Karen Gaillard secures maiden rookie podium in Porsche Carrera Cup France at Dijon
- RACERS
- May 12
- 4 min read
Iron Dame Karen Gaillard enjoyed a very solid second round of the Porsche Carrera Cup France at Dijon-Prenois, where she displayed much-improved pace, battled close to the top ten, and secured her first rookie podium.
Iron Dame Karen Gaillard enjoyed a very solid second round of the Porsche Carrera Cup France at Dijon-Prenois, where she displayed much-improved pace, battled closer to the top ten, and secured her first rookie podium.
After a strong qualifying effort, Gaillard fought just outside the top ten in the highly competitive one-make series, finishing third and fourth among the rookies and showing a big step forward from her debut.
The Swiss driver made history as the first woman to win the Porsche Junior Shootout, earning her a place in the prestigious Porsche Carrera Cup France for 2025. She stepped up from the Michelin Le Mans Cup, where she debuted in GT3 machinery with a podium alongside Célia Martin in 2024—her first season in Iron Dames colours.
The 2025 season will be a learning year for Gaillard, who is adapting to the Porsche 992 Cup car—a vehicle with less aerodynamic grip and demanding braking characteristics. To prepare for her full-season debut, Gaillard contested the final two rounds of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Southern Europe with Schumacher CLRT, steadily closing the gap to the midfield and gaining valuable experience.
Her Carrera Cup France campaign began positively at Circuit de Catalunya, where she qualified 14th and moved forward in both races. She finished P13 in the Pro class in Race 1 after holding her own in several midfield battles, demonstrating strong defensive driving. A spin in Race 2, while again fighting near the top ten, prevented her from fully capitalizing on her pace—but the weekend marked a solid debut, which she aimed to build upon at the second round at Dijon-Prenois.
Indeed, in pre-event testing and official practice sessions, Gaillard showed further improvement and began running near the top ten, displaying promising pace.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning in a 30-minute session. Drivers took some time to build up to their first flying laps. Gaillard’s initial flyer was a 1:18.427—half a second quicker than her previous best—but only good enough for P13. She improved on the following laps, first with a 1:18.357 and then a 1:18.210, moving into P12. Gaillard pitted with 17 minutes remaining for a second set of tyres.
Flying laps resumed with 4–5 minutes to go. Gaillard found significant time in sectors one and three and improved to a 1:17.871, staying P12. She finished less than a second from pole—in a very solid effort.
Race 1 followed on Saturday afternoon. Starting P12, Gaillard aimed to push toward her first top-ten finish after notable progress in the second round so far. She got a great start, slotted cleanly into Turn 1, took P10, and tucked in behind Leneutre, applying pressure. Boullery was close behind, meaning Gaillard had to balance attack and defense—but she had the pace to challenge ahead.
Gaillard lost a place to Marvin Klein, who was recovering from the back. The pink Porsche held P11 overall and third in class. Karen continued to set personal best laps in the 1:19.3 range before dipping under the 1:19 barrier. However, she was overtaken by Boullery on lap 5 and fell back to her starting position in 12th.
Race leader Marcus Amand was given a 5-second penalty for a starting infringement, while Leneutre, three seconds ahead of Gaillard, received a 5-second track limits penalty.
Gaillard kept pushing, running steady laps in the low 1:19s and then improving to a 1:18.7. She had Enzo Joulie behind to manage but remained consistent, keeping him at bay while staying within 1.5 seconds of Boullery.
As the gaps remained tight, Gaillard ran a controlled race in 12th, slightly closing in on Boullery. She held off Joulie throughout the race and crossed the finish line in P12—her personal best in the series so far—and third in the rookie class, earning her first podium.
On Sunday, another sunny day at Dijon gave the Iron Dame another opportunity to continue her progress in her Carrera Cup France debut season, following a positive Race 1.
In Race 2, Gaillard lined up once again in P12, fourth among the rookies.
At lights out, she had a tricky start and dropped to P14 as Marvin Klein and Jérôme Boullery got past. Nevertheless, she stayed close and began setting consistent and quick lap times, lowering her personal best with a 1:19.2.
By lap 5, Gaillard was just half a second behind the cars ahead and set a 1:19.1. However, she was unable to pass Boullery and was overtaken by Mathys Cappuccio on lap 7, dropping her to fifth among the rookie entries.
Karen kept pushing and found more time, clocking a new personal best of 1:19.080 on lap 11. Although she dropped a few tenths behind Cappuccio mid-race, she regained ground on lap 12 as Cappuccio and Boullery fought ahead. When Cappuccio received a 5-second track limits penalty, Gaillard needed to stay close to benefit. At the same time, she had to be cautious, having received a second track limits warning with 6 minutes remaining.
Gaillard broke into the 1:18s with a 1:18.870 and attacked Boullery, making a clean move on lap 18 to reclaim 14th. Joran Leneutre also received a 5-second penalty, though he had enough margin to remain ahead.
Now in clean air, Gaillard opened a 1.5-second gap to Boullery and focused on staying within striking distance of Cappuccio. She crossed the finish line 2.9 seconds behind, gaining a position and finishing P13 overall and fourth among the rookies—wrapping up a positive weekend at Dijon and showing significant improvement on her second outing in the series.
The next round will take place at Spa-Francorchamps—another circuit where Gaillard has previous experience—on 20–22 June.
