Year in Review - Ana Palestro

December 28, 2025

ANA PALESTRO MADE BIG PROGRESS IN ROOKIE SEASON COMPETING IN F4 CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIP

 

Seattle teenager Ana Palestro enjoyed a rookie season full of highlights competing in the Formula PRO USA Championship ultimately finishing 4th in the season point standings.

With a keen interest in racing but no prior karting experience, Ana dove into the deep end by attending one of the JENSEN team's RACING CAMP programs in summer 2024 at Buttonwillow Raceway near Los Angeles. After numerous additional practice days, Ana made her first race start in February 2025 at Buttonwillow Raceway to prepare for her rookie race season racing in the F4 California series.

Formula PRO USA F4 California Championship first race of the 2025 season took place in early March at arguably the most challenging circuits on the calendar, Sonoma Raceway. Located in wine country roughly 30 miles north of downtown San Francisco, Sonoma Raceway presents a big challenge to drivers with considerable elevation change and ever present walls.

Driving the #2 JENSEN Ligier F4 race car, Ana made an overall excellent performance all weekend, When challenging for 5th position in the first race, the car ahead spun causing Ana to veer off course hitting the tire wall at Turn 2.

Accidents inevitably happen, but the resilience that Ana showed to get back in her repaired race car to compete in the Sunday feature race will be the lasting impression of her debut weekend. And with a view to the season championship point standings, finishing 6th in the Sunday race added 8 points to Ana's tally that would prove to be very important throughout the 2025 season.

Round two of the 2025 season took place at Thunderhill Raceway near Sacramento California. Still struggling with her confidence after the Sonoma crash as well as the high speed elevation filled Thunderhill circuit, Ana persevered through a challenging weekend focused on accruing more championship points.

Round three of the 2025 season at Laguna Seca in late June is when Ana's talent and grit began to shine through. Ana chased her friendly arch rival throughout the Saturday race, and in the Sunday feature made a late race overtaking maneuver to finish ahead of Carolyn Fitzgerald for the first time in six races.

JENSEN team owner Eric Jensen insights, "It was a different Ana leaving Laguna Seca on Sunday evening. With her charismatic smile and bold eyes, Ana showed how much she truly loves driving her race car. I am often hard on kids early in their development to be sure they are racing for the right reasons, and with her resilience that Laguna Seca was the weekend that proved to me that Ana will succeed in her professional racing career."

Sonoma Raceway hosted round four of the 2025 Formula PRO USA F4 California Championship.

The over arching objective of Ana's custom young driver development program is to earn her the opportunity to join the F1 Academy grid for the 2027 race season. F1 Academy is the all female race championship that competes together with Formula One at races all over the world.

So with that objective in mind, the JENSEN team added the early September SCCA race weekend to our schedule to give Ana some added track time at Sonoma Raceway two weeks in advance of round four of the F4 California Championship.

With all the thoughtfully planned and executed practice, Ana again delivered her strongest race weekend to date at Sonoma. Her lap times were much improved, and she finished ahead of her rival Carolyn closing the gap in the season point standings.

Round five of the 2025 Formula PRO USA F4 California Championship took place at Thunderhill Raceway in October. Ana's performance was massively improved from the spring race, and once again she made several on track passes of her rival Carolyn. Leaving Thunderhill, Ana was fifth in the season point standings, and eight points behind Carolyn entering the 2025 season finale.

Buttonwillow Raceway in Southern California hosted the season finale in November. The weather God's clearly thought heavy rain would add some drama to the season finale, and they were correct. To read about and see photos from the JENSEN team's Buttonwillow season finale, here is a link to read the article on the team website - Buttonwillow Wet Weather Chaos

Once again Ana delivered her best weekend performance to date driving her #2 JENSEN Ligier F4 race car. Ana was fast all weekend in the rain, qualifying and finishing ahead of her arch rival Carolyn all weekend. Ana also executed numerous on track passes despite the challenging wet conditions. Ultimately Ana finished 4th in the season championship point standings, and just four points adrift from winning the Female Championship.

Ana Palestro driving the #2 JENSEN Ligier F4 race car at Laguna Seca

Ana will return to compete in the Formula PRO USA F4 California Championship for the 2026 season. As a seasoned sophomore, Ana should be very competitive to not only win the Female Championship, but also compete for outright wins and the overall season championship.

Formula 4 is the entry level junior open-wheel race category on the FIA development ladder system intended to identify and train future drivers to compete in the Formula One World Championship. JENSEN owns four Ligier JS F4 pro spec race cars, and there are multiple championships across the USA that are terrific for new drivers to learn how to optimize their driving techniques and to gain competition experience.

Formula PRO USA Championship is one such championship, where the 2026 season will again feature six race weekends at iconic California circuits including Laguna Seca and Sonoma Raceway.

For more information about Ana Palestro and her JENSEN young driver development program, contact Eric Jensen via email at jensen@jensenga.com

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For more information about the Formula Pro Western Championship ( F4 California Series ) visit the series website www.formulaprousa.com