Gosia Rdest claims victory and runner-up finish at Magny-Cours, strengthens Alpine Elf Cup title bid
- RACERS
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
Gosia Rdest continued her remarkable comeback season to racing with another superb weekend in the Alpine Elf Cup Series, claiming victory and a runner-up finish alongside teammate Paul Alberto at Magny-Cours to further strengthen her championship challenge.
Gosia Rdest continued her remarkable comeback season to racing with another superb weekend in the Alpine Elf Cup Series, claiming victory and a runner-up finish alongside teammate Paul Alberto at Magny-Cours to further strengthen her championship challenge.
The Polish racer, who returned to competitions in 2026 just months after the birth of her second child, added a second victory of the campaign to her growing tally before narrowly missing out on a weekend sweep, leaving the French circuit second in the championship standings with one round remaining.
After an emotional return to racing earlier in the season, Rdest had immediately re-established herself among the Alpine Elf Cup frontrunners with two runner-up finishes at Nogaro alongside new Paul Alberto. A regular in the championship since 2020, the experienced Polish driver quickly rediscovered her rhythm despite the racing hiatus, adapting to the series' new endurance-style one-hour format featuring mandatory pit stops, driver changes and multi-class traffic shared with the FFSA GT Championship.
Her breakthrough victory came at Dijon-Prenois, where Rdest became both the first Polish driver and the first mother to win an Alpine Elf Cup race after a superbly managed Race 1, before adding another podium in Race 2 despite competing at the circuit for the first time. An unfortunate accident then curtailed the duo's challenge at Spa-Francorchamps, making the return to Magny-Cours an ideal opportunity to bounce back.
From the opening practice sessions on Friday, the #3 Chazel Technologie Course Alpine A110 Cup was one of the benchmark cars in the Alpine Cup category. Alberto topped the class in the opening session with a lap of 1:49.798 before once again leading the Alpine Cup runners in the second practice with a 1:50.320 despite mixed weather conditions, confirming the team's excellent pace heading into qualifying.
Saturday morning's qualifying only reinforced that impression: Alberto was entrusted with Q1 and immediately delivered. His lap of 1:48.6 placed the #3 Alpine on provisional pole before proving good enough to secure pole position in the Alpine Cup classification, giving the Chazel Technologie Course squad the ideal starting position for the opening race.
Rdest took over for Q2 and steadily built confidence around the technical Magny-Cours circuit. After initially posting a 1:51.6, the Polish driver found significant improvements during the session, lowering her best time to 1:50.1 to secure fourth in the Alpine Cup classification for Sunday's race.
Alberto lined up on Alpine Cup pole for Saturday afternoon's opening one-hour contest and immediately converted it into the class lead. Making a clean getaway, he maintained first position ahead of Kieffer while gradually building his advantage. Running consistently in the 1:49.7 range, Alberto steadily extended his margin, opening a one-second lead in the early stages before increasing it to around three seconds by lap seven as he settled into an impressive rhythm.
When the pit window opened, Alberto remained on track for some extra laps, maximizing the stint before handing the Alpine over to Rdest with twenty-five minutes remaining.
Although the delayed stop by the #111 Alpine of Romain Monti briefly altered the order, Rdest reclaimed the Alpine Cup lead once the pit cycle had fully concluded, emerging with a 2.4-second advantage over Wallgren.
The pressure soon eased considerably when Wallgren received a stop-and-go penalty for a pit window infringement, leaving Rdest comfortably in control of the class with Julien Neveu becoming her closest challenger.
Neveu gradually reduced the gap during the closing stages, but Rdest responded exactly when required. Producing a 1:51.9 lap, she immediately stabilized the advantage and even gained back valuable tenths, maintaining a margin of around four seconds entering the final laps.
Driving with the composure that has characterized her comeback season, Rdest managed traffic efficiently and avoided mistakes to bring the #3 Alpine safely to the checkered flag, securing her second Alpine Elf Cup victory of the 2026 campaign.
Sunday's second race brought unusual circumstances before the field had even completed the opening lap: starting fourth in Alpine Cup, Rdest made an exceptional getaway and had already climbed to second in class before confusion erupted when the race began despite the starting lights remaining red.
Race officials quickly displayed the red flag, forcing a complete restart behind the Safety Car and resetting the grid to the original qualifying positions, denying Rdest the gains she had made.
Once racing resumed properly, she immediately resumed her charge. Despite dropping back to her original fourth-place class starting position, Rdest quickly demonstrated good pace, closing on Paget while navigating cars from the other classes sharing the circuit.
Her progress was aided when Julien Neveu encountered problems, promoting Rdest into third in Alpine Cup while remaining attached to the leading battle featuring Paget and Wallgren.
A Full Course Yellow for Neveu's stranded Alpine again neutralized the race with 41 minutes remaining.
At the restart, Rdest immediately consolidated third place, producing a strong 1:51.0 lap while opening a comfortable cushion behind before the mandatory pit window.
She handed the #3 Alpine over to Alberto from third position, while rivals De Brabant and Figuiere extended their opening stints by one additional lap. Once the stops had cycled through, Alberto rejoined in third and immediately set about attacking Anthony Pisano for second.
After first clearing a car from another class, Alberto rapidly closed on Pisano and executed a decisive pass on lap 21 to move into second place. Ahead, Romain Monti still held an advantage of around five seconds, but Alberto gradually began reducing the deficit.
Lap after lap, the gap continued to shrink; with only minutes remaining, Alberto had reduced the margin to just two seconds before closing to within striking distance on the final lap.
The closing stages produced a thrilling battle for victory, as Alberto caught Monti and challenged all the way to the finish. Despite relentless pressure, Monti narrowly held on to secure the victory, leaving Alberto and Rdest to cross the line in second place after another outstanding team performance.
Although a clean sweep narrowly escaped them, the Magny-Cours weekend represented another hugely productive outing for Rdest and Alberto. Victory on Saturday followed by second place on Sunday delivered another substantial championship haul and reinforced the consistency that has defined their season.
Reflecting on the result, Rdest praised both her teammate and her return to top-level competition.
"It's such a pleasure to partner with a driver as fast as Paul and to achieve such results together", she said. "A few small mistakes meant we finished less than a second behind the winners on Sunday, but that's only made us even more hungry. Paul Ricard is one of my favourite tracks, so I can't wait to get there and give it my all to fight for the title."
She also reflected on the personal significance of her comeback: "On a more personal note, I'm returning to competition after a long break following the birth of my two daughters. It's amazing to be this competitive whilst my youngest is celebrating her first birthday. Between my strong feelings for the Alpine A110 Cup and my Alpine A390 daily driver, the brand has a special place in my heart so I'm very happy to share my motorsport journey with the Alpine family."
Heading into the championship finale at Le Castellet on 10-11 October, Rdest and Alberto sit second in the Alpine Elf Cup Series standings with 136 points, trailing championship leaders Monti and Wallgren by just 31 points, leaving the title fight alive heading into the final weekend of the season.
