beyond the required five seconds while continuing to pressure the cars ahead. Drama unfolded on the final lap when El Feghali stopped on the back straight, allowing Bustamante to climb to P18.
She crossed the finish line just one tenth of a second behind Barbuy and successfully retained position thanks to her time advantage over the cars behind, completing a determined recovery drive from a pit lane start.
Despite a challenging and at times frustrating weekend, the Aragón round fulfilled its purpose as a developmental stage within the winter championship framework. Bustamante demonstrated improving pace, racecraft in traffic, and resilience amid technical setbacks and penalties.
"Aragon this past weekend showed a lot of progress, P13 in free practice out of pure pace, closing the gap to the cars in front", she commented. "I really wanted to convert that into results but technical issues in both Quali sessions made our weekend extremely difficult."
"A P20 in race 1 from 25th and a mega clean recovery drive in Race 2 finishing P18 from dead last after needing to start from the pit lane", she continued. "In the Sprint race I was hit from behind on the opening lap damaging the rear of the car. Loads of experience to take from this weekend. Head down and focused for testing in the main Eurocup 3 championship!"
With valuable experience gained throughout the winter series, Bustamante now turns her attention to the start of the main Eurocup-3 season, which begins on 1-3 May at Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France.
