Iron Dames gain places to finish P13 in Asian Le Mans Series debut

With their new driver lineup of Michelle Gatting, Sarah Bovy and Célia Martin, Iron Dames completed their first Asian Le Mans Series round in Sepang with an encouraging P13 finish in the GT3 class, surviving a chaotic first hour and demanding conditions to recover from P21 on the grid.

Photo credits: Asian Le Mans Series

Iron Dames, with their new driver lineup of Michelle Gatting, Sarah Bovy, and Célia Martin, completed their first Asian Le Mans Series round in Sepang, Malaysia, with an encouraging 13th-place finish in the GT3 class. The team recovered from P21 on the grid at the end of a demanding first four-hour race, running just outside the top ten.

The all-female team opted to use this opportunity to race in the highly competitive Asian Le Mans Series with the same crew that will tackle the European Le Mans Series; this allowed the team to collect valuable mileage and work together for the first time, marking Martin's debut race as part of the main team.

The French racer stepped up after one year in the Michelin Le Mans Cup as the new bronze-rated driver, following Sarah Bovy's recategorization to silver in 2025 as the Belgian approaches her first season as a pro. Martin, who impressed in 2024, is now ready to take on the new challenge at the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 for this first official round.

Competing in a big 42-car field, Iron Dames entered the Asian Le Mans Series for the first time and made their first appearance at the Sepang International Circuit—a spectacular track offering plenty of great racing but presenting a huge challenge with the extreme heat and humidity of Malaysia.

This event served as an important training ground for Iron Dames, who showed steady progress in every sessionover the week. During pre-event testing, Bovy and Martin maximized driving time, and in official practice, the trio began climbing the timing sheets. Gatting recorded a 2:06.591, putting the team P16 in class, while both Martin and Bovy improved consistently, with the two bronze drivers separated by less than two-tenths of a second in FP2.

On Saturday morning, the first qualifying session of the Asian Le Mans Series season took place under warm, humid conditions - with tyre degradation also expected to be a factor. It was Célia Martin’s first qualifying session with the main Iron Dames team.

In her opening laps, Martin placed P20; as she tried to work the tyres in the right window, her first representative lap came with five minutes to go, reclaiming P20 with a 2:08.661. As times improved, she delivered a 2:07.909 to secure a spot in the top 20 but could not further improve on her final run, finishing P21.

Her second-best lap of 2:08.243 would secure P20 for Round 2.

"It was a bit messy with the peak of the tyre", Martin said after the session. "The car was a bit unbalanced, so to put something good together and to really extract the best out of it was not possible today", she continued. "But that's the learning, for sure, for the next races".

Célia Martin began the four-hour race from P21 in GT3. While it was her first time at this level after just one year in GT3, it was far from her first big endurance event, as she is a veteran of the 24 Hours of Nürburgring.

Photo credits: Asian Le Mans Series

At lights out, chaos ensued at Turn 1 when the two Inter Europol LMP3 cars collided, with the #34 spinning just ahead of the GT3 field. Martin navigated through without major damage but was briefly delayed behind other cars, losing one position.

A safety car was deployed by lap two after the Kessel Racing Ferrari crashed into the #23 Absolute Racing Ferrari, which was then collected by an LMP3 car. Martin reclaimed her starting position just before the neutralization, running P21 in class.

Fifteen minutes into the race, the restart allowed Martin to gain two places. She began lapping in the 2:09 range, a pace competitive enough for the top ten at that point. She closed in on a group of battling cars, including the #16 Mercedes, the #89 EBM Aston Martin, and the #82 AF Corse Ferrari. A brief Virtual Safety Car was deployed when the #21 Car Collection Porsche spun into the gravel.

Taking advantage of the open pit lane, Iron Dames opted for an early fuel stop. However, the team lost time in the pits due to an LMP2 car blocking their pit stall. Martin rejoined in P21 just before the race returned to green, and she quickly moved up the order as chaos unfolded with more incidents in the LMP3 and GT3 categories.

Martin capitalized on the disruptions to climb to P14 and made a clean pass on the Tsunami RT Porsche of Johannes Zelger just before another Virtual Safety Car was deployed. As competitors pitted, Martin advanced into the top ten by the second hour. She then handed the car over to Sarah Bovy.

Bovy rejoined in P17 and immediately began working her way through the field. Running consistently in the 2:08 range, she gained three places within three laps. A major incident involving the #43 Inter Europol LMP3 and the #10 Manthey Porsche forced her to take evasive action, narrowly avoiding the crashing cars. She emerged unscathed and climbed to P12, with another caution period following shortly after.

As several LMGT3 cars pitted for fuel under the Virtual Safety Car, Bovy stayed out and advanced to P8. She made her own fuel stop a few laps later, maintaining a top-ten position as silver and gold-rated drivers took over for many competitors.

Bovy immediately returned to competitive lap times, setting the team’s first sub-2:08 time with a 2:07.648. Despite running a double stint on used tyres in demanding heat, she held her own against the stronger-rated drivers and briefly ran as high as P9 before dropping back to P11 as faster competitors approached.

Sarah had a solid stint, her first time in the middle portion of the race after having always run in the opening section. Despite being still officially bronze-rated until the end of the year, this race offered the perfect opportunity for her to collect valuable experience among silver and gold-rated drivers.

With one hour remaining, Bovy pitted on lap 68, handing the car over to Michelle Gatting.

Gatting rejoined in P15 and quickly began closing the gap to the cars ahead. She broke into the 2:07 range, improving the team’s best lap to a 2:07.316 - running quicker than most of the GT3 cars directly ahead.

The Dane overtook the Tsunami RT Porsche of Fabio Babini for P14 after a good battle then and climbed to P13 after an unscheduled stop for the leading AF Corse Ferrari.

Once ahead, Gatting significantly gained over silver-rated Brendon Leitch in the EBM Aston Martin, recovering over 10 seconds. Michelle kept closing in, now with the #77 Optimum McLaren of Tom Gamble as the closest rival, who couldn't quite keep up with Michelle's pace.

Gatting however ran out of time before the checkered flag and crossed the line in P13, as the team recovered eight places from the starting position, on the doorsteps of the top ten.

The Iron Dames demonstrated encouraging pace throughout the race; Martin delivered a positive opening stint, keeping the car clean during a chaotic first hour. Bovy completed a solid middle section on used tyres, managing nearly two hours in the intense Malaysian heat. Gatting was quick in the final stint, extracting the car's potential and securing a P13 finish that feels like a  a solid base to build on before the second race tomorrow.

The team in fact now looks ahead to Sunday’s second round, another four-hour contest that offers further opportunities from P20 on the grid.