Karen Gaillard made significant progress in her second Porsche Sprint Challenge Southern Europe weekend, securing her first top-15 finish in Race 1 with a strong drive where she recovered 12 places - as the Swiss driver continued to collect valuable experience for her upcoming Porsche Carrera Cup France debut.
Iron Dame Karen Gaillard returned to the #85 Porsche 992 GT3 Cup car for the final round of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Southern Europe in Barcelona, just one week after her debut in the series - making significant progress and securing a top-15 finish in Race 1.
Gaillard is gaining valuable experience in the one-make series as preparation for her upcoming debut in the French Carrera Cup, after winning the Porsche Junior shootout. The Sprint Challenge Southern Europe, held across the Iberian Peninsula, has in fact provided crucial track time for many drivers preparing for their main campaigns in the Porsche Motorsport pyramid.
The Swiss Iron Dame quickly got up to speed in her first outing in Valencia last week, racing with the well-established French team Schumacher CLRT.
Gaillard is transitioning to the Cup car after competing in GT3 machinery in the 2024 Michelin Le Mans Cup in Lamborghini machinery. In her first season as part of the Iron Dames squad, she made significant progress and earned a spot in the main lineup at Daytona earlier in January for her first participation in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, where she impressed with her consistent stints.
Focused on gaining experience and adapting to the Cup car—which has less aero than a GT3-spec car and no ABS—Gaillard faced some unfortunate races but consistently battled near the top 20, steadily gaining confidence in close racing situations in Valencia.
Heading into Circuit de Catalunya just days later—a track where she previously raced in the Le Mans Cup, 24H Series, and Mitjets—Gaillard aimed to take even bigger steps forward.
During pre-event testing, she further closed the gap to the front runners, breaking into the top 20 for the first time in one of the Thursday sessions.
Official practice took place on Saturday morning, where she continued to build experience. In her second qualifying session in the series, Gaillard initially set a 1:44.8, placing in the top 20, before improving to dip under the 1:44 mark, securing P16 overall and fourth among rookies, having posted her best lap of the weekend, less than a second off the overall pole.
A mid-session pit stop for fresh tyres allowed her to rejoin the final 10 minutes of qualifying close to the top 20. Unfortunately, she was unable to improve further on the second set of tyres, and as other drivers made gains, she ended the session in P26 overall and P7 in the rookie classification.
Just a few hours later, it was time for the first race of the weekend, with Gaillard lining up in P26, aiming to take another step forward from her debut just a week before.
She got off to a good start, going into Turn 1 alongside two other cars, but in the thick of the action, there was contact and Janssen spun just in front of her, forcing Karen to take evasive action and lose some momentum. Further back, more collisions occurred, leaving Kieffer and Ho stranded at Turn 1, bringing out an early race neutralization.
Gaillard managed to keep going, running P24 overall and fifth among rookies as the race was red-flagged to allow for vehicle recovery.
The restart took place behind the safety car with 22 minutes remaining. Gaillard had a clean restart and held her position, but another big crash into Turn 1 saw several cars go off. She skillfully avoided the incident by taking the inside runoff and emerged unscathed, moving up to P17 as the race was neutralized once again.
When racing resumed on Lap 7, more crashes unfolded immediately at Turn 1. Once again, Gaillard navigated the chaos successfully and climbed to P15 just before the third safety car period.
The fourth restart came with just two and a half minutes left on the clock, and this time, everyone got through Turns 1 and 2 cleanly. Gaillard closed in on Visser and Norden, looking to take advantage of their battle ahead. However, she was passed by Spreng but managed to hold on to fourth in the rookie standings.
Now under pressure from Luciano Martinez, she defended well and set a competitive 1:45.7 on the final lap. She held her ground and crossed the finish line in P16. Following post-race penalties, she was promoted to P14, securing her first top-15 finish in the Porsche one-make series, in a big step forward from the previous weekend.
Gaillard gained 12 places from the start and was fourth among the rookie entries.
The second race followed shortly after, with Gaillard starting from P26 for the final race of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Southern Europe season. Despite temperatures dropping and overcast skies at Circuit de Catalunya, the 30-minute +1 lap contest remained dry.
Everyone made it through Turn 1 safely, and Karen took the inside line, settling into P25. However, at the exit of Turn 5, she was hit and spun around; the Swiss racer rejoined at the back in P29 and then pitted at the end of Lap 1 to assess the damage. Meanwhile, the race was placed under a full-course yellow due to several other first-lap collisions.
After reaching the pits, Gaillard's car unfortunately was retired, bringing an unfortunate end to an otherwise positive day in Barcelona.
Karen now, she shifts her full focus to her debut in the Porsche Carrera Cup France, carrying valuable experience in the 992 GT3 Cup car under her belt.
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