Photo: Mat Acton
GB4 runner-up Alisha Palmowski has been named as the wildcard driver for the next F1 Academy round at Losail.
The 18-year-old has had a stellar 2024 with Elite Motorsport in GB4, taking three wins, three second places and five other podium finishes en route to second in the points.
She will drive for Prema when she makes her debut in the all-female F1 Academy championship next week. It has not been confirmed if she was behind the wheel of Prema’s fourth car during the recent in-season test at Losail.
“I’m very excited to be the wildcard entry in Qatar, it’s an incredible opportunity and one I never could have dreamt of 12 months ago,” said Palmowski.
“This will be my first race outside of the UK, and for it be on the F1 Academy grid as a support series to Formula 1 is a dream come true. I’d like to say a huge thank you to the team at F1 Academy, and of course [managing director] Susie Wolff, for giving me this opportunity to learn and hopefully secure a seat on the grid for next year.”
Palmowski’s GB4 form was also recently rewarded with an outing in Formula E pre-seasting. She drove for Envision Racing in the all-female test session.
Before racing in single-seaters, Palmowski won the 2022 Ginetta Junior Scholarship and spent two years in Ginetta’s entry-level Junior sportscar series.
She came 13th in the standings as a rookie, with two eighth places being her best results, then she took two poles and took podiums in the Ginetta Junior Winter Series. Last year she switched teams to Elite and came fifth in the main championship with 10 podiums.