18.03.2019

Marta García returned to single-seaters at Euroformula Open’s Barcelona winter test earlier this month after a year-and-half without driving a single-seater car.

The 18-year-old was a international karting champion before entering Spanish Formula 4 with Drivex School in 2016. She returned to the championship a year later as a Renault Formula 1 junior, but was dropped at the end of the season and has not been seen in a single-seater since.

She has continued to train physically for a return, and is one of 28 drivers who could race in the female-only W Series this year.

“Coming back to a single-seater car was great,” said García, who reunited with Drivex and ended up 11th fastest over the two-day test, just 1.373 seconds off the pace.

“It’s been a very long time: one-and-a-half years. It’s good because I was really looking forward to it, and also it was hard because it’s like new again. And I had to keep learning and and adapting to the car because it’s quite different [to F4]."

García was the second fastest of Drivex’s trio of drivers, despite limited preparation, and vows back to be in the Euroformula paddock.

“I picked this championship [for my return test] because I know there were the two days of testing in Barcelona, so I thought it would be good to prepare for the W Series selection [by doing it].

“I’ve been training so much physically in the last six months. I didn’t do simulator work or anything, I just came straight to the track and that was it.”

Eight female drivers have raced in Euroformula, including F1 testers Tatiana Calderón, Carmen Jordí and María de Villota, former Formula E driver Michela Cerruti and Le Mans 24 Hours racer Natacha Gachnang - who finished third in the 2008 Euroformula standings.