Iron Dames drivers Célia Martin and Karen Gaillard secured a strong fifth-place finish at Mugello in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, marking their second top-five result in their rookie GT3 season, overcoming a challenging weekend with a brilliant drive in both stints.
Iron Dames drivers Célia Martin and Karen Gaillard secured a fifth-place finish in the Michelin Le Mans Cup at Mugello, Italy, marking their return to the top-five since their maiden podium at Le Castellet.
The duo, both in their first season of GT3 competitions and as part of the groundbreaking Iron Dames team, drove a remarkably solid race at the Tuscan racetrack, battling at the top of the GT3 class and bouncing back from a pair of unfortunate finishes in previous rounds.
Martin and Gaillard made significant strides throughout the weekend, progressively closing in on the class front runners. They challenged for a podium position during the first half of the race in the hands of fast bronze-rated driver Martin, despite being stuck behind a competitor for much of her stint. Gaillard then delivered a remarkable second stint, holding off more experienced drivers and lapping among the fastest silver-rated competitors, ultimately securing their second-best result of the season.
The duo had a highly positive start to their rookie Michelin Le Mans Cup campaign in Barcelona, where Martin immediately established herself as a great qualifier and demonstrated impressive speed in the race's opening stages. Their brilliant performance at Circuit Paul Ricard saw them climb the podium with a second-place finish, but misfortunes and two disrupted races at Le Mans prevented them from replicating the result. Similarly, a late-race puncture at Spa Francorchamps denied Martin and Gaillard another podium.
The fifth round at Mugello, which hosted a European Le Mans Series round for the first time in the series' history, offered another opportunity for the pair to bank solid points. The challenging Tuscan circuit required them to familiarize themselves with the track in their pink Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2. Gaillard had previous experience at Mugello, having raced there in both the 24H Series—where she climbed the podium—and the Ultimate Cup prototype series only a few weeks earlier, though that weekend was severely influenced by adverse weather.
Gaillard and Martin made steady progress during the practice sessions, with Gaillard recording the sixth-fastest time in the opening session, setting a lap of 1:48.825. Martin followed this up with a strong performance in the bronze-dedicated practice, but Friday's second practice was wet, adding complexity to their preparations. Nevertheless, the team worked on their setup for Saturday’s qualifying, entering the session with high hopes.
Célia Martin, who had been on a streak of great qualifying performances earlier in the season, took to the track for qualifying at the scenic but demanding Mugello circuit. She was the last to set a representative time and initially went fifth fastest in the Iron Dames Lamborghini. Martin then improved her personal best with a 1:49.147 on her final run, securing fourth overall and a start from the second row for the race.
Saturday’s late-afternoon start for the penultimate Michelin Le Mans Cup race of the season saw Martin in the #85 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 for the first stint. As the race went green, Martin lost a couple of positions at the start, overtaken by the #74 Audi, though she staged an impressive duel to regain fifth place.
As the race unfolded, she chased Andrew Gilbert’s Kessel Racing Ferrari and the Steller Racing Audi for podium positions, while the two leading AF Corse Ferraris of Matt Kurzejewski and Custodio Toledo stretched their advantage.
On lap three, Gilbert’s Ferrari went off at turn 5, promoting Martin to fourth. Under pressure from Nicholas Jones in the High Class Racing Porsche, Martin defended well, closing in on Andrew Bentley’s Steller Audi. Meanwhile, James Swift reclaimed a position from Jones behind her, with Martin continuing to pressure Bentley’s Audi.
Célia set her personal best lap on lap 10, clocking a 1:52.0, as she attempted a move at turn 1 but had to back off. At 23 minutes into the race, a Full Course Yellow was deployed after the #29 MV2S LMP3 Ligier came to a halt at pit entry. The car was quickly cleared, and Martin resumed her pursuit of Bentley, but a second caution was called soon after due to an accident involving the #59 Virage LMP3.
Upon the restart, Martin navigated LMP3 traffic and held onto fourth, with Swift fending off pressure from the recovering Gilbert, who briefly went off again at Biondetti corner.
As the pit window approached, several GT3 cars pitted on lap 22. Martin stayed out, taking the class lead ahead of Swift and Jones. She continued to post competitive lap times, maintaining her advantage until pitting on lap 25 to hand the car over to Karen Gaillard, with 55 minutes remaining.
The Swiss driver rejoined in fourth place, with the AF Corse Ferraris of Alessandro Balzan and Riccardo Agostini leading the class and a 10-second margin to the third-placed Steller Audi, now driven by Sennan Fielding. Gaillard, the first silver-rated driver in fourth, would have to fend off some gold-rated drivers coming from behind, though she had a 7-second cushion.
Karen set a consistent 1:51 pace, matching Sven Müller’s High Class Racing Porsche behind her, and soon improved to under 1:51, setting a personal best of 1:49.672 on lap 32, the third-fastest time on track at that moment. As she gained confidence, Gaillard’s brilliant pace helped her manage the pressure from behind.
A spinning #6 ANS Motorsport LMP3 car brought out another Full Course Yellow with 39 minutes to go. No safety car was required, but Gaillard lost seven seconds to Müller during the Full Course Yellow procedure. Müller eventually passed Gaillard at the exit of the final corner, and though she fought back, David Fumanelli capitalized, dropping her to sixth.
Gaillard quickly regrouped, returning to 1:50 lap times and extending the gap to the cars behind her. Fumanelli, however, received a drive-through penalty for track limits, promoting Gaillard back to fifth with 18 minutes to go. Though Fumanelli made another charge, he became embroiled in a battle with Ross Kaiser in the Blackthorn Aston Martin. This duel helped Gaillard extend her advantage by a few more seconds.
As the clock wound down, Gaillard came under renewed pressure from Fumanelli, but she held firm, maintaining a little over a second gap as the sun set over Mugello. Karen defended brilliantly in the closing laps, finishing in fifth, marking the second top-five finish of the season for the Iron Dames and their second-best result in their rookie GT3 campaign. AF Corse took a 1-2 finish, with Sven Müller securing third.
The result was a testament to the rapid development of Célia Martin and Karen Gaillard, who turned around a challenging weekend and found the speed to battle at the front, with a strong qualifying and determined defensive driving in the final stages.
The Iron Dames are now sixth in the Le Mans Cup drivers' standings with one round to go. The season finale is scheduled for October 18-19 at Portimão, Portugal.
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