The legendary Spa-Francorchamps hosted Round 3 of the 2025 World Endurance Championship season, where Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey, and Célia Martin were once again at the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 R. Meanwhile, Karen Gaillard and Lisa Billard were in action at Dijon-Prenois, competing in Porsche Carrera Cup France and French F4 respectively, while Vicky Farfus represented the Iron Dames in karting.

Starting from outside the top ten, it was always going to be a challenge to fight through the field, but Célia didn’t let that faze her as the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps got underway.

She quickly climbed up to seventh before pitting twice under a Full Course Yellow; once to serve a start procedure infringement penalty and once to take on fuel and tyres. She rejoined in eighth and immediately became embroiled in a multi-car battle at the end of the first hour.

Célia fought in and around the top five for the next 60 minutes, and just as the third hour began, she snatched the lead at the top of the hill. Pitting from first, she handed over to Rahel who rejoined in seventh place. Just before the halfway point, she was back up into fourth and chasing down third.

With another Safety Car deployment, Rahel pitted and dropped to 15th rejoining in a five-car battle for the final top-ten spots. Having navigated another Safety Car restart, Rahel ducked into the pits from eighth, handing over to Michelle for the final stints.

Emerging from the pits in 12th, Michelle pushed on to the finish, eventually crossing the line to claim a hard-fought 10th place for a valuable championship point.

Celia Martin

“So that’s it for the third round of WEC here in Spa. It wasn’t a perfect day for the team. My stint went well overall, apart from a mistake which cost us time. We’re going to analyse what we can improve on over the coming days so we’re in a better position for Le Mans in June. I’m sure we’ll get stronger and learn from this.”

Karen on the Pro-Rookie podium

Karen Gaillard had shown strong one-lap pace during qualifying at Dijon-Prenois, in which she secured 12th on the grid for both races. In the first race, a good start meant she climbed to 10th early on.

As the race progressed, she dropped back to 12th, but positioned her car well to defend the position in the second half. Eventually, she earned herself a podium finish with third in the Pro-Rookie class.

In Race 2, Karen soon found herself in 15th after the start, but defended well so as not to lose further ground. In the closing stages, she made up two positions by overtaking the car ahead and by way of a penalty for another competitor. She finished 13th overall and fourth of the Pro-Rookies.