“A weekend full of ups and downs—technical issues, crashes, and tough conditions" - Despite a challenging round in Aragon, Carrie Schreiner persevered and secured a podium finish, ahead of the GT Winter Series finale in Barcelona.
Despite engine problems in qualifying and multiple incidents during the race, Carrie Schreiner persevered in the GT Winter Series race in Aragón, securing a podium finish and other top-ten results.
The race weekend in Aragón was far from easy for Schreiner in the Konrad Motorsport Lamborghini, with challenges arising even before she reached the track. Despite the troubled journey in her rental car, she arrived safely and on time.
On track, she continued to battle technical difficulties, particularly in the wet and cold training and qualifying sessions. Engine problems hindered her pace, preventing strong starting positions in all three races. These issues persisted into the first race, leaving her with a tough fight ahead.
With a 1:59.023 lap time, Schreiner in fact qualified in tenth overall for Race 1. The race start was chaotic, and she was caught up in an incident when a Lamborghini attempted an inside move, colliding with the Juta Racing Audi at Turn 1. The Audi lost momentum and slowed significantly, leaving Schreiner with no room to avoid contact.
While all involved cars were able to continue, valuable time and positions were lost. Later, the Audi spun off due to damage, allowing Schreiner to regain a spot, finishing the first lap in 12th place and fifth in class.
Schreiner soon overtook the Lamborghini ahead and gradually reduced a three-second gap to the top ten. On lap five, she passed Darmetko in the Porsche Cup and later overtook Bergman, securing ninth place. Midway through the race, Andersen collided with another car and retired, giving Schreiner another position. She continued to push, climbing to seventh overall and fourth in class but was unable to catch the McLaren from Orange Racing ahead.
Drama unfolded on the final lap when Beatovic, having been lapped, spun his Lamborghini and came to a stop on track. The Orange Racing McLaren behind him had no way to avoid contact, and both cars clashed. Schreiner capitalized on the incident, avoiding the wreckage and crossing the finish line in third place in class and sixth overall—completing a very strong recovery after her earlier setbacks.
Race 2 saw Schreiner starting from ninth overall and sixth in the GT3 class on a cold, wet track. Technical issues sidelined the #8 Lamborghini before the start, gifting her an extra position. Due to the conditions, the race was declared wet, and two formation laps were completed behind the safety car, with the second lap counting toward race time. Just before the green flag, light drizzle returned, making the track even trickier.
The opening laps were relatively clean, but Schreiner’s misfortune struck again at Turn 8. Sorensen misjudged the grip on the corkscrew corner, collided with Schreiner’s Lamborghini, and spun her around. He continued after making contact with the wall, but Schreiner lost significant time rejoining.
At the back of the field, she worked to catch up before a safety car was deployed due to multiple stranded cars. The incident was under investigation, but Sorensen later retired due to damage.
With just over ten minutes remaining after the restart, Schreiner sat in 13th place behind Heyer in the SchnitzelAlm Mercedes. Both quickly overtook the Cup4 cars, moving Schreiner back into the top ten. However, she struggled to get past the Cup2 Porsches, losing touch with the Mercedes ahead.
After several laps, she managed to clear them and climbed to eighth place. Despite strong pace, she was too far behind to gain further positions and finished six seconds behind the Orange Racing McLaren.
The final GT race of the weekend was also declared a wet race, though the track was drying, prompting teams to start on slick tyres. The race distance was thus shortened to 50 minutes. Schreiner began from tenth overall and sixth in class.
Chaos erupted at the start when the No. 64 Mercedes and No. 50 Ferrari collided, leaving the Ferrari stranded on track and triggering an early safety car. Schreiner had already moved up to eighth, chasing Sorensen’s AF Corse Ferrari.
After the restart with 40 minutes remaining, Schreiner initially struggled to pass the Ferrari; she was faster in the technical sections but lost ground on the straights due to the Ferrari’s higher power output. After nearly four laps, she finally completed the overtake and quickly pulled away. On the drying track, she matched the leaders’ lap times and began closing the gap.
With 28 minutes left on the clock, Schreiner pitted for the driver change, handing the car to Danny Soufi, a proven racer in the Prototype Winter Series. The Konrad Motorsport team rejoined in eighth place. Light rain started just as the pit window opened, but most teams, including Konrad Motorsport, opted to stay on slicks.
As the rain intensified, Soufi struggled for grip and dropped to 11th before eventually pitting for wet tyres. However, the mandatory two-minute pit stop cost him valuable time. He regained positions as others pitted, but the delay meant he was unable to challenge further up the order.
Despite the setbacks, Soufi climbed back to ninth overall and fourth in class. A penalty for an overly fast tyre change prevented further improvement in the class standings.
“A weekend full of ups and downs—technical issues, crashes, and tough conditions", Carrie commented. "But it’s time to move on; it’s race week again.” Staying true to her motto, 'straighten your crown and carry on', she now heads to Barcelona for the final GT Winter Series round, where wet conditions are once again expected.