Marta García’s Ligier European Series comeback hampered by technical misfortune at Spa
- RACERS
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Marta García’s return to competitive racing proved to be a challenging one at Spa-Francorchamps, as a weekend repeatedly disrupted by technical problems and limited track time prevented the inaugural F1 Academy champion from showing the full extent of her potential in her prototype racing debut.
Marta García’s long-awaited return to competitive racing proved to be a challenging one at Spa-Francorchamps, as a weekend repeatedly disrupted by technical problems and limited track time prevented the inaugural F1 Academy champion from showing the full extent of her potential in her prototype racing debut.
Sharing the #33 Ligier JS P4 with Scott Marsh for Petrogold, García returned to the Ligier European Series for the fourth round of the 2026 season after a long period away from regular competitions, but despite the difficult circumstances she continued to demonstrate the adaptability, extracting good performance in the new machinery in her qualifying session.
The Spa-Francorchamps weekend represented an important step in García’s return to racing and another stage in her long-term ambition of reaching the top of endurance racing. The Spanish driver had entered 2026 without a full-time programme following the scaling down of the Iron Dames racing operation, leaving her with no competitive mileage during the opening part of the year. Her return to Spa was therefore about much more than simply another race, with the event providing an opportunity to resume her development in sports cars while also tackling a completely new category.
García had first raced at Spa in the Ligier European Series in 2024, when she made her GT racing debut with Iron Dames in the Ligier JS2 R. She immediately fought at the front during her first weekend before converting that pace into victory in Race 2. She subsequently won again at the Portimão season finale, giving her two victories from two weekends.
That impressive start ultimately led to a full Michelin Le Mans Cup programme with Iron Dames in 2025, where García continued to demonstrate front-running speed and secured a race victory in GT3 despite a campaign affected by several setbacks. With most of Iron Dames' sportscar programs no longer continuing into 2026, however, García found herself without a regular seat, making the opportunity to return to the Ligier European Series particularly significant.
The Spa weekend marked García’s prototype racing debut, meaning that every lap was particularly valuable as she worked to understand a completely different type of machinery while also adapting to a new team and teammate. Unfortunately, the opening days of the weekend immediately made that task more difficult, as the #33 Petrogold car encountered technical issues throughout free practice, costing the crew valuable track time.
The lost running was particularly significant for García, who needed every available lap to familiarize herself with the car. In FP1, Marsh and García ended the session in 13th place with a best time of 2:34.716, before improving in FP2 to 2:28.216 and 11th position.
The first qualifying sesion on Saturday was contested by Marsh, with the track still damp but improving as conditions evolved. Marsh initially recorded a 2:38.9 before the circuit allowed him to make significant gains, improving to 2:31.095 and then 2:27.962. The latter lap briefly moved the #33 car into seventh position, only around two and a half seconds from pole, before a red flag with three minutes remaining brought the session to an early conclusion.
García took over for the second qualifying session, which was held in worsening wet conditions, and immediately began demonstrating good pace in the wet despite her limited experience of the prototype. Her opening representative lap of 2:47.591 placed her third fastest before further improvements from rivals dropped her to sixth. Once again, however, the session was interrupted by a red flag.
When qualifying resumed for its final minutes, García immediately produced a strong first sector, suggesting that further improvement was possible, but another red flag prevented her from completing the lap. Despite the disruption, García emerged from her qualifying session with a fifth-place starting position, a very encouraging achievement considering the circumstances.
The first race, however, offered almost no opportunity to build on that progress.
Marsh was entrusted with the start from eighth position, and the Petrogold driver made an excellent opening lap, taking the inside line through La Source before holding his position through the sequence of Eau Rouge and Raidillon. The field also had to negotiate a spinning Virage prototype at the top of the hill, but the opening corners passed without major incident and Marsh initially retained eighth.
The car subsequently began to lose positions, however, dropping to 12th before the underlying problem became more serious. On the second lap, the #33 Ligier suffered a technical issue and came to a halt, bringing the race to an early end for the Petrogold crew. For García, it was particularly cruel, as she did not even get the opportunity to take the wheel during the first race.
“Being back at Spa and back racing a prototype already means a lot to me, even if things haven’t exactly gone our way so far,” García explained afterwards. “We had a few issues during free practice that cost us valuable track time and meant we went into qualifying with fewer laps than we would have liked.”
The Spaniard nevertheless took encouragement from her qualifying performance. “Still, in a wet qualifying session we managed to secure P5, despite two red flags interrupting our best laps just as we were putting together some really strong sectors looking good for a possible P3 or even pole,” she said.
The disappointment of Race 1 was therefore tempered by the knowledge that there was still another opportunity on Sunday, with García starting Race 2 from fifth position.
Sunday morning brought another challenge, however, as overnight rain left Spa covered by mist and fog. The conditions were sufficiently poor for the race to begin behind the Safety Car, with the field circulating for approximately 20 minutes while race control waited for visibility to improve.
Once racing finally went green, García immediately found herself under pressure.
Therbo attacked on the run towards Eau Rouge and managed to take fifth position, while the #33 Ligier visibly struggled for straight-line speed. Schranz and Aegerter subsequently moved past on the Kemmel Straight, dropping García to eighth as she fought to keep the car under control.
The difficulties continued, with Doyle-Parfait and Oliveira also finding a way through after Blanchimont, leaving García tenth. Despite the difficult circumstances, she continued to push and gradually improved her pace as the stint progressed, producing a 2:27.5 before lowering her benchmark again to 2:27.283.
García extended her stint through the opening phase of the pit window, eventually bringing the #33 car into the pits on lap ten from sixth position after several rivals had already stopped. Marsh took over for the second half of the race, rejoining seventh before subsequently also losing some positions in a tightly contested field.
The team was then investigated for a potential pit-stop time infringement, adding another complication to an already difficult weekend. Marsh continued to fight on track and gradually finding more pace, but he was eventually passed on the Kemmel Straight by the #20 Trajectus Motorsport Ligier.
A ten-second stop-and-go penalty was subsequently issued to the #33 crew for a short pit-stop time, further compromising the result.
Marsh crossed the line ninth in the JS P4 category; after the penalty was applied the #33 Petrogold Ligier dropped to tenth, but further penalties ahead resulted in a P9 final result.
Returning to competition after a largely inactive 2026 season, García encountered almost every possible obstacle during her return to racing, but even in those circumstances she showed flashes of the speed, particularly during qualifying. Most importantly, the weekend gave García the chance to be back behind the wheel.
“Of course it's frustrating because I feel like there’s much more to show, but that’s racing too,” García said. “More than anything, I’m just really happy to be back competing, learning a new car, working with a new team and feeling that racing adrenaline again.”
After a period away from full-time competitions, however, simply being back on the grid represented an important step forward, and the experience gained could prove valuable as García continues to pursue the larger goal of building a pathway towards Le Mans.
