Bianca Bustamante makes it her 'personal endeavor' to represent PH, inspire next generation in GB3 Championship debut
Bianca Bustamante is steadily taking the world of speed by storm, and now that she’ll make her debut at the highly competitive GB3 Championship, she’s determined to make every push of the pedal and steer of the wheel count to make it to the top.
In a roundtable interview with PhilSTAR L!fe, the young Filipina racer took the time to discuss some of her goals for the new venture and how she is preparing to take on a longer race while making her fans in the Philippines proud.
While she "can't keep track" of all of her goals this season, Bianca wants to bag a top spot in the race.
"I want to finish in Top 10, score points. I think that will be a great way to start the season, but I know that it will be difficult. It will be my first time racing in such a long format as well," she said.
The 20-year-old athlete is set to compete in three rounds for the upcoming GB3 Championship, which features the Silverstone Circuit as the venue. But even before the main event starts, she already has her work cut out for her.
"Before the weekend starts, we already have two days of testing before qualifying, so two days of testing for quality and three races—that's a lot of driving. I don't think I've ever driven that much during a race weekend," she said.
Despite the physical toll, she underscored that she is "really looking forward to struggling, to making the most out of it, and learning as well."
"I hope that I'll be able to grow and be stronger by the end of all of it, and I know that I've got a great team with me," she said.
Pedal for the medal
The Pinay racer is fully aware that she has some "very fierce competitors" this season as a lot of them are second-year drivers and are already familiar with how everything goes on the tracks. On top of that, she will also be using the new Tatuus MSV GB3-025 car, which is heavier yet faster than previous racecars she drove in.
"It is about 20 seconds to 15 seconds faster than an F4 car in certain circuits. That means that I'm driving down the streets faster, I'm cornering faster, so I think it means that it is more physically demanding and physically taxing, which is obviously not an easy thing to adapt to," she said.
What's even more challenging is how, with racing, one must keep driving to improve oneself, Bianca shared.
For now, she busies herself in the training camp from nine to five, with a focus on improving her mentality, full vision reaction time, feeding and gathering information as quickly as possible, and staying calm despite stressful situations.
Raising her country's flag
As Bianca is the first Filipino to compete in a GB3 Championship, she shared that representing both her home country and women in motorsport in the new arena is "both a personal endeavor and a professional goal" of hers.
"Ever since I was a young kid, I always knew that I was passionate about sports and representation, and I was always very vocal about it, and going into a very male-dominated space, not a lot of women are kind of encouraged to pursue it. But not just that, [there aren't] many Filipinos who are encouraged to pursue racing," she said.
"I made it my personal endeavor to not just represent but to encourage and inspire and show the next generation that anything is possible and that there's no space in this world where you can't be in anymore," the Pinay racer added.
Bianca further pointed out how the Philippines now has multiple athletes raising the flag in all sorts of sports, like her good friend Alex Eala, who recently made history at the Miami Open after becoming the first Filipino to beat a Top 10 opponent since the ranking system started 50 years ago.
"Watching her succeed and rally through all of it is incredible. Seeing a lot of fellow Filipino and Filipino athletes really push through and break boundaries and barriers is incredible, and that is why I do what I do as well," she said.
"I want to pass the torch a little bit brighter to the next generation," she added.
Her message to them: "Never lose passion."
"Many times I could have just said, 'Oh, I'll just give up. There's more to lose if I keep going forward than if I gave up, right?' But for me, it was my passion. It's what kept me driven, so I think that was everything I needed to keep going," Bianca said.
She continued, "I was telling myself, I was telling my whole family, telling my manager, that if I walk away from all of this penniless, without a feature, without anything, I would probably still have a smile on my face because I got to live my dreams."
The 2025 GB3 Championship season begins on April 26 to 27 and is scheduled to end in October.
