Marta Garcia makes Toyota GR Spain debut at Circuit Ricardo Tormo

Marta Garcia made a welcome return to racing with a guest entry in Toyota GR Cup Spain at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, where she made significant progress as she gained familiarity with the car, ending the weekend by confidently battling among the leading group of drivers.

Photo credits: Toyota Gazoo Racing Spain

Former F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia made a welcome return to racing with a guest entry in Toyota GR Cup Spain at Circuit Ricardo Tormo. Driving at her home track, Garcia overcame changeable conditions throughout the event to secure a best finish of eighth. The RX Pro Racing driver made significant progress as she gained familiarity with the car, ending the weekend by confidently battling among the leading group of drivers.

Garcia entered the series as a guest of Toyota Spain with the inaugural F1 Academy champion looking to contend for podium finishes on her series debut. Racing at her home track of Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Garcia arrived into the weekend with valuable knowledge of the conditions despite her inexperience in the Toyota GR86 Cup car. 

Garcia has established herself as one of the most prominent female drivers in motorsport having acheived success in both single seaters and GT racing. After claiming seven victories on her way to the 2023 F1 Academy title, Garcia progressed into the Formula Regional European Championship with Iron Dames in 2024. Her relationship with Iron Dames extended into endurance racing where, in 2025, she claimed a victory in the Michelin Le Mans Cup at Silverstone.

Garcia’s first competitive appearance in 2026 saw her line up on the grid of the highly competitive one-make series. The Toyota GR Cup Spain season began at Circuito de Jarama in March and the championship concludes at Navarra in November. With cash prizes awarded to drivers, including for the top placed female competitor, the series provides performance-based incentives which add to the competition. 

On-track action began on Friday morning with Garcia’s first laps in the car coming during the official test session. Due to a lengthy red flag, the session was disrupted and therefore it was difficult for the drivers to find a rhythm at Circuit Ricardo Tormo. At the end of the session, Garcia’s fastest time of a 1:57.259 placed her in 15^th position overall as she continued to gain familiarity with the Toyota GR86 Cup car. 

The sole, one-hour free practice session was held on Friday afternoon with Garcia taking significant steps forward. Her quickest lap of a 1:55.356 was almost two seconds faster than she managed earlier in the day. The RX Pro Racing driver completed a total of 16 laps as she now looked ahead to the first of two qualifying sessions. 

Saturday morning saw the opening qualifying session take place with Garcia quickly out on track and improving from her best free practice time. The Spanish racer displayed excellent speed through the final sector in particular and once again she beat her previous best lap by two seconds. Setting a fastest time of a 1:53.121, Garcia qualified in 12^th position overall and was just one second away from the second row of the grid. 

Race one of the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon with Garcia lining up from 12^th on the grid. Despite being inexperienced at standing starts behind the wheel of a saloon car, Garcia got an excellent launch and immediately moved up to 11^th position. Marta then began challenging Ignacio Rodriguez as the RX Pro Racing driver was showing good speed early in the race. 

By the end of the second lap, Garcia had built a small margin to Jesus Luis Recuenco behind and after Joan Vinyes R went off the circuit in the final sector, Marta was inside the top-10. In her first race in the series Garcia was racing confidently in the midfield and keeping the leading group of drivers in her sights. Remaining just over a second behind Rodriguez, Garcia continued to apply pressure to her rival in attempt to force a mistake from the Aviastec Racing driver.

As Rodriguez began to halt the progress of Garcia, Vinyes R began closing in and he cut the margin to half a second. At the head of the field, contact between Marco Aguilar and Marcos De Diego while fighting for the lead saw De Diego retire from the race with damage. This briefly elevated Garcia into ninth position before Vinyes R moved ahead at turn one.

Ahead of Garcia, both Luis Alvarez and Santiago Castilla had received five-second time penalties for exceeding track limits and therefore opportunities still arose to move forward. On lap nine, Castilla slowed with a technical issue and this promoted Garcia back into ninth spot, while Vinyes R cleared Rodriguez for seventh. 

Garcia was now applying significant pressure to Rodriguez and she drew level with her rival to start lap 10. Although she was unable to clear her rival at turn one, her persistence paid off and she made a nice move in the middle sector to claim eighth spot. Garcia quickly opened out a comfortable gap to Rodriguez and with a margin of five seconds ahead to Vinyes R, the race settled into a late race rhythm. Garcia drove smartly in the closing stages to secure eighth position at the chequered flag on her debut in Toyota GR Cup Spain. 

Photo credits: Toyota Gazoo Racing Spain

Sunday’s action began with the second qualifying session and Garcia faced another challenge with wet conditions at Circuit Ricardo Tormo. It was an extremely positive session for the former F1 Academy champion who consistently challenged for top-10 positions. After running as high as sixth late in the session, Garcia set a quickest lap of a 2:01.394 which saw the RX Pro Racing driver qualify in eighth position, just three tenths of a second away from fourth spot. 

Race two of the weekend took place on Sunday afternoon and although the track was now dry, a light rain shower prior to the start made conditions slippery. Lining up from eighth on the grid, it was a challenging initial start for Garcia as she fell to tenth position. Garcia was soon fighting back and after Joan Vinyes D had an off-track moment in the final sector, Marta was up to ninth position as the second lap got underway.

Garcia was showing her experience in the tricky conditions and she pulled off a nice move at turn one to claim eighth position from Lucas Mariconda. Despite this overtake, Garcia set the overall fastest lap of the race on lap two as she brought herself into contention with the leading group of drivers. Now pressuring Santiago Castilla, Garcia was looking for a way ahead of the Eficar Team Casal racer. On lap two, contact between Garcia and Castilla at turn eight saw Castilla run through the gravel, while Garcia was delayed and she fell to ninth.

Nonetheless, Garcia’s speed remained strong and following another new personal best time on lap five, she was matching the pace of the race leaders. This speed saw her pass Sandro Perez on lap six, before the RX Pro Racing driver was engaged in a close battle with Luis Alvarez and Ignacio Rodriguez. 

On lap 10, Joan Vinyes R slowed and contact between Vinyes R and Alvarez saw the former beached in the gravel. This led to the safety car being deployed with Garcia now up to sixth position. The race restarted for one final lap and although it was a good initial restart from Garcia, she was shuffled behind Alvarez and Joan Vinyes D prior to the chequered flag. Garcia crossed the line in eighth position, before being promoted to seventh after a five-second penalty for track limit infringements was applied to Rodriguez. However, Garcia was then assessed a ten-position penalty for the contact with Castilla which dropped her to 15^th in the final classification. 

Garcia made significant improvements throughout the event as she displayed her adaptability on her series debut. Her speed in damp conditions was particularly impressive as she adapted to a new style of racing. The next round of Toyota GR Cup Spain takes place at Motorland Aragon on the weekend of June 20^th/21^st.