As part of the special W Series Academy program, Bustamante is guaranteed a race seat in the all-women racing series for the next two seasons, a major boost, allowing the young driver to focus on her driver development. She will have a dedicated engineer throughout the season, offering a consistent environment to push Bustamante beyond her limits as she tackles a new race car and a variety of new race circuits in her rookie season. There will be equally as much focus on her development off the track, including fitness, nutrition and media training to help Bustamante grow into a well-rounded professional racing driver.

The 17-year-old has been training hard to prepare for her upcoming W Series season, which will officially kick off in May at the Miami F1 Grand Prix. She will be going up against some of the best female racing talents in the world, and with limited experience, this season will be a steep learning curve for the young Filipino. Having made the big step up from karting to formula racing in 2022, this added opportunity with the W Series Academy Team will give that extra support needed to adapt to a completely new environment.

Bustamante will make her W Series debut in the W Series Academy Team car, featuring a livery with Acronis branding, W Series’ Global Cyber Protection and Security Partner this year. With the season opener to be held in the USA, the series will stage support races at eight Formula 1 weekends, including the first-ever W Series Asian round at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka in October.