Karen Gaillard claims career-best result in Porsche Carrera Cup France at Valencia
- MACIEJ JACKIEWICZ
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Karen Gaillard claimed her best-ever Porsche Carrera Cup France result with seventh overall and second among rookies at Valencia after a brilliant strategy, securing her second rookie podium and building on a season of steady progress the Iron Dame now looks ahead to the Le Castellet finale.
Karen Gaillard used brilliant strategy to get her best-ever result in the Porsche Carrera Cup France, placing seventh overall and second among rookies in a chaotic race two at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Spain. She also gained valuable experience in the car, before the season finale in Le Castellet.
During the first four rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup France season, Karen Gaillard gained valuable experience around some of the most important tracks in Southern Europe. She also scored a rookie podium in the first race at Dijon-Prenois. At Misano, she again gained valuable distance in the Porsche. In addition to her PCCF campaign, Gaillard competed in two rounds of Porsche Sprint Challenge Suisse with Proton Huber Competition, where she achieved a win and two podiums in Spielberg, after amazing battles up front.
After a nearly two-month-long break, Porsche Carrera Cup France competitors first went out on track during Thursday's testing session, and they continued to learn the twisty Spanish circuit in Friday’s free practice. Gaillard completed plenty of laps in free practice, as she studied the challenges of the Valencia circuit in her Porsche 992 Cup car.
On Saturday morning, the green flag waves for qualifying, where drivers have thirty minutes to set the fastest lap times. The first flying lap from Gaillard came with 24 minutes to go, when she set a 1:36.883, which put her in P9 overall and P3 in rookie classification. On the next lap, she improved by more than a second to 1:35.609, but times tumbled down quickly. Nevertheless, she remained third in rookie classification for the time being.
With 18 minutes to go, she found more time before, alongside the rest of the grid, pitting for new tyres. She came out of the pits with eight minutes to go, and set a 1:35.255, which remained her best time of the session. This put her up into P13 overall, but it did not change her position in the rookie classification, where she remained fifth. However, the qualifying results saw drastic changes after the chequered flag, as both Marvin Klein and Paul Cauhaupé were disqualified for technical non-compliance. This moved Gaillard up to P11 in the session.
“After a long summer break, I had a really positive weekend. My pace in free practice and qualifying was good, even if a mistake in T12 on my fastest lap cost me a few tenths,” Gaillard reflected on her free practice and qualifying performance.
Grid penalties were applied before race one. Thanks to that, Gaillard had the chance to start the race in P10. The start proved tricky and on first lap she slotted into P13. Behind her, Klein was trying to minimise his loss after disqualification in qualifying. He made his way from the last row quickly, and on lap 4 Klein made his way past Gaillard, as she dropped to P14.
Over the next laps, she remained in close proximity to Cyril Caillo ahead of her, but she had to look behind her as well, as just behind the Schumacher CLRT car was the No. 51 of Mathys Cappuccio. Around this time a lot of drivers started receiving penalties, with the most important one to Gaillard being Joran Leneutre, who during the course of the race received a whopping seven five-second penalties.
On lap 10 Hugo Chevalier of Debard Automobiles by Racetivity pitted and subsequently retired from the race, moving Karen Gaillard up one place into P13. The next lap, unfortunately, a lock-up caused Gaillard to lose a handful of positions; after being put off her stride, she however remained close to the back of Guillot’s car, but she was unable to make a move on the twisty Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
The last few laps were quiet, and in the end Karen Gaillard crossed the finish line in fifteenth, but after penalties were applied the Schumacher CLRT competitor was classified in fourteenth overall and P4 in the rookie classification.
“Race 1 was more complicated – I was running third in the rookie classification, but a front lock-up made me lose a few positions and the chance of a podium. I was disappointed with myself,” she reflected after making a mistake that may have cost her a podium. After the disappointment of race one, Gaillard came into Sunday determined to turn things around.
Gaillard came ready for the second competition of the weekend, which took place on Sunday morning. She lined up on P11, but the formation lap was halted with a red flag due when rain started to fall over the Spanish venue. All of the drivers pitted and changed their tyres to wet-weather ones. After ten minutes of stoppage, the race resumed behind the safety car. The race time was also shortened from 30 minutes to 25 minutes plus one lap.
When the race began drivers started to change their tyres back to slicks, as the track had dried up. Gaillard was one of the last drivers to change her tyres, as she entered the pit lane at the end of lap 4, but it proved to be the correct decision, as after a quick pit stop by the Schumacher CLRT team, Gaillard rejoined the race in an amazing second position overall, also leading the rookie classification.
Gaillard held on until lap 8, when she was overtaken by future Hypercar driver Mathys Jaubert, and on the same lap her teammate Chester Kieffer took over the rookie lead. Eventually, she slotted into P7 overall, but more crucially still P2 in rookies, as initially the slick tyres on the still-damp surface remained challenging to drive.
Nevertheless her pace was good enough to hold position safely. When running in seventh, she settled in good gaps ahead and behind; with two laps to go, Cyril Caillo found himself in the gravel, but this was not enough for the race control to put out a neutralization. Gaillard kept her nose clean in the closing stages and crossed the finish line in a personal best P7 overall and P2 among rookies – scoring her second class podium of the year.
“Race 2 started behind the safety car on wet tyres. I was one of the last drivers to switch to slicks, but my team Schumacher CLRT delivered an incredible pit stop that gained us a lot of time. My previous endurance experience also helped me maximize the pit entry and exit."
"We crossed the line in P2 rookie and P7 overall,” she commented after scoring her best ever result in Porsche Carrera Cup France. “This result is a big boost mentally, and I’m very thankful to my team, the Iron Dames, and all my partners for making it possible.”
There is one more round left in the Porsche Carrera Cup France calendar and for the first time since May drivers will race at a circuit in the home country of the series. They will take on the famous Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet on 3–5 October.
Karen will know the track really well – as she claimed her only podium of the 2024 Le Mans Cup season at that circuit, as well as her best result in the 2024 European Endurance Prototype Cup. Gaillard will certainly try to keep this streak going, and will give it everything she has to achieve her best result of the season in the finale.
