The Iron Dames secured a historic victory in Bahrain and a final championship place of second with #85 Porsche 911 RSR-19. The journey started in 2019. We come back to their consistent progress in achieving their goal.

Rahel Frey the backbone

From the beginning, Rahel Frey is the only one of the female drivers’ trio who participated in all the races in both ELMS and WEC.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. P2 for Rahel Frey, Michele Gatting and Manuella Gostner at 4 Hours of Silverstone 2019.

It all started in 2019 when Rahel Frey, Michele Gatting and Manuella Gostner drove the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo at the Four Hours of Le Castellet ending second. For a first race together the future Iron Dames left a lasting impression. Their first season in the European Le Mans Series as a female-only line-up didn’t end with the same level of success, as the trio ended fourth in the LMGTE Teams and Drivers’ classification despite a second P2 at Silverstone that same year.

In 2020, same car with same #83, same line-up with a new team (Iron Lynx) and same result in the European Le Mans Series LMGTE championship with a P4 after three podiums (P3) at Le Castellet (twice) and Monza.

The Bovy transition

📷 © Luc Warnotte. Pole for Sarah Bovy in qualifying session of LMGTE ahead of the Four Hours of Portimao 2022.

2021 was a transition year for the ladies with #83 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo in ELMS. Gostner was part of the line-up for the first race at Barcelona but was replaced by Sarah Bovy at Red Bull Ring and Le Castellet. Both races with the Belgian ended with an abandon. After a last race for Gostner in Monza, the new trio (Bovy, Frey and Gatting) ended the European Le Mans Series season with two P3 at Spa and Portimao. Overall ranking in LMGTE Teams Championships was seventh with Rahel Frey and Michele Gatting ending 9th in the LMGTE Drivers Championship.

2021 was also the first season for a ladies trio behind the wheel of the #85 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo in WEC (World Endurance Championship). Rahel Frey, Manuella Gostner and Katherine Legge were driving the Ferrari for the first round at Spa ending seventh in class.

For the 6 Hours of Portimao, Michelle Gatting was part of the trio with Frey and Gostner. The ladies ended fourth of class.

At the Four Hours fo Monza, Sarah Bovy was integrated into the WEC trio together with Frey and Gatting. #85 Iron Lynx Ferrari ladies trio ended P7. The same trio drove the Ferrari #85 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans to P9 in class.

Legge replaced Gatting for the two last races at Bahrain which the trio ended in P8 for the 6 Hours race and P9 for the 8 Hours race.

2022 the first Iron Dames win in ELMS

📷 © Luc Warnotte. P5 for Bovy, Frey and Gatting at 1.000 Miles of Sebring 2022.

The #85 Iron Dames started in WEC for the 2022 Championship with Bovy, Frey and Gatting ending fifth in the 1,000 Miles of Sebring. The next race, at Spa, saw a serious shuffle in the #85 line-up with Dorian Pin and Christina Nielsen together with Frey ending 10th in class. From then on, (ie: the 24 Hours of Le Mans), Bovy and Gatting held firm on their seat in the #85 Iron Dames Ferrari teaming up with Rahel Frey.

The Iron Dames ended the 2022 WEC season in style with two P2 at Monza and Fuji and one P3 in Bahrain as well as a first podium (P3) in the LMGTE AM Teams Championship.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. First win for the Iron Dames in ELMS at 4 Hours of Portimao 2022.

Also in the 2022 European Le Mans Series Championship, the ladies finished with a bang with a first victory in the last race at Portimao and a P3 in the LMGTE Teams Championship.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans adventure

It was also in 2019 that the then ELMS female trio participated in their first 24 Hours of Le Mans. For three consecutive years, the ladies trio ended 9th. Before the 2022 edition, Rahel Frey told us:

Rahel Frey: “In 2019, our target was to finish the race. We (Iron Dames) were mega happy with the 9th place. We finished the race without any mistakes.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. P9 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2021.

In 2020, considering we knew each other, we wanted to do better than 9th. Once again, we didn’t make any mistakes but performance was somehow missing. We were simply too slow. We finished 9th again.

Last year we had very high expectations. We had the performance, we were fast, we had a good line-up and the aim was to end in the top 5. I strongly believe it would have been possible as our teammates finished 4th but luck was not on our side.

I had a puncture early in the race, then we had a suspension failure, and a second puncture … Just everything went wrong. But we finished 9th. It was hard to believe we did three times 9th in a row.

Now we go back to Le Mans. It is already the fourth year, which is very impressive. We clearly say “we can do better and we will do better”. We are strong, we have a good line-up again, we have demonstrated performance. We dream of a podium finish. We would accept a top 5, definitively better than 9th. That is very clear!

The competition is high. The last three years we had no rain, just one hour at the start last year and that was it. Let us see what Le Mans brings us this year.”

The Iron Dames eventually ended 7th of the LMGT AM class in the 2022 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Porsche 911 year

📷 © Luc Warnotte. #83 Lamborghini Huracan for the Iron Dames in IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup campaign.

November 7th, 2022, Lamborghini Squadra Corse and Iron Lynx announced that they would join forces on a dual assault as Lamborghini Iron Lynx in the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2024.

Supported by Lamborghini Squadra Corse, Iron Lynx also announced a worldwide GT3 program, which includes a GT World Challenge Endurance Cup and an IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup from 2023 where Iron Lynx would race with the #63 and #19 cars alongside the Iron Dames’ #83 car in the prestigious 24 Hours of Daytona in January 2023, with the #63 and #83 cars continuing for the rest the team’s IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup campaign.

Again in June 2022 Rahel Frey told us: “Racing in America is still on my bucket list. I would love to go back to the States and race there. Luckily, this year we went back to Sebring with WEC which was an amazing experience. It was a very good race for us. Yes, Daytona is definitively on the bucket list. I would love to go back again”.

As Lamborghini had no GTE car to feature in the World Endurance Championship, the Iron Dames could drive the Porsche 911 RSR-19 prepared by Proton Competition for the 2023 season. (Porsche is also part of the Volkswagen Group as Lamborghini is via the Audi subsidiary).

January 12th, Rahel Frey told us: “We have an outstanding program this year with GT Challenge Europe, IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup and World Endurance Championship driving two different cars: the Lamborghini Huracan and the Porsche 911 RSR-19.

The Lamborghini Huracan has never been a winner nor a reliable car in endurance racing. Therefore we had little hope for the Iron Dames to clinch any success in both the GT Challenge Europe and the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup BUT a Porsche 911 RSR would be the right weapon for the Iron Dames to clinch their first success in the World Endurance Championship.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. P4 after battling for a podium at 24 Hours of Le Mans 2023.

The Iron Dames proved us we were right as they ended the championship with a victory at Bahrain and a P2 in the LMGTE Teams and Drivers Championships on top of three poles for Sarah Bovy during the season. They were close to a podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans which they were leading at the 20th hour after spending 61 laps out of the 254 driven so far on the lead. The #85 Porsche was in the fight for victory, at least the podium, against the #33 Corvette Racing and the #25 Aston Martin ORT by TF! Unfortunately, everything changed in the last hour with an unexpected change of brakes. The pit stop proves to be costly in terms of time, so much so that Rahel Frey, last behind the wheel, could only save 4th place, 5.3 seconds from the podium!

The apotheosis in Bahrain

At the 8 Hours of Bahrain, the Iron Dames became the first all-female team who has emerged victorious in the World Endurance Championship.

Stating from pole position set the day before by Sarah Bovy, the Dames were only challenged by sister car #60 which began with its Silver-graded driver. Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting resisted to both #98 and #777 Aston Martin Vantage to emerge on top in a very challenging eight-hour endurance.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. Pole and P5 for the Iron Dames at the 6 Hours of Monza 2023.

SARAH BOVY: “This race was definitely about tyre management, and I think we managed that pretty well. We anticipated the race conditions, the fact that we were going into the night and we really tried to nurse our very nice Michelin tyres for one last time. In my stint, as I was also taking the start, we didn't know what to expect in those temperatures. But at the end the pace was there. I think the whole crew did a good job and I'm so proud of everybody. We've been working really hard for this, and it's finally here – our first win in FIA WEC. The wait was long, but we are all super happy to be here tonight.”

MICHELLE GATTING: “The final stint was pressured and stressful for me inside the car, but in the end, the feedback I was getting from our engineer helped made me stay calm. At one point I could really see the #777 Aston Martin was very close. I pushed a bit more to increase the gap a bit, and in the end with the traffic I managed to increase the gap even more and feel pretty in control. To be honest, I just enjoyed the last ride in this car. It's been an absolute pleasure having the opportunity to drive the Porsche this year. Finally getting this win is something we've wanted to achieve for a long time, and it's quite emotional for all of us. This is what exactly what we want to achieve; we want to prove that we can compete on exactly the same terms as everybody else and we are here to win races.”

RAHEL FREY: “I think today, the whole GTE field put a great display on and this is what we all want to see, so thanks very much to all our competitors to keep us busy and to keep the pressure high. I think we proved today that we do not crack easily under pressure. To get this win now after five years is really emotional, and we will use it as momentum to hopefully be on the starting grid for 2024. What we always aim for is to make the team stronger. To see that we can win races with the Iron Dames in the highest level in GT racing makes me very proud. I also hope this experience is seen by the younger generation. We have younger Iron Dames coming up, this is a project I am so heavily involved in, and this makes me very proud. But nevertheless, I'm still a racer, I love to race, and I love to continue racing and do more to keep fighting for more wins.” Source: Iron Dames