PCC France: Solid weekend for Karen Gaillard in Misano, just misses out on rookie podium
- MACIEJ JACKIEWICZ
- Jul 23
- 4 min read
Karen Gaillard continued to make steps forward in her rookie Porsche Carrera Cup France season at Misano, where she finished just 0.020s off a rookie podium in Race 1 and claiming P12 and fourth among rookies in Race 2 after a clean drive.
In the fourth round of Porsche Carrera Cup France Karen Gaillard showcased good racecraft and encouraging pace around Misano Circuit in Italy, where she was able to drive cleanly through the on-track battles during the race weekend on the Adriatic coast.
During the first three rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup France season Karen Gaillard gained valuable experience around some of the most important tracks in Southern Europe. Furthermore, she scored a rookie podium during the first race at the Dijon-Prenois circuit. 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.
Porsche Carrera Cup France competitors first went out on track during Thursday's testing session, and they continued to learn the twisty Italian circuit in Friday’s free practice. Gaillard completed 26 laps in free practice, as she studied the trickiest parts of the Misano circuit in her Porsche 992 Cup car.
The 30-minute qualifying started on Saturday morning. After getting tyres up to temperature Gaillard set a 1:38.007 time, which provisionally put her in P13. On the next lap she improved again, but was not able to advance higher in the time sheets. With 17 minutes to go Gaillard, as well as every other driver on the grid, pitted to change her tyres. She went back out on track after spending 8 minutes in the pit lane.
Her initial laps after the tyre change weren’t quick enough to improve her time, but with two minutes to go she set a 1:37.363 which put her in sixteenth place. The next lap was again faster, this time with a 1:37.154, but she stayed in sixteenth – only 0.004s behind 15th Reimann. As the chequered flag waved, the Schumacher CLRT driver did not improve further, and she finished the uneventful qualifying session in sixteenth position overall, and fifth in the Rookie classification.
Despite qualifying sixteenth Gaillard began the first race of the weekend in P14, as Alexander Reimann and Joran Leneutre received 5-place grid drop penalties for gathering up three reprimands. The start was calm for the Swiss, as she kept fourteenth spot on lap 1. On the following lap however, she lost a place to Reimann and on lap 4, Joran Leneutre collided with Gaillard at the entry of turn 4, resulting in her dropping to P16. The Frenchman later received a warning for this accident.
As a result of this crash Leneutre began struggling with his car, which led to him locking up on lap 7, allowing Gaillard to close back the gap to him. Two laps later she overtook the Racing Technology competitor in Turn 4. Later he would retire from the race. Gaillard spent the rest of the race chasing Mathys Cappuccio.
On lap 13 the gap was down to two seconds, but the Iron Dames-supported driver was still able to catch up with the rookie driver. The Swiss spent the last few laps less than a second behind the ABM car. Their battle resulted in a photo finish, where Cappuccio crossed the finish line only 0.020s ahead of Gaillard.
Sunday’s race two was supposed to start at around 4 pm local time, but due to a massive crash and a red flag in the preceding race, the PCCF competition commenced with a two-hour delay. Gaillard started fifteenth, but she instantly gained a place on lap 1, as Alexander Reimann of EST1 Racing locked up and made contact in turn 1, resulting in him not finishing the race. The safety car was deployed for the first time this weekend, but the racing resumed already on lap 3.
The restart was less frantic – Gaillard held onto her fourteenth spot. She originally stayed close to Marc Guillot in P13, but the Frenchman drove away from the Schumacher CLRT driver. On lap 10 Mathys Cappuccio—running in P12—received a five-second penalty for track limits and five minutes later Guillot was penalized for the same infraction.
After that Gaillard’s race was uneventful, as she progressively closed the gap to Guillot by a few tenths, but she mainly focused on getting the car to the chequered flag. The Iron Dame finished P14 on track, but thanks to penalties for both Cappuccio and Guillot she was classified in twelfth overall and fourth in rookie classification.
Despite some mid-pack starting positions, Gaillard made steady gains across both races, showing resilience and clean racecraft that have become hallmarks of her rookie season.
The next occasion for Karen Gaillard to compete in the Porsche Carrera Cup France will come on 19–21 July, when the French one-make series will visit the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in the Valencian Community of Spain.
