Belén García equals best result of the year in Ultimate Cup season finale in Le Castellet
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Fighting through a challenging start of the weekend, Belén García executed a strong middle stint in the European Endurance Prototype Cup finale at Le Castellet, helping ANS Motorsport to a hard-fought second-place finish and closing the season on the podium, matching her season's best.
The 2025 European Endurance Prototype Cup season concluded at Circuit Paul Ricard with a four-hour race that delivered one of the strongest results of the year for Belén García and her ANS Motorsport teammates.
Overcoming illness that had sidelined her from most of the practice sessions, García produced a convincing performance during her race stints to help the team secure a second-place finish, a thoroughly deserved reward after a challenging and at times unlucky campaign. The result marked a return to form for the #71 ANS Motorsport crew, who had often shown front-running pace throughout the season but had not always been able to capitalize on their speed.
In her 2025 campaign in the European Endurance Prototype Cup, Belén García made an immediate impact upon her return to the championship with ANS Motorsport, driving the #71 NP02 prototype alongside Adrien Chila and Paul Trojani. García instantly reestablished herself as one of the series’ frontrunners, opening the season with a podium finish at Le Castellet, fighting for victory at a circuit where she had previously claimed her first endurance win. The Spaniard then continued her strong form at Mugello, a new venue for her, where she adapted quickly and helped the team secure an impressive second-place finish after another solid four-hour race.
The middle phase of the season brought both highlights and challenges. At Portimão, García and her teammates fought through adversity to recover to eighth place and collect valuable points, while the following round at Motorland Aragón ended in heartbreak when the trio was on course for a potential overall win before a late braking issue forced their retirement. The setback only strengthened their determination, and by the time the series reached Magny-Cours, the ANS Motorsport team was back on strong form—running cleanly and consistently in podium contention throughout the four-hour race and narrowly missing out on another top-three result.
For the series finale at Le Castellet, García returned to a circuit where she has traditionally performed exceptionally well and collected some of the highlight results of her career, both in single-seaters and in prototypes. It was the venue of her Ultimate Cup debut and her first LMP3 win, and she arrived in the South of France hoping to continue her positive streak. However, the weekend began with setbacks as health issues sidelined her from the entirety of Friday practice, highly limiting her driving time before the race.
For the final round, Belén García and Paul Trojani were joined by bronze-rated driver Louis Rossi, returning to the series for the season finale. Trojani set the car’s best lap in first practice with a 1:59.601, placing the #71 NP02 machine eighth overall. In second practice, the team maintained similar pace, finishing seventh fastest, again with García unable to drive. On Saturday, García was finally able to take her first laps of the weekend, and the trio improved their pace, climbing to fourth fastest overall with lap times dropping.
In Sunday qualifying, García took driving duties for Q1, setting an excellent 1:59.003 that placed the team fifth fastest in her session. Louis Rossi took over for Q2, lapping in 1:59.417 for seventh place, while Paul Trojani completed the final qualifying segment with an impressive 1:57.722, again putting the car among the top five. With all three drivers delivering close times, the combined average placed the #71 ANS Motorsport entry third on the grid for Monday’s four-hour race, promising a strong position to challenge for the podium.
Louis Rossi took the start for the #71 car and made a stunning getaway, immediately jumping into the overall lead. The French driver was on superb form in the opening stages, setting the fastest laps of the race and pulling out a four-second lead over Erwin Creed within just two laps. He was the only driver lapping in the 2:01s in the early phase and continued to extend his margin, soon dipping into the 2:00s. Once Alister Yoong moved up into second place, the Malaysian driver was able to match Rossi’s pace within a tenth, but the gap between the two remained around five seconds.
A dramatic moment unfolded as the race reached the half-hour mark: Rossi, pushing hard through lapped traffic, made a small mistake at Le Beausset, briefly going off track before rejoining just ahead of Yoong. The slight off-track excursion allowed Yoong to close the gap and make the pass for the lead on lap 14.
Rossi, however, kept his composure and immediately responded by setting another fastest lap of the race, a 1:59.470, and holding a comfortable second position with very competitive pace. He later pitted from second and stayed in the car for a second stint. After the first cycle of pit stops, he rejoined still in second position and continued his solid run.
Midway through his double stint, Rossi had another tense moment while lapping slower traffic, locking up under braking to avoid contact and spinning with 2h43m remaining. Despite the spin, he retained second place thanks to a comfortable margin over the third-placed #95 machine and escaped without significant damage. The race remained green throughout the stint, and Rossi continued to run strongly before pitting for the second time. He briefly rejoined eighth but was brought in again for the third mandatory stop, at which point Belén García took over the #71 Nova Proto NP02 prototype.
García’s first laps immediately showed strong pace—opening with a 2:00.1—and she quickly began to climb up the order. At around two hours into the race and 50 laps completed, she was running 16th overall, on a different strategy than most cars ahead. As the race approached half distance, drama struck for the #154 NP02 of Nicolas Prost, a title contender, who suffered a suspension failure. The French veteran managed to bring the car back to the pits under green flag conditions.
After the fourth pit stop, Belén rejoined in P24, becoming the only driver in the field to have completed four stops at that point, as ANS Motorsport opted for a different strategy. Despite the alternate pit sequence, García’s pace remained consistently strong, running in low 2:00s and then dipping below the two-minute mark as the race entered its third hour. She navigated through traffic with precision, gradually picking off competitors as others made their pit stops. By lap 67, with 1h30m remaining, García was back in the top ten.
Continuing to push, García overtook Buntschu for P9, then advanced to seventh after a strong series of laps that included a pass on Michael Stephen. On lap 78, after a very solid stint, she handed over the car to Paul Trojani with 1h11m left on the clock, running fifth overall. It was a superb effort in her physical conditions, that had kept the team in podium contention.
Trojani took over for the final stages of the race, one of the few drivers to have already completed six mandatory stops. He maintained consistent 2:00s pace, matching García’s earlier rhythm before finding a few extra tenths to again dip below the two-minute mark as he chased the overall leaders.
When all competitors completed their seventh stop, Trojani emerged second overall, behind only James Winslow. Despite picking up a couple of track limits penalties in the final minutes, the ANS Motorsport crew held their ground, building enough of a gap to Maxence Maurice in third to secure a brilliant second-place finish that matched their best result of the season.
It was a commendable team effort that perfectly reflected the trio’s hard work over the year; once again, Belén García pushed through, performing at her best despite illness and minimal preparation time.
“It feels really good to end up on the podium as it has been a difficult weekend for me physically,” García said.
“I missed all of Friday’s training sessions being ill at home and there were serious doubts about whether I could finally drive. Because of that, and after a few difficult races in the middle of the season, I am super happy to finish the season like this.”
"Really happy to finish on a high note a challenging season. I want to take a moment to thank everyone that has put their effort into this team this season. It made an impact. I enjoyed so much on and off track once again", she concluded.
With three podiums to their name, Belén García, Paul Trojani, and Adrien Chila wrapped up the 2025 European Endurance Prototype Cup fourth in the championship standings with 67.5 points. While the final points table did not fully reflect their pace and race-leading performances, the #71 crew proved to be one of the fastest and most consistent lineups in the field.
