SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS – Running at the front of a field full of boys, Adriana Cumbo took a hard-fought second place during the third round of the IAME Series Benelux. The fourteen-year-old from Montegnée proudly finished as the runner-up in the IAME KA100 category.

“Second place, a podium, among all those boys… Yeah, I’m really happy”, said a delighted Adriana. “I honestly didn’t expect it.”

That second place did not come easily, she admitted. “I started the final from sixth, and the start itself wasn’t great. I stayed sixth for the first hundred metres. After that, it went up and down the whole race: second, then fourth and fifth, and back to second again.”

At one point, she even led the race, out front and on her own. “That felt cool, but stressful too. I kept looking behind me the whole time”, she said. “Then someone came past me again.” She crossed the line in second place, a podium she had to fight for right to the very end.

In another sense, though, the podium was no surprise: her pace had been there all weekend. “In qualifying, I was sixth, and in the first race I started sixth and finished third, so the speed was good”, she said. In the second race, she again crossed the line second, only for a push-to-pass penalty to cost her six places. That is why she lined up sixth once more for the final.

Being one of the few girls on the grid is nothing new for Adriana. “You don’t see many girls in racing, just a few”, she said. Racing has been her world for seven years now. “It was my dad who got me into it when I was seven years old”, she said. “My first time was here at Spa-Francorchamps, in the rain, and I loved it straight away: the speed, the adrenaline. I still love it, even in the rain.” Fittingly, she was back at Spa this weekend, the very place it all began.

After starting out in the Rookie and Mini categories, she moved up to the much faster KA100 this season. “I like it because of the engine: it’s faster than the Mini, and more fun”, said Adriana.

Sunday’s podium meant an enormous amount to her, as it was her first in five years of competition. “Yeah, it’s a beautiful podium”, she said, “because it was my first.”

Whether another one will follow soon, she could not yet say. “I don’t know if I can get another podium, we’ll see”, said Adriana. “But I showed today that I’m fast.” She is doing the full IAME Benelux campaign, with a few GK4 rounds as well, and drives for her father’s team, ACA Performance, in its first year. It is early days for that squad, but the results are already clearly there, something to cherish.

 
Adriana Cumbo would like to thank her family, her mechanic and her teammates.