VICTORIES FOR THE IRON DAMES IN F1 ACADEMY AND LIGIER EUROPEAN SERIES

From the European Le Mans Series, Michelin Le Mans Cup, and Ligier European Series at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps to F1 Academy at Zandvoort, the Iron Dames were in action across the continent and raced in honour of the memory of Luca Persiani who passed away earlier this week after leaving a lasting mark across countless generations of racing talent.

F1 Academy

In F1 Academy, Iron Dame and Mercedes-AMG Junior Driver, Doriane Pin, showed strong pace at the Dutch Zandvoort circuit, adding another victory and top five finish to her list of achievements in the current 2024 season.
 
In Race One, a five-second time penalty for a false start cost Doriane what was a second place finish on the road although in Race Two, the 20-year-old staged a flawless performance by winning from pole position after leading from lights to flag and posting the fastest lap. By taking her secong win of the season, Doriane holds second in the Drivers’ Championship with 119 points.

Ligier European Series

Also at Spa, Iron Dame Marta Garcia made her debut in the Ligier European Series and showcased impressive pace in her first foray in sportscar racing to win Race Two in the championship’s JS2 R class.
 
By placing second in qualifying, Marta put herself in a fantastic position for both races but fell to seventh after taking evasive action at the start of Race One due to a spinner up ahead. Nevertheless, the 2023 F1 Academy champion staged an incredible recovery to battle into the podium positions. Despite finishing second at the line, a post-race time penalty for track limits demoted Marta to fifth.
 
In Race Two, the Spaniard maintained her form and immediately took advantage by claiming the lead at the start, but unfortunately fell to third after running deep into Turn 19. After battling back to the front, Marta pitted at half-race distance and rejoined the race in fourth but set out to recover. She snatched the lead with seven minutes remaining to end her debut weekend on the top step while delivering Iron Dames by M Racing with its first victory in the series.
 
Marta will return to the Ligier European Series with Iron Dames by M Racing later in 2024 as the championship moves into the final stages of its current campaign.

European Le Mans Series

The Iron Dames entered the Four Hours of Spa after winning the European Le Mans Series’ previous race at Imola and showcased unstoppable determination and unbreakable spirit across the weekend. Rising from an accident in practice, which required a full rebuild of the #85 Porsche 911 GT3 R from Friday to Saturday, the trio of Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey, and Michelle Gatting started the race from eighth, with Sarah taking on the opening stint.
 
Racing on home ground, the Belgian secured a strong start and worked her way up to fourth in the LMGT3 class before the first Safety Car of the race which was deployed after 15 minutes of running. With the field bunched up, Sarah resumed her offensive on the restart and worked her way up to second but was tipped into a spin in the 51st minute and fell to seventh. After pitting for repairs, Sarah resumed the race in fourth and again worked her way up to second.
 
Unfortunately, contact with Hiroshi Hamaguchi in the sister #63 Iron Lynx entry forced Sarah to retire with two hours and 42 minutes remaining. The Iron Dames will resume their 2024 ELMS campaign on 29 September at Mugello.

Michelin Le Mans Cup

In the 2024 Michelin Le Mans Cup, Célia Martin and Karen Gaillard leapt back into action in the #83 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 and started the fifth race of the season from third following a solid performance in Qualifying.

Célia started the one-hour and 50-minute event and took advantage of a chaotic opening lap to rise to second in class but fell to third when green flag running resumed following an early Safety Car. After 52 minutes at the wheel, and consistently pressuring the #24 Audi and #51 Ferrari in the lead fight, Célia pitted to hand over to Karen, who resumed the race.

Karen continued to hold third throughout her stint until a late Safety Car, caused by an accident in Turn Seven, bunched the field up, leaving a 21-minute sprint to the chequered flag. During the restart, the #83 crew were dealt a cruel blow when a puncture tipped Karen into a spin, removing what was a likely podium finish.

The weekend overall has been very positive. I’m really happy about taking the win in Race Two. It’s an amazing feeling, and the team deserve it because they’ve done such a good job during the summer break. We are here to fight and now we need to focus on the second half of the season.

Doriane Pin

First GT race and first win. We had a great weekend at Spa for the Ligier European Series, we learned a lot, and we’re so happy with the result. I want to dedicate this victory to Luca. I know he would be proud. I’d like the thank the Iron Dames by M Racing team for putting together a great car, and Yann Ehrlacher for being my coach and engineer.

Marta Garcia

This week has been tough and obviously, we are very disappointed with how today’s race ended. I can only thank the team for the amazing work we have achieved over the week. The car was amazing to drive today, and that was because of them. It was a very intense race here in Spa, and I have to apologise to the #55 Ferrari crew who I made contact with at the beginning of the stint. I’m sorry that their race was over and I saw what happened – I lost the car and made contact with them. It was an intense fight and I take full responsibility. What happened with the sister Iron Lynx car was caused by contact that Hiroshi had with an LMP2 beforehand. He lost steering in Eau Rouge and I was just in the wrong place. We want to come back from this weekend, learn from it and as a team, we will come back stronger.

Sarah Bovy