Sarah Bovy clinches top-5 on MitJet International debut
- RACERS
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
Sarah Bovy enjoyed an impressive debut weekend in the Mitjet 2.0 International championship, immediately showcasing her adaptability and racecraft by securing a fourth place finish and battling at the front of the field in her first outing in the category.
Sarah Bovy enjoyed an impressive debut weekend in the Mitjet 2.0 International championship, immediately showcasing her adaptability and racecraft by securing a top-five finish and battling at the front of the field in her first outing in the category.
Invited for a one-off appearance at the second round of the season, the experienced Belgian racer quickly got up to speed in the highly competitive single-make series, using the outing as valuable preparation ahead of a busy season that includes the 24 Hours of Spa and her GT2 European Series campaign with the Iron Dames.
Despite having never previously driven the Mitjet car, Bovy steadily improved throughout the weekend and emerged as one of the front runners in Race 2, completing confident overtakes and running in podium contention during Sunday’s contest.
One of the most versatile female racers in international GT competitions, Bovy has built a career racing a wide variety of machinery across endurance and sprint formats. Her one-off appearance in Mitjet France offered another opportunity to sharpen her racecraft in one of Europe’s closest racing categories, featuring aggressive wheel-to-wheel battles and tightly packed grids. Driving the #7 machine, Bovy immediately demonstrated good pace from her first laps and used every session to build speed.
In the 15-minute Q1 Driver A qualifying session, Bovy steadily improved as she familiarized herself with the car; her opening laps came in at 1:28.2 before she continued lowering her benchmark throughout the session. By the chequered flag, she had posted a best time of 1:27.703, securing 12th place on the grid for her first race in the series.
Saturday’s opening race marked Bovy’s first competitive start in Mitjet 2.0 machinery. At lights out, the field charged toward Turn 1 in a tightly packed group, but Bovy navigated the opening corners cleanly and maintained 12th position on the opening lap. She soon began moving forward, overtaking Brunet to climb into 11th place.
Once clear, Bovy quickly began applying pressure to Lacore. Closing in lap after lap, she eventually completed the move on lap four to break into the top ten, with Lorenzo Gatti now becoming her next target. Her pace continued to improve as she posted laps of 1:28.3 and then a highly competitive 1:27.7, running quicker than several drivers ahead.
By lap seven, Bovy was steadily gaining ground on Gatti while also beginning to open a small one-second margin over the chasing pack behind her. However, as the race progressed, Lacore once again closed in, forcing Bovy to balance attack and defense as the midfield pack compressed around her.
Approaching Turn 1 on lap 11, Bovy committed to the outside line around Gatti in a bold move that saw the pair run side-by-side through Turns 1, 2 and 3. Holding her nerve throughout the sequence, Bovy eventually emerged ahead in a superb overtake to secure ninth place.
Gatti, however, immediately fought back and reclaimed the position at Turn 1 on the following lap. Bovy responded by braking aggressively in an attempt to stay alongside, momentarily compromising her exit and nearly opening the door for Sacha Aim behind. Undeterred, she attacked once again on lap 13, once more sweeping around the outside at Turn 1 in another spectacular move on Gatti to retake ninth place after a thrilling duel.
After surviving the intense final laps, Bovy crossed the finish line in ninth position, completing an excellent debut race in the category.
Sunday’s third race of the weekend provided an even greater opportunity. With teammate Nicolas Galinie contesting the second race in the shared #7 car, Bovy returned for the third contest of the meeting. Thanks to the reverse-grid format, her ninth-place finish placed her on the front row in second position for the start.
Lining up on the outside line, Bovy made a strong launch as the field went three-wide into Turn 1. She held her position superbly and immediately began putting pressure on race leader Lorenzo Gatti. Behind them, Perrion and Misslin battled closely, keeping the leading group tightly packed.
The race was neutralized early after Hugo Fascella crashed into the barriers on lap two, bringing out the safety car. Racing resumed at the end of lap four with 12 minutes remaining on the clock.
Soon after the restart, Bovy came under pressure from Race 1 winner Oscar Py, who managed to pass her on the main straight. Simultaneously forced to defend from Dan Misslin, Bovy held firm in third place. Another incident involving Marc Lo Piccolo quickly triggered a second safety car period, once again interrupting the race.
With just over seven minutes remaining, the race resumed again. Bovy delivered another excellent restart and immediately attacked Oscar Py for second place. Py defended aggressively and retained the position while simultaneously beginning an attack on leader Gatti, eventually taking the lead and pulling away.
Bovy then turned her attention toward Gatti, but the battle soon became even more intense as Carnejac arrived directly behind. On lap eight, Bovy attempted a move into Turn 1 on Gatti, but Carnejac launched an aggressive dive to the inside, forcing Bovy to take evasive action. The contact-free but chaotic sequence cost her momentum, dropping her to fifth as Rotge also slipped through.
Despite the setback, Bovy regrouped quickly: she responded with her best lap of the race, a 1:28.6, and on lap 10 found a way back past Gatti to reclaim fourth place. Once through, she quickly opened a small gap behind her, though the leading trio had already escaped by roughly four seconds.
Bovy ultimately crossed the finish line in fourth place, capping an superb great debut weekend in Mitjet 2.0 France with a top-five finish and a genuine battle for the podium in only her second start in the series.
Following the valuable weekend, Bovy now turns her attention back to her GT racing commitments, beginning with the Spa 24 Hours prologue before launching her 2026 GT2 European Series campaign with the Iron Dames at Monza in two weeks’ time.
