Last weekend, March 4-5th, the fifth round of the GT Winter Series was held at the Navarra circuit in northern Spain. Jessica Bäckman was on the starting grid for the first time in 2023, in a new car; Aston Martin AMR Vantage GT4 and for a new team; PROsport Racing Team. Jessica made an impressive GT4 debut where she drove home two second places in the races.
Excited to be back on track after the long winter break, I'm happy with my start to the season and got a lot of valuable driving this weekend. Extra fun that my performance was enough for two second places in the races, Jessica Bäckman says.
The GT Winter Series enters its third season, stronger than ever and with more race weekends on the most beautiful racetracks in southern Europe. From December to March, with competitions in Spain and Portugal, where each race weekend consists of two sprint races of 25 minutes each and an endurance race of 60 minutes with a driver change after half the race. The drivers compete for points in their classification class and victory in the overall standings. The cars are built according to the global GT4 regulations, which means that they are, for example, the same cars used in the remaining GT4 championships around the world. The previous weekend, March 4–5th, the fifth round of the championship was run at Circuit de Navarra in Spain, where the young, Swedish racer Jessica Bäckman made her racing debut in the rear-wheel drive Aston Martin AMR Vantage GT4 car for PROsport Racing Team, which she did well, as she secured two second places and several experiences richer.
Qualifying
Sunday morning began with time qualifying on the cold Navarra track where Jessica qualified for the first time in a GT4 context. She picked up the pace quickly and was not far behind the fastest car, but unfortunately, she had her best laps canceled due to track limits and therefore qualified in 3rd place.
Spint- & Endurance Race
In her first start in GT racing, Jessica Bäckman got off to a good start and took several places in the overall classifications and worked her way up to second place in the GT4 class. Jessica managed to keep the second place all the way to the finish in the 25-minute sprint race, taking her first podium in her very first GT4 race.
In the afternoon it was time for the 60-minute-long Endurance Race, where two drivers share the car, and drive half the race each, and it was Jessica's teammate Gabriela Jílková who started the race. Jílková had a good start and maintained second place in class after close battles, the top three in the class were fighting at one point separated by a couple of tenths. Halfway through the race, it was time for a pit stop and driver change, where Jessica Bäckman took over the wheel of the Aston Martin AMR Vantage GT4 car in third place.
The Swede settled into her rhythm and started to chase the car in front, eventually, Jessica caught up with the sister car of PROsport and finally the Sweden National Team driver also managed to squeeze her way past and into second place after a successful overtake. A second place which she then held all the way to the finish line in the 60-minute-long race. Jessica crossed the finish line 2nd in class and 13th overall together with teammate Gabriela Jílková.
During the one-off weekend in Navarra, Jessica took two out of two second places in the races, in other words, Bäckman's GT racing debut was successful, as she showed great success and adaptability to a new car.
I am happy with my racing debut in GT4, the GT Winter Series is a perfect way to learn all the GT-racing experiences in the most efficient way. Getting the chance to learn a brand new car for me in a race format is useful for the future and very happy that my debut was enough for two second places, better than I could have expected. A lot to learn to get where I want, but big steps forward this weekend, big thanks to PROsport Racing for a very fun weekend, says Jessica Bäckman.
Although Jessica´s season opener got off to a good start, Jessica's full racing schedule for 2023 has not yet been revealed.
Jessica’s results:
Time qualifying 2 (15 minutes): 3rd place
Sprint Race 2 (25 minutes): 2nd place
Endurance Race (60 minutes): 2nd place – driver change after half of the race