Carrie Schreiner scores personal best result in GT World Challenge with sixth in class at Magny-Cours

At her second GT World Challenge Europe Sprint outing, Carrie Schreiner quickly got up to speed on the unfamiliar Magny-Cours track and achieved a new personal best in the series with sixth in the highly competitive Bronze Cup class.

Photo credits: Carrie Schreiner

At her second GT World Challenge Europe Sprint outing, Carrie Schreiner quickly got up to speed on the unfamiliar Magny-Cours track and achieved a new personal best in the series with sixth in the highly competitive Bronze Cup class.

The former venue of the French Formula 1 Grand Prix was uncharted territory for the Saarland native prior to this weekend. Consequently, she needed every minute of practice time available, as even today, a home simulator cannot fully replicate real-world conditions. However, the weather deprived Schreiner of necessary track time, with heavy rain making driving impossible at times. Nevertheless, the team showed good pace overall.

Sebastian Øgaard started the first race from 24th place overall. Unlike the races in Misano, where Schreiner made her Sprint series debut only a few weeks ago, there was some minor bumping but no accidents at the start of the night sprint.

Øgaard lost one overall position but managed to hold onto 8th place in the Bronze Cup. After the tight opening phase, the racing remained close, with the #991 car applying significant pressure on the Tresor Attempto Racing Audi ahead. A gap of just under 5 seconds opened up to 7th place in the Bronze Cup, though cars from other classes were interspersed between them.

Positions remained unchanged during the pit stop window, though the gaps shifted slightly. Tresor Attempto Racing attempted an overcut strategy by pitting at the very last moment; however, it turned out that earlier stops were the more effective strategy. The team dropped to 10th in class during the driver change to Carrie Schreiner.

The German driver had little time to settle in during the race; with 22 minutes remaining, the #84 car stopped beside the track, triggering a Full Course Yellow phase. At that point, Schreiner was running 41st overall and 10th in class, behind the #26 Saintéloc Racing entry.

The race restarted with 11.5 minutes left on the clock. Schreiner manages to significantly increase her pace in the remaining minutes, though it was not enough to improve her position within the class.

Photo credits: JEP /SRO

However, this improved pace was clearly evident during qualifying for the second race. On the track she had learned the previous day, she secured fifth place in her class and started from 36th position overall. Initially, the Kessel Racing Ferrari overtook her, but by passing cars from other classes, she managed to maintain her overall position.

After a somewhat tricky start, Schreiner found herself in a tight battle group, comprising cars from fifth to ninth in the Bronze Cup alone, and joined by cars from other classes in the overall standings. Her pace allowed her to successfully pressure the rivals ahead.

Instead of attempting a risky overtaking maneuver, however, she remained patient, as overtaking is very difficult on the Magny-Cours circuit. This patience paid off just past the halfway mark: the Kessel Racing Ferrari collided with a car from another class and spun out of her path. Unlike at Monza, the German driver was not blocked and was able to inherit the position.

Following this incident, she managed to break away from her Bronze-class battle group and set off in pursuit of the Silver-class cars ahead. In doing so, she also closed the gap to fourth place in her class, as the Silver-class car ahead was holding up the driver in fourth. During this chase, Schreiner set a new personal best lap time on her very first clear lap. The gap eventually stabilized at around one second.

Schreiner also moved up the overall standings through attrition. First, the #163 car rolled to a halt; once it was out of the way, Schreiner immediately set another personal fastest lap. Shortly thereafter, Van der Linde suffered a broken tie rod and came to a stop in the gravel. With 41 minutes remaining, the first Full Course Yellow of the second race was deployed. Schreiner was now running 34th overall and fifth in her class.

The recovery operation was swift, and the race restarted with 35 minutes left on the clock. In the final chicane, two competitors from other classes spun, placing Schreiner directly behind the next Bronze-rated driver. However, no further overtaking attempt materialized. The Kessel Racing Ferrari crashed heavily on the approach to Turn 5, triggering a Full Course Yellow. The resulting barrier damage proved severe enough to necessitate a red-flag stoppage of the race; the pit stop window was consequently delayed.

Photo credits: Carrie Schreiner

After a wait of just under 30 minutes, the field returned to the track behind the safety car. The restart took place after two laps, with the pit lane opening on the following lap. This time, Tresor Attempto Racing pitted immediately. Instead of challenging for the podium, the team dropped one position in class, first just before the pit entry and then during the stop itself, slipping to sixth place.

Øgaard also maintained a strong pace, keeping the gap to fifth place steady at 1.1 seconds.

The team gained another position after the Winward Mercedes received a 20-second stop-and-go penalty for causing the accident involving Kessel Racing. Despite her strong pace, Øgaard was unable to move further up the field as he was stuck behind Gold Cup cars.

However, the pressure from behind didn't let up, and eventually, the Getspeed car managed to overtake Øgaard. Ultimately, Schreiner and Øgaard finished sixth in their class, marking their best result of the season.

After the race, the ambitious German driver was moderately satisfied with the outcome.

"We are one of the very few driver pairings in the Bronze class competing without a Platinum or Gold driver", she stated. "Given that, we performed really well! If we can just have a race that runs perfectly—without incidents or errors—a class podium is definitely within reach!"

"In my first year in the world's toughest GT series, I am gradually getting used to the series' competitive environment and making steady progress."

On the last weekend of August, Schreiner will compete in the GT World Challenge Europe again at her home circuit, the Nürburgring. Although the track configuration will be different, the experience she has gained in the NLS could prove particularly beneficial there.