Photo: Dutch Photo Agency
F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia has announced her single-seater career has most likely come to an end.
Last weekend Garcia concluded her Formula Regional European Championship campaign with Iron Dames, in which she came a points-free 28th in the standings. Her best result was a 14th place.
The 24-year-old Spaniard was not new to the FRegional category, having spent three seasons in W Series before stepping back down to Formula 4 machinery last year to race in the similarly all-female series F1 Academy. She claimed a win, three third places and two poles in her first FRegional spell.
A winner of the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy and the Trofeo delle Industrie in 2015, in F4 she had come ninth in the Spanish championship back in 2017. Her title-winning F1 Academy season last year featured seven wins and five other podiums, and her prize included financial support to step up to FREC.
In a social media post on Saturday, Garcia described her last race weekend at Monza as “bittersweet”.
“I’m a bit emotional as tomorrow is probably my last race in a single seater,” she wrote. “At least for the near future. I’m sad, I’m happy, I’m nostalgic. I’m actually with some tears writing this. I know all the long way it was to come where I am today and I’m so glad for every single time on track. My dream was always get to F1 and this dream will stay forever in me.”
Without the budget to make her own way in single-seaters beyond this season, Garcia joined the Iron Dames project at the start of this year and made her first steps into sportscar racing with the brand when she contested two rounds of the Ligier European Series.