Karen Gaillard makes Porsche Carrera Cup debut with P13 in Barcelona

Karen Gaillard made her debut in the Porsche Carrera Cup France at Circuit de Catalunya, showing improved pace over the weekend and determined battles in the highly-competitive field as she keeps learning the 992 Cup car, ultimately finishing P13 in the Pro class as personal best.

Photo credits: Iron Dames

Iron Dame Karen Gaillard made her debut in the Porsche Carrera Cup France, battling just outside the top ten in both races and showcasing steady progress as she continues to adapt to the 992 Cup car in one of the most competitive Porsche one-make series. She secured a P13 in the Pro class as her personal best in Race 1 at Circuit de Catalunya.

Having qualified 14th, Gaillard moved forward in both races, emerged as a protagonist in several intense battles, and defended masterfully in Race 1 to finish not far off the top ten. An unfortunate spin in Race 2, while again contending for a strong midfield position, ultimately hampered her final result.

With three series and six Iron Dames drivers competing in Barcelona, the collaboration with Porsche is now fully operational—using the ELMS season opener and its support series as a platform for some of the team's top prospects.

Following her historic selection as the first woman to win the Porsche Junior Shootout, Karen Gaillard made her highly anticipated debut in one of the most prestigious national one-make series on the Porsche pyramid.

The Swiss driver stepped up from the Michelin Le Mans Cup, where she made her GT3 debut last year and earned a podium alongside Célia Martin. Now in the Porsche 992 Cup car—a tricky machine with less aero than a GT3 and particularly challenging under braking—Gaillard is focused on gaining experience and mileage.

In preparation for her Carrera Cup France debut, Gaillard entered the final two rounds of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Southern Europe with Schumacher CLRT, racing at Valencia and Barcelona. Over the two weekends, she made significant progress, consistently closing the gap to the midfield.

Her Carrera Cup France campaign started positively at Circuit de Catalunya, where she showed promising pace in practice. While working on car setup and tyre management—crucial at the Barcelona track—Gaillard set a 1:45.950 lap in the first official session, just two tenths from the top ten.

In her first Carrera Cup France qualifying session on Saturday morning, Karen opened with a 1:46.1 lap, placing her within the top ten. After a pit stop with ten minutes remaining for a new set of tyres, she improved to a 1:45.338, finishing P14 overall and fifth among the rookies.

Photo credits: Iron Dames

Starting Race 1 from P14 overall, Karen aimed for a clean launch—and succeeded. With Marcus Amand disqualified and starting from the back, the 20-car grid got underway cleanly. Gaillard survived the first-lap chaos and settled into P15. On lap 2, a contact between Boullery and Paque at Turn 1 sent Boullery into the gravel, triggering the first Safety Car and promoting Gaillard to P14 overall and 13th in the Pro class.

At the lap 4 restart, Gaillard defended her position from the recovering Paque and stayed close to Guillot ahead. Lapping in the 1:46s, she improved her sectors while holding off the #12 TFT Racing car with determined defense. This battle allowed Guillot to pull a small gap, but Gaillard’s continued to push to stay close.

On lap 11, Reimann in the #47 EST1 car encountered issues and came to a stop, allowing Gaillard to move up to P12 in the Pro class and P13 overall. The fierce duel with Paque continued for the remainder of the race. On the final lap, Paque launched a late attack at La Caixa, but Gaillard once again braked deep and shut the door.

After a tense drag to the finish line, Gaillard crossed the line in P12 in the Pro class and P13 overall—completing her first Carrera Cup France race with a defensive masterclass.

Unfortunately, a 5-second track limits penalty dropped her to P13 in Pro class in the final classification.

Photo credits: Iron Dames

Sunday morning saw sunny conditions for Race 2, with Gaillard lining up in P15 based on the second-best times from qualifying. She got another clean start, held her position in 13th in the Pro class, and stayed within the main midfield train. Running close behind fellow rookies Mathys Cappuccio and Enzo Joulie, she gained a spot when Joran Leneutre spun on lap 2 at Turn 5.

By lap 4, Gaillard was logging her best sector times, building a gap behind and remaining within a second of Cappuccio. As Joulie and Guillot battled ahead, a train of cars formed, and Gaillard ramped up the pressure, clearly faster than Cappuccio but unable to find a way past.

On lap 12, however, she locked up at Turn 3 and went off into the gravel. She rejoined, now down to P13 in the Pro class and P17 overall, just behind Leneutre.

With a 15-second gap to the pack and no safety car intervention in a clean race, Gaillard pushed hard to catch back. She significantly closed in on Eric Debard ahead, gaining over two seconds per lap and finishing just three seconds behind at the line.

She completed Race 2 in P13 in the Pro class and 17th overall. Despite the off-track moment, Gaillard’s race was positive from a pace standpoint: the Swiss driver has made a solid step forward in the 992 Cup car. Her pace was now extremely close to the top ten, and in such a tightly packed field—where most of the grid is covered by just a few tenths—qualifying is increasingly crucial.

It was however another valuable learning weekend for Gaillard, with plenty of positives to build on. Her next event will be at Dijon, France, on 9–11 May.