Gabriela Jilková and Cindy Gudet kick off GT4 Europe campaign with ProAm podium in Le Castellet

Cindy Gudet and Gabriela Jilková kicked off their 2025 GT4 European Series campaign with a strong performance for Matmut Evolution, claiming a ProAm podium in Race 2 at Paul Ricard after two battling drives in mixed-weather conditions.

Photo credits: SRO / JEP

Cindy Gudet and Gabriela Jilková enjoyed a positive start to season for Matmut Evolution in GT4 Europe. In the mixed-weather opener at Circuit Paul Ricard in the South of France, the all-female Matmut Evolution team showed a strong performance and achieved a rewarding podium finish in the ProAm class, repeating their personal best result from 2024, also at the French round.

Jilková and Gudet are entering their second year as teammates in the GT4 European Championship, having been selected by the French squad via an all-female shootout to create a female team in the GT4 platform — the Volant 100% Féminin Matmut — as part of a commitment to equality.

Jilková, an experienced GT4 racer with podiums to her name in the highly competitive ADAC GT4 Germany among others, is now in her third season with the team, having previously partnered with Lucile Cypriano in the FFSA GT4 Championship before stepping up with Gudet in the European series.

Gudet is now entering her second season in sportscar competitions, coming from a hillclimb background, but has shown impressive progress over her rookie season in the ProAm class and is now aiming to take another step forward. Competing also in the Ligier European Series as well as the Ultimate Cup, the French racer is collecting very valuable track time and is ready for the next step.

The strong driver duo returned to Le Castellet, where they had collected their first class podium last year, and soon showed good pace in the ProAm class from practice. They were sixth fastest in the official practice session and the second-best Toyota Supra GT4 in the strong 42-car field. Then, they were third fastest in class in the Pre-Qualifying session, establishing the Matmut Evolution team as one of the podium contenders in ProAm.

With Gabriela Jilková in the car, the first qualifying saw some light rain at the start of the session. Jilková improved on her final run with a lap time of 2:13.329, placing 7th in class.

In Q2 it was time for Cindy Gudet to get behind the wheel; a red flag was desployed when the #19 Lema Racing Mercedes lost a wheel. Gudet, however, improved significantly over the session and set a 2:13.355, putting the car P14 overall and second in ProAm — a strong starting position for Race 2.

Photo credits: SRO / JEP

Following previous rain showers, Race 1 took place in dry conditions, though occasional wet patches remained on the track. Jilková started the race in her Toyota Supra GT4 from 20th place overall and 7th in class, alongside Millar in the McLaren. With a flawless start, Jilková moved up to 17th position and into fifth place in her class. She spent the next few laps between Vanspiegel in the Ford and Detry in the Porsche.

Jilková had a strong start of her stint, running on competitive lap times. However her pace deteriorated as the car experienced more severe tyre deg and the Czech racer couldn’t hold on to her position; after 12 minutes of racing, Detry overtook got by. Nevertheless, she continued to defend against her pursuers over the following minutes.

After 20 minutes, she was stuggling to keep DeBack and Gedik behind, however only lost one position in the overall standings; when the pit stop window opened, Gedik immediately made his mandatory stop. Jilková came in one lap later for the driver change. After the pit stop cycle, Cindy Gudet was in 22nd place overall and had slipped to seventh in class.

Shortly after the window closed, Petit entered the pits with issues, allowing Gudet to move up. In a duel with Dinesen — which included several short position changes — however, she would eventually end up dropping behind Naska and Xavier, as the tyre drop continued to be significant.

In the final part of the race, Gudet had to defend herself against Visser and eventually gave in with five minutes remaining. The Matmut Evolution team nevertheless crossed the finish line in ninth place in class and 28th overall, but with valuable experience that could be applied in the second race.

Photo credits: SRO / JEP

Cloudy and rainy conditions preceded the second race. After a better qualifying, Cindy Gudet started from 15th place overall, taking second place in her class. Mogica started alongside her in a Ginetta. Due to the changeable conditions, an additional formation lap was completed behind the safety car.

The start on the slippery track was very chaotic, and in the first few corners, it seemed the actual race track was the least busy part of Circuit Paul Ricard; hardly any car stayed cleanly on track. In this chaos, Gudet tried to defend her starting position and initially lost one place in both classifications by the end of the first lap.

After 12 minutes, the #30 WS Motorsport car spun in the final corner and hit the wall. The recovery initially required a full course yellow, which was later converted to a safety car. The restart took place eight minutes later.

Gudet briefly climbed back to 18th place overall and retained second in class; she was able to defend cleanly until the mandatory pit stop. The Matmut Evolution team’s driver change to Jilková took place 32 minutes into the race: after the pit stop cycle, Jilková emerged in 14th place overall and at the top of the ProAm class.

There, the Czech racer and Tremvoulet in the Mercedes engaged in a close battle for the class lead. This fierce fight allowed the chasing pack to close the gap, and they soon joined the battle. Bouveng in the BMW eventually overtook Jilková with a slight contact and took the class lead. Just one lap later, Still in the Porsche overtook Jilková on the back straight, pushing her into third place in class and 16th overall.

On the penultimate lap, Gabriela was fighting hard for a podium and, while she briefly dropped to fifth, she fought back and ultimately crossed the finish line in 17th overall and fourth in class. Penalties for other teams saw them move up to 15th place at the end of the race — securing a rewarding ProAm podium finish.

The women’s duo were thus rewarded for their efforts with their first podium of the GT4 Europe season, as a result of a hardly-fought race weekend with a strong performance for both drivers, constantly battling elbows out in around the top-15 of the 42-car field.

The next round is scheduled for 16-18 May at Zandvoort, Netherlands, where Jilková has traditionally enjoyed notable success in both GT4 and LMP3 machinery - and will be eyeing to continue the trend.