Gabriela Jílková and Cindy Gudet secure podium finish at Barcelona GT4 Europe finale
- RACERS
- Oct 13
- 4 min read
The all-female duo of Gabriela Jílková and Cindy Gudet wrapped up their 2025 GT4 European Series campaign with a Pro-Am podium at Barcelona, completing a strong second half of the season despite being taken out on the first lap of race 2 that resulted in a fifth place in the championship standings.
Gabriela Jílková and Cindy Gudet completed their second season as teammates in the all-female Matmut Compétition team in the GT4 European Series with a podium finish at the Barcelona finale, in one of their strongest weekends of the year that saw the duo solidly in the Pro-Am top three throughout the round.
An unfortunate crash on the first lap of Race 2 — through no fault of their own — was a disappointing way to end the season, but Jílková and Gudet still finished fifth in the Pro-Am championship standings, with five class podiums to their name.
After a third place at Le Castellet – the venue that had also given them their first-ever class podium together in 2024 – the duo took fourth in Zandvoort and, despite a more unlucky round in Spa, started the second half of the season on a high with a second place in Misano. From that point on, they finished on the class podium at least once at every following race meeting, including a very productive Nürburgring weekend where they secured both a second and a third place.
Coming into the season finale at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Gabriela Jílková and Cindy Gudet aimed to carry their momentum – and their speed certainly showed early in the weekend.
They were third fastest in the pre-event test on Thursday and just outside the overall top ten, setting the tone for the rest of the event. They then went sixth fastest in FP1 with a 1:51.560, before showing further improvement in final practice, where they led in class and ranked fifth overall with a 1:50.428, confirming they would contend for top positions.
Jílková took on Q1 duties in the #99 Toyota and clocked a 1:49.759, close to the overall top ten and fourth in Pro-Am. In Q2 it was time for Cindy Gudet, who had shown strong pace in practice. Gudet improved on her final run, setting a 1:50.288 to equal her teammate’s position – she would in fact also start from fourth in Pro-Am in Sunday's race.
Later on Saturday afternoon, Jílková started from 11th overall and fourth in Pro-Am. As the cars accelerated away for the first race of the weekend at Barcelona, drama unfolded at Turn 3 as several cars made contact and went around.
In the leading group, Jílková went through safely and climbed to seventh overall, gaining P3 in class. More incidents followed when the #317 BMW of Leandri was turned around after contact with the #17 BMW of van der Ende, bringing out the safety car on lap 2.
The race resumed at the end of lap 7, with Jílková holding position.
However, another crash soon followed as the #74 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin of Kullmann and the #44 Speedcar Audi of Thalamy collided at La Caixa hairpin, bringing out a full course yellow once again.
The caution extended into the pit window, as the full course yellow turned into a safety car, before the green flag was waved again on lap 13. Meanwhile, overall leader Rattican was handed a 10-second penalty for speeding at the race start, and second-placed Duran in the #87 Toyota received a 5-second penalty for an unsafe rejoin. Things went from bad to worse for Rattican, who picked up a puncture at Turn 1 on the restart.
As the pit window opened, the first cars dived into the pit lane. Jílková stayed out, moving up to fifth overall and retaining third in class, half a second behind Safronov and keeping good pressure.
The Czech driver pitted on lap 16, with Cindy Gudet taking over: she rejoined fourth in class and eighth overall.
Gudet found herself in heavy traffic and under pressure from behind, as the #16 NM Racing Mercedes and #25 Audi both managed to get past, briefly dropping her to sixth by lap 22.
However, Gudet soon found her rhythm, lapping in 1:53.8, fighting back into the overall top ten and reclaiming third in class with superb pace. She continued to pull away from the cars behind.
When the #98 Schubert Motorsport BMW of Joachim Walde spun into the gravel and got beached, local yellow flags were deployed as the cars entered the final lap. Gudet had been steadily closing in on the #24 JSB Compétition Porsche, second in Pro-Am, but eventually had to settle for third, finishing just six tenths behind. She secured P3 and another excellent class podium for the all-female Matmut Evolution team – their fourth top-three from the last five races – and they remained mathematically in contention for third in the standings.
Again starting from fourth on the grid and chasing another podium on Sunday for Race 2, Gudet took the rolling start from the inside line. However, chaos ensued as several cars went off; Gudet was pushed wide into the gravel, rejoining but then being hit again at Turn 5 by the #98 BMW of Walde. The impact sent the #99 Matmut Toyota hard into the barriers, heavily damaging the rear of the car and the barriers themselves.
Thankfully, Gudet was unhurt, but their weekend came to an early end after a really strong first race, having shown excellent pace all weekend.
Despite the unlucky second race, Gabriela Jílková and Cindy Gudet delivered one of their strongest performances of the season pace-wise, battling at the front and within the overall top ten of the outstandingly competitive 40-car field. The Matmut Evolution all-female duo concluded the 2025 season fifth in the Pro-Am standings with 103 points.
The second half of the season was particularly impressive, showcasing great racecraft from both drivers in one of the toughest GT4 series in the world.
