Young motorsports star Bianca Bustamante added another feather to her racing cap with the first win of her professional career.
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Ever since she was a kid, Bianca Bustamante has been making a name for herself as one of the country’s brightest stars in racing. While it isn’t a sport that’s popular among Filipinos, Bianca is showing in her teen years that Pinoys deserve a space in the high-octane world of competitive racing. And recently, she proved her point as she scored one of the biggest wins of her career with her first-place finish at the Formula 1 Academy.
FIRST FOR FORMULA 1
On May 5, Saturday, Bianca got herself a spot in the history books when she got her first win during the second round of the F1 Academy competition. After placing fifth in race one of round two, Bianca sped her way across the 11 laps of race two to a top podium finish with a final time of 18:49.969, a half a second quicker than Swiss driver Lena Buhler. Not only did the first-place finish mark the first win of her professional career, and the third win for her PREMA Racing team, but it also was the first time a Filipino won a Formula 1 Academy race.
The anthem was played, we raised the flag. We Won!!
— Bianca Bustamante (@racerbia) May 6, 2023
100 emotions in 5min. Thank you everyone for believing in me. MY FIRST CAREER VICTORY!!!!!! Come on!!!!!!#LabanPilipinas#F1Academy #F1 #Prema #BB16 pic.twitter.com/d1nKZh7gV3
It should be noted that the race was held at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain, which means that the Philippine national anthem was played in the long-time former colonizer of the country. Bianca did that, and we couldn’t be happier.
Leading up to the moment, Bianca already had a few career milestones. It was just a few weeks ago that Bianca bagged a podium finish during round one in April, and she was also the first Filipina to compete in the W Series. Clearly, all the speedbumps a young Filipina in Formula 1 racing can experience aren’t stopping her from reaching the top.
It’s a win for herself, Filipino Formula 1 fans, and Philippine sports in general. Bianca has been vocal about becoming the first Filipino to race in Formula 1. And with the way her career is going, she just might do that. You can root for Bianca when the third round of the F1 Academy goes down in Barcelona, Spain on May 19-21.
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