Karen Gaillard: Countdown to the premiere 🎥
START IN MONZA On the second weekend in July, the second race of the 24H Series after the Corona Lockdown will take place in Monza. For Young Driver Karen Gaillard, it means the start of a new phase in her career. A team of the French-speaking Swiss television RTS1 accompanied her to the test day in Hockenheim and brought in the sports broadcast of Sunday evening, June 28, this [...]
A team from the French-speaking Swiss television station RTS1 accompanied them to the test day in Hockenheim and broadcast this three-minute feature in the sports program on Sunday evening, June 28.
It has been more than ten months since Karen Gaillard contested her only car race to date as a finalist in the 2019 Young Driver Challenge. Her performance with the Cupra TCR at the Nürburgring was so good that she also convinced the jury at the end of the season when it came to choosing the overall winner of this young driver competition organized by AutoScout24 and Seat/Cupra Switzerland.
Forced break instead of early season debut
Since then, however, she has not been able to put another talent test to the test. Her first planned start with the familiar Topcar Sport team from Uetendorf in the 2020 24H Series fell victim to the Corona pandemic in March.
The Bernese team decided against the first race of this international long-distance series after the lockdown in Portugal in mid-June because the risk of a cancellation at short notice due to the lack of participants was too great for them for financial reasons. The Dutch nevertheless pulled off the event with only 15 teams.
Everything on your own
Next week, however, Topcar Sport will be back in action at the two-part 12 Hours of Monza (July 10-11, vider hours on Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. and eight hours on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.).
Unlike last year and as recently as January at the Dubai 24 Hours, where they teamed up with Bas Koeten Racing from the Netherlands, the team led by junior boss Ronny Jost and his father Ruedi now manages everything themselves.
Ronny Jost: "I admit that I'm pretty picky. That's why it was always planned that at some point we would draw a line under this cooperation, which is good in itself, so that we could make all the decisions ourselves. In terms of personnel, this is not a problem for us. The previous four mechanics who helped us out at the race weekends will be joined by just one more."
First race in Monza
Due to strict safety regulations to contain the risk of infection, only 15 people per car are allowed to enter Monza anyway, including drivers and escorts. Despite these restrictions and the paperwork war, around 30 teams have so far entered for the second European championship round.
Notably, it will be the first ever international car race in Italy this year, also the first of the 24H Series at the Autodromo of Monza.
Danz, Gaillard and a third
Topcar Sport will line up with regular driver and European title defender Fabian Danz and Karen Gaillard. A third, foreign driver has not yet been determined.
Monza will be the first endurance race for the 18-year-old from Freiburg. On June 23, Karen was allowed to test alone for a day at Hockenheim and get used to the Cupra TCR again. In the process, she covered around 600 kilometers.
Ruedi Jost: "We wanted her to ride extensively for once and we could really take our time with her. We have a good feeling with her. She does everything very well, also in terms of her marketing and taking care of the sponsors."
