Karen Gaillard ends Porsche Carrera Cup Italy rookie season with top-20 finish at Mugello
Karen Gaillard brought her debut Porsche Carrera Cup Italy campaign to a close at Mugello, securing a top-20 finish in the final race of the season after challenging races in difficult weather conditions. The Iron Dames-supported Swiss driver showed very promising pace in practice and fought her way forward in both races.
Karen Gaillard brought her debut Porsche Carrera Cup Italy campaign to a close at Mugello, securing a top-20 finish in the final race of the season after challenging races in difficult weather conditions. The Iron Dames-supported Swiss driver showed very promising pace in practice and fought her way forward in both races, ultimately being classified 23rd in Race 1 and promoted to 20th in Race 2.
While the weekend did not deliver further point-scoring positions like she had previously proved able to, Gaillard’s progress throughout the year marked a significant step forward in her first season in the competitive one-make championship, particularly considering her very limited testing mileage.
Gaillard arrived at the final round having steadily built momentum over the course of the season. After a difficult debut at Imola, she made clear progress at Misano, where she recorded her first top-20 finish and an eighth-place result in the Rookie class. She subsequently scored her maiden championship points at Monza, finishing 14th overall and sixth among the rookies in both races, before adding another points-scoring result at Vallelunga with two determined recovery drives on the notoriously difficult-to-overtake circuit.
The Swiss driver’s development was particularly notable given that she had completed very little testing throughout the year, unlike many of her rivals, several of whom were able to gain additional experience through parallel programmes in the Porsche 992 Cup car. The summer break also interrupted the momentum she had built at Monza and Vallelunga, with Gaillard returning to action at Misano after two and a half months away from the cockpit. Mugello therefore represented another opportunity to demonstrate the progress made during her learning season, at a circuit she knew from previous experience in prototypes but had yet to tackle in the Porsche machine.
She made an encouraging start to the weekend in the first official practice session, spending much of the opening half inside the top ten. Gaillard set a 1:51.871 on her third lap to briefly climb to third overall, remaining inside the top five for several minutes. She continued to produce competitive times before returning to the pits for a fresh set of tyres in the latter stages. Her subsequent 1:51.727 brought her back up to 12th, with a particularly strong first sector, although she was unable to improve further and eventually finished the session 16th. It nevertheless represented a promising opening to the final round.
Qualifying proved more difficult. Gaillard's first push lap of 1:51.364 initially placed her inside the top ten, but the session was interrupted by a red flag after Lirim Zendeli crashed at Turn 11. The Swiss driver had been improving on her next flying lap when the interruption brought her progress to a halt. After the session resumed with 20 minutes remaining, she returned to the track for a final attempt on new tyres, setting a 1:50.830. She ended qualifying 26th.
Gaillard made a solid start to Race 1 from 26th on the grid, climbing the hill with the pack as the field negotiated the opening corners. However, she ran slightly deep into Turn 4 and was involved in contact with Brusa, dropping to the back of the field after the opening lap. The Safety Car was deployed shortly afterwards, and another incident at the restart on lap four sent three cars off the track, prompting a second neutralisation.
When racing resumed, Gaillard produced an impressive restart, passing three cars within just a handful of corners to move back up to 25th. However, her recovery was interrupted when she received a drive-through penalty for the earlier contact. She had to wait until the race returned to green-flag conditions before serving the penalty, doing so immediately after the restart on lap nine.
A major accident at Turn 1 then brought out the Safety Car once again. In a three-wide battle approaching the braking zone, Tauscher went off the track and struck the outside wall at high speed before sliding across the grass and making heavy contact with Zendeli. Both drivers were out of the race, while the neutralisation could have given Gaillard another opportunity to close back up to the field.
She managed to do so, but the race was subsequently red-flagged with four minutes remaining and was not resumed. Gaillard was classified 22nd, having nevertheless recovered several positions despite a difficult and incident-filled race.
Sunday's second race presented an additional challenge, with rain beginning to fall shortly before the start. The changing conditions prompted several drivers to switch to wet-weather tyres on the grid, while the combination of a damp surface and low temperatures made it particularly difficult to bring the tyres into their operating window. The race therefore began behind the Safety Car, with the green flag finally waved after two laps.
Gaillard started 25th and kept her car on track through the opening corners, immediately moving ahead of teammate Schaap, who encountered trouble. The conditions continued to catch drivers out, however, and Mezzetti went off into the barriers, bringing out another Safety Car. The neutralisation allowed Gaillard to move up to 24th and remain with the pack as the rain appeared to ease.
Racing resumed with 15 minutes remaining, and Gaillard made another good restart. Contact between Pisani and Mutschlechner at the first corner sent both cars into a spin, allowing the Swiss driver to gain further ground and move up to 21st. She then became involved in a close battle with Brusa, with the pair trading positions as they worked their way through the field.
Further drama unfolded ahead when a fight between Hoffner and De Prenter ended with the latter hitting the concrete wall and flipping, triggering another red flag. After 16 minutes of suspension, the race was eventually restarted, but the rain intensified again just as the cars returned to green-flag conditions with eight minutes remaining. With the track becoming increasingly slippery in the cold, windy conditions, Gaillard initially dropped to 24th but remained within the group.
As the race entered its closing stages, contact between Butti and Cerqui created another opportunity. Gaillard moved back up to 22nd and continued attacking Girondi, eventually making the pass to take 21st with two minutes remaining. She then had to defend her position against Pisani, successfully holding on to cross the finish line in 21st. A subsequent disqualification for Hoffner promoted her to 20th, giving Gaillard a final top-20 result to close her season.
Reflecting on the weekend, Gaillard explained that the low temperatures and the difficulty of finding grip had made the conditions particularly challenging. While she had felt comfortable on used tyres in practice, she struggled to find the same confidence on new rubber.
“Free practice was not so bad, especially with used tyres. I had quite a good feeling and it was good. I had been struggling this weekend with the new tyres. I didn't feel the grip with the new tyres and it was very tricky in quali,” she said.
She also pointed to the difficult conditions in Race 1, where cold tyres contributed to her mistake at the start, while Sunday's race brought another set of challenges as the rain and low temperatures made the circuit extremely slippery.
“This weekend the track has been very cold and that's why it's so tricky. Because it was wet, but not extremely wet - it was so slippery and really tricky. I also did one mistake, I went into the gravel, then we rejoined the track, but I lost a few positions. I would say not the weekend I wanted to finish the season, but it's how it is.”
Despite her disappointment with the final round, Gaillard was able to take encouragement from the progress made earlier in the year. She identified Vallelunga as one of her strongest weekends, particularly in terms of race pace, even if she had been unable to translate that performance into qualifying results.
“I think the middle of the season, like in Vallelunga, was probably my best performance. I was not able to show it in the qualifying, but the pace was good there,” she explained.
The extended summer break had however made it difficult to pick up where she had left off, with the return to Misano particularly demanding after such a long period without driving. Gaillard nevertheless felt that her season had provided valuable experience and opportunities to learn, even if the Mugello finale did not bring the result she had hoped for.
“I hoped to finish here in Mugello better and that's why I'm a bit disappointed now. Because the free practice was promising and then I didn't confirm that. So it's a bit frustrating, but that's it.”
Looking back at her first campaign, the Swiss driver could however put her results into perspective, considering the limited track time available to her compared with much of the field.
“At the end I did a few top 15, a few points. For sure I always want more, but if I consider the track time I have, I think I can be happy about some of the performances I did. For sure I also did also some mistakes, but I learned from them.”
While the Mugello weekend ended on a frustrating note, Gaillard leaves her debut Porsche Carrera Cup Italy season with her first championship points, several encouraging results and a growing understanding of the Porsche 992 Cup car, providing a foundation to build on for the future.
