Bruna Tomaselli

Bruna Tomaselli is a Brazilian driver who is making her way up the US single-seater racing ladder.

Her senior career began in 2013, racing in Brazil’s Formula Junior championship at the age of 16. This followed two years of international karting. Formula Junior appears to be a Ford-based single-seater championship and Bruna spent two seasons there. She scored one podium in her first season, then her first win in 2014. She was fourth in that year’s championship.

She first raced in South American Formula 4 in 2015. She was sixth in the championship, with several fourth places as her best result. In contrast, she survived a nasty accident at Rio Hondo. That year, she also made guest appearances in Sprint Race in Brazil.

Back at home in 2016, she continued her Formula 4 campaign. During the season, she scored five podium positions, and was fourth in the championship. The best of her results was a second place at Rivera, behind Juan Manuel Casella. Her four third places were at Pinar.

Her big project for 2017 was moving to the States in order to race in the Cooper Tires FF2000 championship. In between, she travelled to Bahrain for its round of the MRF Challenge. Her best finish was eighth.

In the USA, she was twelfth at Road America, on her way to 21st in the championship. She was driving for the ArmsUp team and completed almost all of the season.

She did another year in USF2000 in 2018, finishing 16th overall with one seventh place as her best result. This came from the first race of the year at St Petersburg. Without a series of DNFs towards the end of the season, her finishing position would have been higher.

Back home, she also competed in Formula Academy Sudamericana, finishing fifth in the Formula Renault-based series.

At the end of the year, she applied to be one of the drivers for the all-female W Series in Europe, and was placed on the initial list of 60 hopefuls. After the first selection event, she was rejected and took to social media to express her confusion and disappointment. She had been among the fastest drivers on the final “Race of Champions” task, but was not retained.

She raced in USF2000 again in 2019 for the leading Pabst Racing team. This year she was much more consistent and was a regular fixture in the top ten, as well as finishing all but one of her races. She was eighth in the championship and her best result was fifth at Mid-Ohio.

Surprisingly, she was invited back for another W Series assessment and was signed up to compete in the 2020 championship. This did not go ahead due to the coronavirus crisis, but she was allowed to race in 2021.

In August, she made a guest appearance in the Paulista Super Formula series, a Formula 3-based championship. She earned two second places at Interlagos, one from pole. Not long afterwards, she did her first sportscar race, driving a VW-engined MRX prototype in Imperio Endurance Brasil. She missed the first round but was third on her first race out at Curitiba. A non-finish and a disqualification followed, but she bounced back with a win at Curitiba and another win at Velopark, the second race from pole.

W Series was a rather indifferent experience for her. She did show some early speed with a fifth place at the Red Bull Ring, but she struggled to get into the top ten after that, apart from one ninth place in Hungary. She was 15th in the championship and may well lose her spot in 2022.

As well as F3, Bruna tried sportscar racing again in 2021. She was part of an all-female team for a round of the Porsche Endurance Challenge at Interlagos, finishing fifth in class with Bia Figueiredo and Carol Aranha. The team was entirely made up of female personnel.

In a mixed team, Bruna was ninth in the Mil Milhas Brasileiras, driving a Hayabusa-engined prototype. She raced as part of the "Fantastic Four" with Emilio Padron, Fernando Ohashi and Fernando Fortes.

Her 2022 season revolved around W Series, although the championship was shortened to seven races due to financial constraints. Bruna was assigned to the Racing X team and had a similar season to 2021. She was a promising fifth in the first race at Miami, but then lost momentum. She was twelfth in the championship.

W Series collapsed during the off-season, so Bruna changed direction completely. She entered the Brazilian Stock Car championship, which uses a stock chassis and engine. It was a fairly tough learning curve for her, but by the end of the season, she scored her best finish of fourth at Interlagos. She was eighth overall.

Prior to her motorsport career, Bruna played football to a high level and still retains an interest in the women’s game in Brazil.

(Image copyright Bruna Tomaselli)