Isabell Rustad makes promising Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia debut with top 10 finishes
- MIKA BÖCKER
- 5 hours ago
- 4 min read
Isabell Rustad kicked off the 2025 season of the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia with two top-ten finishes on her series debut, claiming seventh in both races at Anderstorp.
Isabell Rustad kicked off the 2025 season of the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia with two top-ten finishes on her series debut.
Despite some early difficulties, Rustad delivered a strong performance at the season opener in Anderstorp, finishing seventh in both races.
The rising Norwegian talent claimed the Porsche Sprint Challenge Scandinavia GT3 title after a nail-biting season last year; in just her second full season in the championship, Rustad showcased maturity and consistency, entering the final round with a narrow points lead before sealing the title with a decisive victory in the last race of the year.
Rustad began her journey in the Porsche one-make series with a debut at Rudskogen in 2022, before committing to a full campaign in 2023, where she impressed by finishing third overall in her rookie season. In 2024, she continued her upward trajectory, claiming dominant double wins at Karlskoga and maintaining a near-perfect record of podium finishes across the season, establishing herself as one of Scandinavia's most promising GT drivers.
In 2025, Rustad has stepped up to the highly competitive Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia, driving the challenging 992 GT3 Cup car, which she is learning and improving with at every outing.
Her goal for the first qualifying session was to achieve eighth place to reach Q2. Rustad managed to do just that, meaning she would start Race 1 from eighth and Race 2 from seventh on the grid.
“There are small margins in the Porsche Carrera Cup and many drivers fighting at the top, so I think it will be an even season. I have a lot more to pick up, so I have to progress slowly and build stone by stone,” she said of her performance and the near future.
After a good qualifying, Rustad lined up in eighth for the first race. The start went smoothly, and she got off to a strong launch. Within a few meters, she had already gained several positions before the field settled into formation.
However, later in the lap she ran slightly wide in a corner and lost a position. She had to let the cars ahead go and instead focus on defending from Ole Petersen. She succeeded, and after a few laps to regain her rhythm, she managed to pull away from him again. However, she was unable to close the gap to the No. 21 car of Kjelle Lejonkrans in front.
With seven minutes remaining, Ludwig Ellhage spun by himself in the carousel and became stuck in the gravel. The car needed recovery under a safety car, though Rustad gained no position from this, as she had already been ahead. The neutralization, however, allowed her to close the gap to the field.
The safety car extended the race time by five minutes, leaving five minutes on the clock at the restart. Rustad took advantage of the remaining time to complete a successful overtaking maneuver, gaining a position. She entered the final lap in sixth place, one second behind the next car. In the midst of the action, she eventually crossed the line in seventh, seven seconds behind the race winner.
"I had a great start in the first race and was on my way up between the cars in front of me, but it was too tight so I had to pull over. I managed to follow the pace throughout the race quite well and in the end finished seventh," she recalled.
Rustad started Race 2 from seventh place. Unfortunately, she stalled at the start and only got going after a delay, rejoining the race from last place, three seconds behind the pack.
On the second lap, Petersen went off the track, dug through the gravel, and dropped to the back. Meanwhile, Rustad had caught up to the field and climbed to 14th place. On the next lap, she overtook Anders Steiner, followed by moves on Svante Andersson and Ellhage in the laps that followed. This charge brought her up to 11th, where she spent several laps behind the No. 4 car of Theo Jernberg.
With 18 minutes remaining, Petersen again went off and got stuck in the gravel, triggering a safety car. After the added time, the race resumed with 14 minutes left. Rustad used the restart to move up to 10th.
One lap later, multiple collisions saw Gustav Krogh retire, followed by a incidents between Daniel Ros and Marcus Annervi, the latter also ending up in the gravel. A second safety car was deployed. As a result, Rustad gained three more positions and moved up to seventh.
With just two minutes remaining after the restart, Rustad didn’t have enough time to improve further and finished the race in a very respectable seventh place—reclaiming her starting position.
"In final two I was a little too eager at the start and released the clutch a little too quickly, so I stalled the engine," she explained. "Started last in the field, but drove up well", she continued. "Two safety car episodes and some tough fights between several competitors meant that I could advance up to 7th place at the finish."
"I think this will be a very exciting season. There are so many drivers fighting for positions, so there will be a lot of action in the series," Rustad said of her race weekend. The next race weekend takes place on June 13–14 at Drivecenter Arena in Fällfors.