Karen Gaillard concludes rookie Porsche Carrera Cup France season at Paul Ricard

Karen Gaillard wrapped up her first Porsche Carrera Cup France campaign with a promising performance at Circuit Paul Ricard, showcasing improved pace, a good recovery drive in Race 1 and just finishing just outside the rookie podium in Race 2, completing a season of progress.

Photo credits: Alexis Goure

Karen Gaillard completed her Porsche Carrera Cup France season at Circuit Paul Ricard. She got a great start in race 1, as well as a safe and beneficial drive in race 2, resulting in her finishing just outside of the rookie podium.

During the first five 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 992 Cup car, and in Valencia she claimed her best-ever finish in the series, securing P7 in the chaotic race 2.

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.

Just two weeks after the Spanish round, Porsche Carrera Cup France returned to racing action. Competitors first went out on track during Thursday's testing session, and they continued to learn the world-famous French circuit in Friday’s free practice. Gaillard completed plenty of laps in free practice, as she studied the trickiest parts of the Circuit Paul Ricard in her Porsche 992 Cup car.

A thirty-minute qualifying session took place at 10:45 am on Saturday. Karen Gaillard went out on track as soon as the green light appeared, and after nine minutes she set her first proper time – 2:07.362. On the next lap she improved, but the lap was deleted due to track limits infringement. It was brief however, as the time got reinstated and thanks to that Gaillard was sitting in P11 overall and P5 in the rookie class. She got one more fast lap, a 2:06.501, and with fifteen minutes to go she went to the pits.

She went out on the track after four minutes. Her only improvement after the pitstop came with a minute to the chequered flag, when she set a 2:05.872. This was only enough for P15 overall and P6 among the rookies, as others improved on their second tyres.

5 pm was the starting time for the first race of the weekend for Porsche Carrera Cup France. Thanks to penalties in front of her she started in P14 and got a rocket start which put her in P12 overall and third in the rookie classification. The happiness about the start was not long-lived unfortunately, as in turn 5 of lap 3 Joran Leneutre made contact with the No. 85 car of Gaillard. As a consequence the Swiss driver spun and fell down to last place.

She quickly got up to speed again and started regaining positions in overall classification. In three laps she had closed down a three-second gap to Éric Debard and went past him on lap 7. On the next lap she dealt with another Am class competitor – this time it was Jean-Philippe Gambaro of ABM. After overtaking Gambaro she had a four-second gap to close, but again she was able to catch up with the car ahead rather quickly. On lap 13 she overtook the leading Am car—Jordan Boisson—and got into P17. 

Karen then closed in on Cyril Caillo in P16 rapidly, but there was not enough time left in the race and when the chequered flag fell she finished in P17 overall and P6 among the rookies. She was promoted to P16 however, as one of the championship contenders—Marcus Amand of Finland—was handed a drive-through penalty for contact, which turned into a thirty-second time penalty.

Photo credits: Alexis Goure

The last dance of PCCF 2025 season took place on Sunday morning. Gaillard started in the same position as in race 1. Just as the formation lap got underway Mathys Cappuccio, who was supposed to start just behind Gaillard, went into the pits and did not start the race. In this race Karen did not get an atomic start like in the first one, but safely held in P14 on lap 1. The next lap however she unfortunately lost two positions – firstly to Marc Guillot and then to Cyril Caillo.

On lap 3 a contact happened between Hugo Chevalier and Joran Leneutre which caused the latter to spin, promoting Gaillard to P15. The next lap was a dramatic one as well, because two of the top contenders across the season—Louis Perrot and Mathys Jaubert—made contact in the Mistral chicane, and consequently retired from the race. Thanks to that Gaillard made up another two places, and was running in P13.

In the next few laps the Schumacher CLRT driver was closing in on Cyril Caillo, and on lap 7 she made a move on him advancing to P12. For the rest of the race she remained in a safe position – losing around two seconds to Marc Guillot in eleventh, but also maintaining a safe gap to Caillo behind. She crossed the line in twelfth overall and fourth in the rookie class, concluding her Porsche Carrera Cup France campaign just outside of the class podium.

The 2025 season in Porsche Carrera Cup France was a steep learning curve for the Swiss driver and sometimes pace was lacking to battle for top positions; but there were certainly positives – great starts, some rookie podiums and the memorable strategy at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

While the outcome of race 1 at Le Castellet remains a missed opportunity to no fault of her own, the steady improvement during the course of the season was clear. After a year of learning, resilience, and flashes of pace, Gaillard leaves 2025 stronger and ready for whatever challenge 2026 brings.