Alba Vazquez

Alba Vazquez is a Spanish touring car racer who made history in 2022 as the first woman to win in the Campeonato Español de Turismos (CET), claiming victory in her rookie season and proving that karting graduates can still shake up established series.

EARLY YEARS

Like many racers who eventually find their way into tin-tops, Vazquez came up through karting. She graduated from karts in 2022 at age 19, making the leap straight into the full-contact world of touring cars—a transition that tends to separate the committed from the curious pretty quickly. Beyond that karting foundation, the details of her early life remain frustratingly sparse. No breadcrumb trail of childhood racing dreams, no stories of a father who wrenched in the garage or a mother who drove her to tracks at dawn. What we do know is that whatever happened in those formative years built someone ready to hit the ground running when the opportunity came.

OTHER INTERESTS

The record is silent here. Vazquez keeps her life outside the cockpit private, or perhaps she’s simply too busy racing to cultivate a carefully curated public persona. No hobbies listed, no passion projects, no Instagram-friendly side hustles. Sometimes the most interesting thing about a racer is that racing appears to be enough.

EARLY SUCCESS

Vazquez didn’t ease into touring cars—she arrived. Her 2022 debut season in CET with Motorismo Racing Team (MRT) behind the wheel of a Honda Civic Type R CET was the kind of rookie campaign that makes people pay attention. At the Navarra round, the fourth of five meetings that season, she secured third place in Race 1 before winning Race 2 outright, becoming the first woman ever to take a victory in the championship.[3] “The season has been really positive – I come from karting and I do not have touring car experience and it’s a very different car in regards to weight, driving and braking,” she told media at Navarra. “But the adaptation has been really positive, I am fourth in the championship and here in Navarra we’re fighting at the front – which means we’re doing a good job.”[3]

She wasn’t just fighting at the front occasionally—she racked up six podiums across five race meetings, showing the kind of consistency that rookie seasons aren’t supposed to include. By the Barcelona finale, she’d secured pole position for Race 3, though the weekend would end in frustration rather than celebration. A high-speed accident on Saturday left her unable to get the car back out on track, a gut-punch ending to an otherwise remarkable debut. “Barcelona gave us the worst of the season, on Saturday with an accident that left us without any option to take the car out on track, an indescribable frustration and impotence because we knew that this weekend we would fly on the track,” she reflected afterward.[2]

Despite that setback, Vazquez finished third in the drivers’ championship with 334 points and claimed the Female Trophy title.[1][2][3] Not bad for someone who’d never raced a touring car before that season. “Summing up the year, we have achieved what we would never have thought,” she said after the finale. “The adaptation, the progression and the work of not only me, but all the people behind me is indescribable.”[2]

Before the CET season even wrapped, Vazquez had already lined up her next challenge. She announced her debut in the GT-CER (Spanish Endurance Championship) for 2022, staying with the MRT family but switching to a Renault Clio Cup V in the D3 class. She’d be sharing driving duties with co-driver Ivan Hernandez Gonzalez across a six-round calendar that included Navarra, Portimao, Motorland Aragon, Valencia Ricardo Tormo, Jerez, and Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. Most weekends featured two 48-minute-plus-one-lap races, though Aragon and Barcelona stepped up to two-hour endurance formats.[1]

“After a long months of ups and downs, with many options on the table this season, I finally announce that I will run the Spanish Endurance Championship (GT-CER) with a Clio V of Motorismo Racing Team,” she announced. “One more year with this great family who betted on me in the CET in 2022 and we achieved great things.”[1] The loyalty was notable—MRT had taken a chance on an unproven karting graduate, and she’d rewarded them with championship silverware and headlines. “I can only thank Gabriel Alonso for making this possible and those great sponsors and entities that are behind,” she added, acknowledging the financial realities that keep wheels turning.[1]

According to DriverDB records, her overall career statistics show 5 races with 10 poles from timed qualifying sessions, placing her 14th overall in their rankings.[4] She’s also listed as having competed in GT Cup Open Europe in the Pro/Am category, though specific results and details from that appearance remain undocumented.[6]

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

• 2022: First woman to win a race in CET (Campeonato Español de Turismos), Race 2 at Navarra.[1][3]
• 2022: Third place in CET drivers’ championship (334 points) in rookie season.[1][2][3]
• 2022: CET Female Trophy champion.[1][2][3]
• 2022: Six podium finishes in CET rookie season.[1][2][3]
• 2022: Pole position for Race 3 at Barcelona CET finale.[2]

INSPIRATIONS

Vazquez hasn’t gone on record about who inspired her journey or what drove her from karts into cars. No childhood heroes mentioned, no posters on the bedroom wall, no mentor stories shared with the press. Whether that’s strategic privacy or simply not part of her narrative yet is anyone’s guess. What’s clear is that something—or someone—convinced a 19-year-old that touring cars were worth the risk.

REPUTATION

Alba Vazquez earned her reputation the old-fashioned way: by being fast and steady when it mattered. Her 2022 CET season was defined by remarkable consistency for a rookie, particularly one making the jump straight from karting without the usual feeder series stopover. Six podiums across five meetings isn’t luck—it’s learning quickly and executing under pressure. The Navarra weekend showcased both her racecraft and her ability to improve between sessions, going from third in Race 1 to victory in Race 2 while making championship history as the first woman to win in the series.[1][3]

The motorsports media took notice, with Racers Behind the Helmet covering her achievements and tracking her progression through the season.[1][2][3] That kind of attention matters in a sport where visibility can be as valuable as lap time. Her relationship with MRT speaks to both parties’ satisfaction—teams don’t bring rookies back for second seasons in different machinery unless the first partnership worked, and racers don’t stick with teams that don’t deliver competitive equipment.

The Barcelona accident that ended her season was the lone blemish on an otherwise impressive debut, but even that became part of the narrative of a racer who’d pushed hard enough to be in position for pole—and who handled the disappointment with grace. “An indescribable frustration and impotence because we knew that this weekend we would fly on the track,” she said, acknowledging the missed opportunity without making excuses.[2] That kind of clear-eyed assessment—credit the team, acknowledge the setback, move forward—builds the kind of reputation that opens doors in motorsports.

FUTURE GOALS/PLANS

As of the most recent available information from 2022-2023, Vazquez was looking ahead with cautious optimism rather than concrete plans. “Another stage closes, with a view to 2023 where hopefully great challenges await me, but with the sadness of ending the season with some people with whom I have shared such incredible moments,” she said after the CET finale.[2] The comment hints at the reality of racing careers: teams change, budgets shift, opportunities appear and disappear based on factors well beyond a driver’s control.

Her move into GT-CER endurance racing alongside sprint competition suggested an interest in expanding her skill set rather than staying in a single lane—literally. Endurance racing rewards different strengths: tire management over longer stints, strategic thinking across pit windows, communication with co-drivers. For someone who’d shown quick adaptation from karts to touring cars, it was a logical next step. Whether those 2023 “great challenges” materialized, and what she’s chasing now in 2025, remains undocumented in public sources.

What seems certain is that Vazquez isn’t someone who arrived in race cars accidentally. The consistency, the progression through the season, the willingness to thank the people who made it possible—these aren’t the hallmarks of someone treating racing as a passing interest. Whether the next chapter involves GT cars, prototype racing, international series, or continued dominance in Spanish championships is TBD. But given that she made history before her rookie season even finished, betting against her would be unwise.

The motorsports ladder is littered with talented drivers who got stuck on particular rungs—some for lack of funding, others for lack of opportunity, still others because one bad season derailed momentum. Vazquez has already proven she can win, adapt quickly, and handle both success and setback with maturity beyond her years (or at least her experience level). That combination tends to keep doors opening, even in a sport that’s notoriously difficult for women to break through. She’s already shown she can be the first woman to do something once. The question isn’t whether she’s capable of doing it again—it’s whether she’ll get the chance.

References:

Alba Vazquez to Make GT-CER Debut with Motorismo Racing Team
Alba Vazquez Reflects on CET Season Finale at Barcelona
Alba Vazquez Becomes First Woman to Win in CET at Navarra
Alba Vazquez Career Statistics – DriverDB