Le Mans Cup: Late-race puncture scuppers podium chance for Célia Martin and Karen Gaillard

Iron Dames drivers Celia Martin and Karen Gaillard were on course for a second Michelin Le Mans Cup podium at Spa-Francorchamps before a late-race puncture forced them into retirement, despite consistently strong performances and running in the top three for most of the event.

Photo credits: FocusPackMedia - Tim Hearn

Iron Dames duo Célia Martin and Karen Gaillard were denied a second podium finish of the season in Michelin Le Mans Cup as a late-race puncture led to an unfortunate retirement at Spa-Francorchamps.

Both drivers showed excellent pace during the event, finishing every session in the top-5 with Martin qualifying in third position. Martin and Gaillard spent all but one lap inside a provisional podium position before contact with a competitor led to a puncture with Gaillard spinning into the gravel trap at Blanchimont.

Both Martin and Gaillard have impressed during their rookie season in Michelin Le Mans Cup as the Iron Dames duo adapted to GT3 machinery. A pole position for Martin at Le Castellet resulted in a strong runner-up finish, with Gaillard’s second stint a superb display of pace and racecraft. Despite a challenging double-header at the Road to Le Mans meeting, the pair were aiming to bounce and battle for a podium position at Spa-Francorchamps.

Following a number of promising test sessions in the week leading up to the event, Martin and Gaillard were looking ahead to further track time as three practice sessions took place on Friday.

Starting the day with a competitive fifth place result in the first session, Martin set the quickest time in GT3 during the bronze test with the French driver a full six tenths of a second faster than her nearest competitor. Finishing the day with another top-5 result, Gaillard was showing improved performance as she built up her confidence at the challenging circuit.

Qualifying took place on Saturday morning with Martin behind the wheel of the Lamborghini Huracan. Célia was looking to build upon the momentum from the previous day, however a red flag disrupted the session just past the halfway mark. This left the drivers with just two flying laps in which to improve in the final stages, with Martin doing a good job to set the third fastest time overall in GT3.

Photo credits: FocusPackMedia - Tim Hearn

After her good performance in the earlier qualifying session, Martin took the start of the race which initially began under the safety car following a cleanup on the front straight.

When racing got underway, the Iron Dames driver did a superb job to negotiate a multi-car incident at La Source which eliminated a number of the LMP3 teams.

Célia was able to take the inside line into the corner and move up to second position behind the Stellar Motorsport Audi R8 of Andrew Bentley.

Due to the extensive cleanup required, the race was brought under the safety car with the green flag displayed after twenty minutes of the race had been completed. Martin lost out to Matthew Kerzejewski on the restart with the top four drivers in the GT3 class all running nose-to-tail. On lap seven, Célia set the fastest lap of the race within class and began applying pressure to the two leaders.

A second fastest lap followed on lap nine with Martin showing the pace which saw her top the bronze test on Friday afternoon. Overtaking was proving challenging in the early stages of the race, however the Iron Dames driver continued to lap consistenly as she held down a provisional podium position. This speed saw the top-three drivers pull out a gap over fourth-place driver Custodio Toledo with just one second covering Bentley, Kerzejewski and Martin.

As the pit window opened, Martin had a small spin at the Bus Stop chicane which allowed Toledo to move back ahead with Gaillard getting behind the wheel on lap 18. A fast stop from the Iron Dames team saw Gaillard rejoin the race in third position with Riccardo Agostini now directly ahead.

Karen’s early stint pace was encouraging as she immediately pulled out a gap over James Walker and Jason Hart and settled into a comfortable third position. Gaillard’s times in sectors one and three were particularly fast, often gaining time on race leader Alessandro Balzan in these sections of the track.

Photo credits: FocusPackMedia - Marcel Wulf

With just under 40-minutes remaining, Nico Menzel was the new fourth-place driver and was beginning to edge closer to Gaillard. Five minutes later, the safety car was deployed after an incident involving Tommy Foster at Les Combes which cut the margin between Gaillard and Menzel. Unfortunately, the positioning of the GT3 leaders in relation to the overall race leader meant that Balzan and Agostini were able to catch the rear of the safety car queue while Gaillard was the first driver one lap down.

Despite this setback, Gaillard made an excellent restart from third position in GT3 and did a nice job to negotiate the faster LMP3 machines as the racing got back underway. She was able to successfully fend off Menzel for a number of laps, before the High Class Racing debutant began to apply the pressure.

Menzel was briefly able to move ahead before a spin at Les Combes moved Gaillard ahead once more. The drivers were still in amongst heavy LMP3 traffic at this stage and Gaillard received contact on lap 34 which resulted in a punctured tyre. The tyre blew entering the high-speed Blanchimont corner which spun Gaillard into the gravel and forced to retire from the race.

Despite an unfortunate end to the event, both Martin and Gaillard showed excellent speed on their debut GT3 outing at Spa-Francorchamps. The Iron Dames duo have asserted themselves as consistent frontrunners in Michelin Le Mans Cup and this will be of significant encouragement heading into the final two rounds of the season.

The next championship event will take place at the challenging Mugello Circuit on the weekend of September 27th/28th.