Iron Dames was founded in 2018 by Deborah Mayer with the goal of supporting and promoting women in motorsport. Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting, and Manuela Gostner became the projects' first drivers, competing in the 12 Hours of Dubai and placing second in the GT3 Pro-Am class (ninth overall).[4]
In the European Le Mans Series, the #83 “Iron Dames” car placed 4th and the #60 "Iron Lynx" placed 6th, with both entries standing on the podium twice over the season. In the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the #83 placed 9th in class, and the #60 placed 13th in class.
2020
2020 marked the first year of the team competing under the Iron Lynx name. In the European Le Mans Series they fielded the trio of Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting, and Manuela Gostner for the #83 entry. Gatting and team owner Deborah Mayer teamed up for the Le Mans Cup, the first all-female pairing in the series, and were joined by reigning champions Giacomo Piccini and Rino Mastronardi.[6] The team entered the Ferrari Challenge Europe for two rounds, under the name Iron Lynx – Scuderia Niki Hasler. Michelle Gatting competed in the Pro class, while Claudio Schiavoni competed in the Pro-Am class.[7]
The team entered a car in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the all-female line-up of Frey, Gatting, and Gostner, who placed 9th in the LMGTE Am class.
Former W Series driver Esmee Hawkey was announced alongside Frey and Gatting to contest the 2021 European Le Mans Series in the LMGTE class, however the Briton was fired before the first round after her manager Mark Blundell was discovered to have provided the incorrect licence grading to the team.[8] Hawkey was initially replaced with Gostner before fellow W Series outcast Sarah Bovy finished the season after making her debut with the team in the Le Mans Cup. On November 20, 2021, Michelle Gatting became the first female champion of the Ferrari Challenge.[9][10][11]
They entered a car in the LMGTE category of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with a best finish of 7th in class for the #85 Iron Dames car.[16] Sarah Bovy became the first woman to claim a pole position in WEC history, qualifying first at both Monza and Bahrain.[17][18] Three podiums in the series helped the Iron Dames clinch third place in the GTE Am category.[19] The Iron Dames finished the GTWS Europe season in second in the Gold Cup, with a class victory at the 24 Hours of Spa and a pole position at the final race in Barcelona.[20] In the European Le Mans Series, the #85 took a class victory, and eventually finished third in the LMGTE teams championship.[21] Doriane Pin took a dominant victory in the Ferrari Challenge, winning nine of fourteen races, with thirteen podiums, ten pole positions, and eleven fastest laps.[22]
For 2024, Iron Lynx became the de facto Lamborghini factory team in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship – Iron Lynx campaigned a single Lamborghini SC63 in the Hypercar, whilst both programs fielded one Huracán GT3 Evo2 each in the LMGT3 class. Bovy and Gatting were retained, with Gatting promoted to Gold status, whilst Frey (demoted to Silver) was replaced with Pin – the Swiss saw her driving duties reduced as she took on a greater role within team management.[24]
Frey returned to the driving line-up after Pin suffered broken ribs in a cycling accident before Spa.[25]
Following a troublesome campaign for both entries in WEC, Iron Lynx and Lamborghini terminated their partnership at seasons' end.[26]
For 2024, the Iron Dames expanded into rallying - Sarah Rumeau and Julie Amblard participated in the Rally4 class of the French Rally Championship with Sarrazin Motorsport.[27] The partnership scored one top-five finish in both tarmac and gravel disciplines and finished in the top-five of the Asphalt championship.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
