GB3: Bianca Bustamante continues upward trajectory in GB3 with positive Silverstone round
- RACERS
- Aug 5
- 5 min read
Bianca Bustamante continued her learning-oriented rookie season in the highly competitive GB3 Championship with important steps forward at Silverstone, once again finishing in the top 15, gaining positions in all races after a tricky qualifying.
Bianca Bustamante continued her learning-oriented rookie season in the highly competitive GB3 Championship with important steps forward at Silverstone, once again finishing in the top 15 in the first race of the weekend with a remarkable drive, gaining positions in all races after a tricky qualifying.
Graduating from F1 Academy, Bustamante continued to make progress as the Elite Motorsport driver arrived at Silverstone off the back of a highly positive round at the Hungaroring, where she had matched her career-best finish. There, she made superb improvements throughout the weekend and finished races two and three in P13, confidently running in the midfield.
After her first top-20 at the season opener at Silverstone, the Filipina made remarkable progress at Zandvoort, finishing 13th in race 3 to complete a really solid weekend on a demanding circuit. While the results didn't quite show it at Spa-Francorchamps, that round also marked another good step forward — though changeable weather conditions couldn't be converted into results. The breakthrough came again at the Hungaroring, where she recorded a P14 and two P13s across the three races.
As the series returned to Silverstone — the home of British motorsport and the venue where the season had started — Bustamante’s prior experience at the circuit helped translated into strong early results in testing, where her progression was evident from the beginning.
In Thursday’s second session, she set a 1:54.762 lap to go 13th fastest, then found more time in session three with a 1:54.446 that placed her tenth — one of her most competitive showings to date. On Friday, she again showed promising speed and ended the day 16th fastest, clearly displaying her potential.
Qualifying, however, proved more challenging. The Elite Motorsport driver couldn’t quite optimize the tyre peak and ended the first session in P22 with a 1:55.097 lap. She improved in Q2 with a 1:54.399, which placed her P21 — just 1.8 seconds off pole in a tightly packed field.
In the first race of the weekend on Saturday afternoon, Yevan David had issues on the grid and was pushed into the pitlane, leaving one empty grid spot. Noah Lisle also experienced problems, resulting in a delayed start, with the #11 car pushed off the grid. Starting from P22, Bustamante gained one place before the start and lined up in P21.
She got a great launch, gaining five places on the opening lap to slot into P17. She continued to show great pace in the 1:56s and passed Raber on lap two to move up to P16, maintaining a strong rhythm and running faster than Shin, who was losing ground from the battles ahead.
Bustamante and Raber traded places in a tightly contested midfield group, with all drivers running closely together. Ahead, Seewooruthun made contact with the back of Fairclough and lost his front wing. Although he initially stayed out, he was soon forced to pit. As a result, Bustamante moved up to P15.
She improved her lap times to the 1:56.5 range and stayed with the mid-pack group, putting pressure on Schwarze while maintaining a safe buffer to teammate Jackes. She kept finding time, eventually setting a 1:55.6 lap and holding her ground well.
In the final stages, Bustamante remained consistent and clean; she took the chequered flag in P15, gaining seven positions from her starting spot — a really strong performance from the Filipina, who stayed with the pack, ran competitive lap times, and defended her position smartly.
"Was tough in qualifying as I wasn’t able to get the tyres switched on, so we didn’t maximise our potential qualifying P22 for race 1", explained Bustamante. "But after closer look and working with the team, we optimised the cars potential. It felt really good in the race and we got off to a great start. On the opening laps I was able to pass into the top 20."
"Continued to push and passed a few more cars to move up to P15. I’m starting to feel the car more each race, and learning to follow in dirty air and overtake cars on track was another step forward", she continued. "Also so happy with the improved race pace, so just going to keep my head down and see if I can improve further in the two races tomorrow."
Sunday morning saw the second race of the weekend, based on Q2 qualifying times. Alex Ninovic led the grid from Deagan Fairclough, while Bianca Bustamante lined up in P21 aiming to continue her momentum from race 1.
She had another clean start, gaining one place on Nandan to move into P20 on the opening lap, mixing it up in the thick of the midfield. Bustamante then moved up to P19 on the second lap after Abbi Pulling was involved in contact and retired. Bianca was battling Gonzalez when the Safety Car was deployed.
The race resumed on lap 4; Fairclough passed Ninovic for the lead in a bold move as he chased his first GB3 victory. Bustamante held her position on the restart, closely following Jackes and Gonzalez while defending from Raber behind. She ran consistent lap times in the 1:56.5 range.
Ahead, Fairclough and Ninovic made contact while fighting for the lead, which allowed Al Azhari to take the lead on lap 7. One lap later, Heuzenroeder made a move stick to take over P1. Bustamante moved up to P18 as Ninovic pitted for a new front wing, followed shortly after by Fairclough. She gained more positions as Schwarze and Fluxa also hit trouble. Although she lost a spot to Raber, she stayed in the fight and kept Nandan behind.
Bianca improved her personal best to a 1:56.2, though Nandan managed to get past in the closing stages. Bustamante kept pushing, improved her lap time again on the final lap, and crossed the line in P17 — gaining four spots from her starting position in another solid run for the Elite Motorsport rookie.
The final race of the weekend took place on Sunday afternoon, with some light rain beforehand, but the track was dry by race time. Gianmarco Pradel started on pole alongside Jack Sherwood for the reverse-grid contest, with Bustamante lining up in P20.
She gained two places on the first lap, overtaking Nandan and David to move into P18. The opening laps saw plenty of action, with some cars running off but rejoining. Bustamante battled Fluxá, who briefly got back ahead. Bianca then held P19, applying pressure to Gonzalez while also defending from Raber in a tightly packed group.
Soon, she had to contend with the recovering Fairclough, who overtook her. Still, she maintained solid pace in the 1:56.8 range and slotted into P20. Fairclough later encountered issues and pitted, promoting Bustamante back to P19 by lap 8. Now with clear air both ahead and behind, she focused fully on her race pace.
With Al Azhari dropping down the order on the final lap due to a broken front wing, Bustamante finished P18 — in another clean and convincing drive in which she showed consistency, racecraft, and further progress.
With her performances at Silverstone, Bustamante now has 49 points after the first five rounds of the season. Next up will be Brands Hatch, on 23–24 August.
