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Belén García

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is García and the second or maternal family name is Espinar.
Belén García
García in 2023
NationalitySpain Spanish
Full nameBelén García Espinar
Born (1999-07-26) 26 July 1999 (age 25)
L'Ametlla del Vallès, Spain[1]
Formula Regional European Championship career
Debut season2021
Current teamG4 Racing
Racing licence FIA Silver
Car number72
Starts8 (8 entries)
Wins0
Podiums0
Poles0
Fastest laps0
Best finish39th in 2021
Previous series
2021–2022
2019		W Series
F4 Spanish Championship
Championship titles
2019F4 Spain - Female Trophy

Belén García Espinar (born 26 July 1999 in L'Ametlla del Vallès) is a Spanish racing driver and pole vaulter.[2] She is a Spanish F4 and LMP3 race winner, and came fifth in the W Series in 2022. She currently competes in the European Le Mans Series for DKR Engineering.

Biography

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Belén García was born and raised in L'Ametlla del Vallès, a small village near the city of Barcelona. Her parents José Luis and Pilar run motorsport timing company Al Kamel Systems, her father also being a professional rally driver.[1]

In conjunction with her racing, García is also a competitively-registered pole vaulter with Club Atlètic Granollers.[3] García placed 5th at the Catalan U20 Athletics Championships in 2018 with a jump of 3.15 metres.[4][5]

Career

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Karting

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García began karting in 2015 in the Spanish Karting Championship, where she finished 10th in 2018 in the Senior-KZ2 class.[6]

Lower formulae

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She made her professional single-seater debut a year later, competing in the 2019 F4 Spanish Championship for Global Racing Service. She became the first woman to win a Formula 4 race in Europe at just her second attempt at the Circuito de Navarra, but only managed a best result of seventh after that. She eventually finished the season 15th overall on equal points with Nerea Martí, thus beating her to the female trophy on countback.[7] She also received a call-up to race for Team Spain at the 2019 FIA Motorsport Games, as their representative in the Formula 4 Cup, where she finished 6th, from 12th on the grid.[8]

W Series

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The Catalan driver qualified for the W Series, a Formula 3 championship for women, in 2020.[9][10][11] She was set to twin this with participation in selected rounds of another Formula 3 championship, the Formula Renault Eurocup.[12] However, following the cancellation of the 2020 W Series and the withdrawal of Global Racing Service from the 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was left without a drive for the season.[13] She then opted for a temporary return to karting, finishing 7th overall in the KZ category of the Spanish Karting Championship, ahead of former Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi.[14] García also raced in the final round of the Spanish Endurance Championship at Ciudad del Motor de Aragón, driving for NM Racing Team along with her father, in a Ginetta G55 GT4. They finished 6th in race 1 and 10th in race 2 overall but were ineligible for championship points.

García at the Red Bull Ring in 2021

In 2021, García made her debut in the W Series, while also racing part-time in the Formula Regional European Championship with G4 Racing as preparation.[15] She starred in the W Series season-opening round at the Red Bull Ring, where she qualified 3rd, dropped to 9th after running wide at turn 6, and then climbed back up to finish the race 4th.[16] However, she was unable to replicate such performance in the remainder of the year, eventually finishing 10th in the standings with 28 points.

García continued racing in the W Series for 2022. Paired with fellow Spanish driver Nerea Martí at the Quantfury team,[17] García proved a much more consistent force, as she scored points in six of the seven rounds that took place before the season was called off in October due to financial issues.[18] She secured her first series podium at Le Castellet in July with 2nd place,[19] and finished the season fifth in the standings, ahead of Martí.

Endurance racing

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After the cancellation of the remaining 2022 W Series rounds, García switched to endurance racing. She made her LMP3 debut at the Le Mans Cup season finale at Portimão in October, racing for CD Sport alongside Chinese gentleman driver Huilin Han. A lengthy red flag period meant she effectively had little more than 20 minutes of driving in the race, where they finished 17th, but she later described the experience as "a lot of fun" and said she was "looking forward to driving a car like that again".[20] She had her second LMP3 experience four weeks later, racing for Graff in the Ultimate Cup Series season-ending four-hour race at Paul Ricard. García proved to be quick from the start, as she led the first practice session by more than a second over newly crowned champion Lucca Allen.[21][22] Issues in qualifying meant she —along with bronze-rated teammates Eric Trouillet and Sébastien Page— had to start from tenth place, but by the end of the first hour they were already in the lead, and the trio ended up taking the win with a healthy 76-second margin. García set the second fastest lap of the race, a mere tenth of a second slower than LMP3 veteran Matt Bell.[23]

García remained with Trouillet and Page for her first full-time campaign in endurance racing, as she competed in the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series in one of Graff's Ligier JS P320 LMP3 cars.[24] She also continued in the 2023 Le Mans Cup.[25]

For the 2024 season, García stepped up to the European Le Mans Series in the LMP3 category with DKR Engineering.[26] She competed in the first three races of the season, but withdrew from the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and split with DKR Engineering due to persistent issues with her driving position in the car.[27]

Karting record

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Karting career summary

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Season Series Team Position
2015 Spanish Karting Championship — Senior NM CA Performance ?
2016 Spanish Karting Championship — Senior NM CA Performance ?
2017 Spanish Karting Championship — Senior NM Racing Team 16th
2018 Spanish Karting Championship — Senior-KZ2 NM Racing Team 10th
2020 Spanish Karting Championship — KZ Belén García Espinar 7th
FIA Karting World Championship — KZ2 CRG Srl 91st

Racing record

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Racing career summary

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Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2019 F4 Spanish Championship Global Racing Service 21 1 0 0 1 35 15th
FIA Motorsport Games Formula 4 Cup Team Spain 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 6th
2020 Campeonato de España de Resistencia - GT NM Racing Team 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
2021 W Series Scuderia W 8 0 0 0 0 28 10th
Formula Regional European Championship G4 Racing 8 0 0 0 0 0 39th
2022 W Series Quantfury W Series Team 7 0 0 0 1 58 5th
Le Mans Cup - LMP3 CD Sport 1 0 0 0 0 0 49th
Ultimate Cup Series - Proto P3 Graff 1 1 0 0 1 50 5th
2023 Asian Le Mans Series - LMP3 Graff 4 0 0 0 0 14 11th
Le Mans Cup - LMP3 360 Racing 6 0 0 0 0 30 10th
Prototype Cup Germany Van Ommen Racing by DataLab 2 0 0 0 1 26 20th
2024 European Le Mans Series - LMP3 DKR Engineering 3 0 1 0 1 19 14th

† As García was a guest driver, she was ineligible to score points.

Complete F4 Spanish Championship results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Points
2019 Global Racing Service NAV
1
15 		NAV
2
1 		NAV
3
7 		LEC
1
10 		LEC
2
15 		LEC
3
13 		ARA
1
15 		ARA
2
13 		ARA
3
10 		CRT
1
14 		CRT
2
11 		CRT
3
10 		JER
1
8 		JER
2
12 		JER
3
10 		ALG
1
7 		ALG
2
13 		ALG
3
8 		CAT
1
18 		CAT
2
12 		CAT
3
14 		15th 35

Complete FIA Motorsport Games results

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Year Entrant Cup Qualifying Quali Race Main race
2019 Spain Team Spain Formula 4 12th 12th 6th

Complete Formula Regional European Championship results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points
2021 G4 Racing IMO
1
23 		IMO
2
22 		CAT
1
27 		CAT
2
29 		MCO
1 		MCO
2 		LEC
1
30 		LEC
2
24 		ZAN
1 		ZAN
2 		SPA
1 		SPA
2 		RBR
1 		RBR
2 		VAL
1
29 		VAL
2
27 		MUG
1 		MUG
2 		MNZ
1 		MNZ
2 		39th 0

Complete W Series results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points
2021 Scuderia W RBR1
4 		RBR2
9 		SIL
17† 		HUN
8 		SPA
14 		ZAN
8 		COA1
12 		COA2
7 		10th 28
2022 Quantfury W Series Team MIA1
7 		MIA2
4 		CAT
7 		SIL
8 		LEC
2 		HUN
13 		SIN
4 		5th 58

† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete Le Mans Cup results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Class Chassis 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Rank Points
2022 CD Sport LMP3 Ligier JS P320 LEC IMO LMS
1 		LMS
2 		MNZ SPA ALG
17 		49th 0
2023 360 Racing LMP3 Ligier JS P320 CAT
15 		LMS
1
17 		LMS
2
13 		LEC
13 		ARA
5 		SPA
5 		ALG
5 		10th 30

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Class Car 1 2 3 4 Pos. Points
2023 Graff Racing LMP3 Ligier JS P320 DUB
1
8 		DUB
2
8 		ABU
1
7 		ABU
2
Ret 		14th 11

Complete European Le Mans Series results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rank Points
2024 DKR Engineering LMP3 Duqueine M30 - D08 Nissan VK56DE 5.6L V8 BCN
5 		LEC
21 		IMO
6 		SPA MUG ALG 8th* 19*
  • 1 – Ineligible for points having failed to meet minimum drive time.

* Season still in progress.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Pertiguista y campeona de España de Fórmula 4" (in Spanish). Superdeporte. 20 November 2019.
  2. ^ "Belén García Espinar DATOS DEL ATLETA. - Real Federación Española de Atletismo - RFEA.es" (in European Spanish). Real Federación Española de Atletismo. 20 December 2014.
  3. ^ Villota, Pablo de (10 December 2023). "El increíble salto de pértiga de la española Belén García hacia Las 24 horas de Le Mans". elconfidencial.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  4. ^ "Pole Vault & Racing". Belén García Espinar on YouTube. 22 November 2019.
  5. ^ "Perxa S20 FEM. AL" (PDF) (in Spanish). p. 352. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Resultados - Campeonato SR-KZ2 - CEK 2018" (PDF). Karting - RFEDA (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  7. ^ "Belén García, la primera mujer que vence en la F4: "Hay hombres que no les gusta competir ante nosotras"" (in Spanish). El Español. 12 April 2019.
  8. ^ "Belén García acaba sexta en la final de Fórmula 4, a tan sólo dos segundos del bronce" (in Spanish). Marca. 5 November 2019.
  9. ^ "W Series announces 18 drivers for 2020 season". W Series. 19 October 2019. Archived from the original on 11 May 2020. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  10. ^ "Tres pilotos españolas en las W Series 2020: Belén Garcia y Nerea Martí, junto a Marta García" (in Spanish). The Champions Voice. 23 October 2019. Archived from the original on 30 January 2020. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  11. ^ "Belén García Espinar: entrevista exclusiva a la piloto" (in Spanish). Actualidad Motor. 17 January 2020.
  12. ^ "Belen Garcia to race in F.Renault Eurocup as W Series preparation". Racers – Behind the Helmet. 11 March 2020.
  13. ^ Wood, Elliot (3 July 2020). "Global Racing Service drops out of Formula Renault Eurocup". Formula Scout.
  14. ^ "Resultados - Campeonato KZ - CEK 2020" (PDF). Karting - RFEDA (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  15. ^ "Belen Garcia adds part-time FREC campaign alongside W Series". Formula Scout. 23 March 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  16. ^ "Alice Powell takes back-to-back W Series wins 685 days apart". Formula Scout. 26 June 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  17. ^ "NEREA MARTI AND BELEN GARCIA TO RACE FOR QUANTFURY TEAM". W Series. 23 March 2022. Archived from the original on 25 March 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  18. ^ "W Series cancels rest of 2022 season, aims for 2023 revival". The Race. 10 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  19. ^ "W Series Paul Ricard: Chadwick holds off Visser to take seventh consecutive win". Autosport. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  20. ^ "Positivo debut de Belén García en la cita de la Michelin Le Mans Club de Portimão". logicmailing.com (in Spanish). Mediagé Comunicación. 17 October 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  21. ^ "Belén García competirá en la Ultimate Cup en Paul Ricard". SoyMotor (in Spanish). 10 November 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  22. ^ "Le Castellet 2 - Proto - Private practice 1 - Final ranking" (PDF). its-results.com. 11 November 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  23. ^ "Belén García logra su primera victoria en el mundo de la resistencia". Marca (in Spanish). 14 November 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  24. ^ Goodwin, Graham (23 December 2022). "Graff Confirm Two-Car Asian Le Mans Series LMP3 Roster". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  25. ^ "BARCELONA PROGRAMME: A New Challenge Begins at Home for Belén García Espinar". 21 April 2023.
  26. ^ "Bélen García steps up to the ELMS with DKR Engineering in 2024". 5 December 2023.
  27. ^ "4H Spa: Pre-Race Paddock Notes". 25 August 2024. Archived from the original on 25 August 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
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