Iron Dames secure first points of the WEC season at 6H of Imola
- RACERS
- 3 hours ago
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"First points in the championship, we take them, it's a good step in the right direction." – Iron Dames scored their first points of the 2025 FIA WEC season with a solid recovery from an early penalty at the 6H of Imola, finishing eighth in the LMGT3 class after a determined run by Célia Martin, Rahel Frey, and Michelle Gatting.
Iron Dames scored their first points of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season with a solid recovery at the 6 Hours of Imola, finishing eighth in the LMGT3 class after a determined run by Célia Martin, Rahel Frey, and Michelle Gatting.
Starting 14th on the grid after just missing out on her first Hyperpole appearance, Célia Martin had a strong opening stint and was showing solid pace when a contact resulted in a drive-through penalty. Despite the setback, Martin kept the team in contention with strong laps, before Rahel Frey delivered a particularly consistent middle stint as the #85 Porsche moved back into the top ten. After a few neutralizations, Michelle Gatting brought the car home in P8, recovering more positions in a strategic final hour.
The all-female team arrived at Imola off the back of a race win in the European Le Mans Series at Barcelona and were looking to bounce back from a difficult WEC season opener in Qatar. Frey returned to the line-up for Imola in place of Sarah Bovy, who has taken over Silver-rated duties in ELMS this year, and joined the championship’s Bronze driver Martin and Gold-rated Gatting.
Imola marked a home race for Iron Dames, with the team's workshop not far from Autodromo Enzo and Dino Ferrari – and brought back strong memories of last year’s victory in ELMS.
And already from Free Practice, the team immediately showed progress compared to Qatar, where an unfavourable BoP had made for a challenging race for Porsche. Michelle Gatting set a 1:44.047 in FP1 to go eighth in class, as the team – operated by Manthey Racing in WEC – continued to work on the car and, while there was still some pace to unlock, it was immediately clear that the Porsche 911 GT3 R was in a much better position than at the season opener. The trend continued on Saturday morning in FP3, where despite a brief spin in the opening stages, the #85 car ran smoothly and in the hands of Michelle Gatting clocked a 1:44.376.
As the Bronze-rated driver, Célia Martin was tasked with qualifying on Saturday afternoon.The French driver was one of the last to head out on track; the #46 WTR BMW, with Ahmad Al Harthy at the wheel, went to the top early on, with François Heriau then moving into second place.
Times began to improve in the final stages; Darren Leung jumped up to second before Heriau reclaimed the position shortly after. Martin improved to P10 during her first flying laps, but with a few minutes remaining, further improvements came in from the rest of the field. On her final attempt, Martin found seven tenths and jumped to P11—just barely missing out on Hyperpole, the session reserved for the top ten drivers advancing to the final session to battle for pole position.
She couldn’t improve again and ended the session with a 1:44.440—just over a tenth of a second away from the Hyperpole cut-off. As more cars improved in the final moments, Martin ultimately had to settle for P14.
Despite the cloudy day at Imola, the atmosphere was electric, with fans flocking to the Italian circuit to witness the new golden era of sportscar racing, in a big day for Italian motorsport.
Starting from 14th in the LMGT3 class, Célia Martin took the opening stint at the wheel of the #85 Iron Dames Porsche. As the lights went out at 1 p.m. local time, Martin held position, settling behind the #33 TF Sport Corvette and the #59 United Autosports McLaren. The entire GT3 pack ran nose-to-tail in incredibly close racing. Martin held her own in several elbows-out battles, ultimately passing Cottingham in the #59 McLaren to move up to P13.
Ahmad Al Harthy led the LMGT3 class in the pole-sitting #46 WRT BMW, followed by Heriau in the Vista AF Corse Ferrari and Umbrarescu in the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus. Martin, running steadily and consistently in the 1:45 range, began to navigate lapped traffic from the hypercars—no easy feat on such a narrow track.
On lap 18, she had a strong run on Keating’s Corvette and went for a move into Turn 1. Unfortunately, contact ensued, and Keating spun around. Martin, however, continued without damages, still in P13. A few moments later, the first Full Course Yellow was deployed as marshals cleared gravel from the circuit.
The contact however resulted in a drive-through penalty for the Iron Dames.
When the race resumed, Martin served her penalty and rejoined in P17 in class. A new race neutralization would now be needed to regain lost ground.
Just before the 50-minute mark, Martin pitted for the first time from P17 and held her position after the pit cycle. Staying in the car, she rejoined about four seconds behind the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes and around 20 seconds from the rest of the LMGT3 field.
While some teams moved to their platinum-rated drivers for the second stint, Martin stayed in the car and delivered a string of top-8-worthy laps, consistently in the 1:46s.
When the #88 Proton Porsche made an unscheduled stop following contact with the #54 Ferrari, Martin moved up to P16 and began chasing Keating’s Corvette again, closing in rapidly.
On lap 41, she was passed by gold-rated Cairoli in the Iron Lynx Mercedes, but regained the position by overtaking DeBoer’s Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin on lap 45. With Flohr receiving a 10-second penalty, Martin gained another opportunity to close the gap and eventually overtook him on track.
The safety car eventually came at the 1-hour 30-minute mark, triggered by a heavy crash at Rivazza when Ian James was spun into the barriers by Yasser Shahin during the run into the final corners. James' Heart of Racing Aston Martin was heavily damaged, but he walked away unharmed.
Following the safety car procedure, the race resumed with 4 hours and 15 minutes remaining.
Martin passed Keating on the restart and completed a strong double stint. Despite the early setback, she showed solid pace throughout and handed over to Rahel Frey on lap 59, with the Iron Dames in P14.
Frey settled into her rhythm, chasing Iron Lynx’s Christian Ried. Another FCY was called after a collision between the #7 Toyota and the #20 BMW hypercar left debris on the main straight.
Once the race resumed, Frey passed the #61 Mercedes to move into P13 at the two-hour mark. She then set the car’s best lap so far with a 1:44.604 and continued improving with a consistent pace in the 1:44s and 1:45s, trying to break away from Castellacci’s #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari.
Nearly two seconds per lap faster, Frey closed in on Sebastian Baud’s United Autosports McLaren. Castellacci also remained close, waiting for an opportunity. Frey ultimately made the move stick on Baud, advancing to P12.
On lap 85, Frey brought the #85 Porsche in for another stop and stayed behind the wheel. At the end of the pit cycle, she rejoined in P13, but the #59 McLaren had jumped ahead, prompting another chase.
Frey cleared Baud again on lap 91 to reclaim P12 and quickly returned to the 1:45s pace, finally opening a gap to the Ferrari behind.
She then set her sights on the #33 Corvette: though running consistently, she trailed by 20 seconds.
Meanwhil, clouds loomed overhead as the race reached its halfway point, threatening rain.
When the #87 Lexus received a 25-second stop-and-go penalty for a pit stop infringement, Frey advanced to P11. She dipped back into the 1:44s but had to remain aware of Castellacci’s Ferrari closing in again.
On lap 113, Iron Dames pitted for the fifth time: Frey remained in the car, rejoining P12 with 2 hours and 22 minutes to go. Moments later, Farfus spun in the #31 BMW, and Frey moved back into P11.
The battle for the top ten resumed, with the Vista Ferrari just ahead.
Drama unfolded at the front when Valentino Rossi’s #46 BMW collided with Simon Mann’s #21 Vista Ferrari, sending the latter into the gravel and triggering a Virtual Safety Car. As light rain began to fall, Frey gained another position. Now in tenth, Frey pitted under caution and Michelle Gatting took over the wheel with just over 2 hours remaining, rejoining in P11 as the safety car bunched up the field.
Gatting immediately went on the attack. Running in the 1:45s, she faced pressure from Davide Rigon in the #54 Ferrari but responded with laps of 1:44.495 and 1:44.584, staying within a second of Daniel Juncadella’s Corvette. When the #77 Proton Ford and #95 McLaren received drive-through penalties for VSC infractions, Gatting climbed to P8.
More opportunities emerged as the leading WRT BMW received a penalty for causing the earlier collision. With Kelvin van der Linde now driving, the #46 BMW rejoined in P9, just behind Gatting and Rigon. When Schmid pitted, the Iron Dames cycled up to sixth, but with Rigon and van der Linde right on Gatting’s tail.
On lap 142, van der Linde passed Rigon and then pressured Gatting. The trio went three-wide down the main straight, with van der Linde coming out ahead. Rigon capitalized on the battle to sneak past Gatting, dropping her to P8.
Shortly after, Esteban Masson pitted, promoting Gatting back to P7. She then stopped on lap 148—earlier than rivals—which meant another stop would be required. After the pit cycle, Gatting rejoined behind Rigon but leapfrogged Juncadella to settle into P8 with an hour to go.
Michelle had now broken the 1:44 barrier and began chasing the other TF Sport Corvette driven by Charlie Eastwood, under two seconds ahead. The gap steadily decreased, and Gatting pitted for the final time on lap 165.
Dropping to P12 after the stop, she rejoined as other teams also pitted and soon climbed back into the top ten. By lap 177, Gatting was up to eighth again, though 10 seconds behind the two TF Sport cars as the race entered its final 15 minutes.
Ben Barker’s Proton Ford and Marino Sato’s McLaren closed in during the final laps, but Gatting responded with strong, consistent pace and kept the gap stable with just 3 minutes to go.
After six hours of hard-fought racing, Michelle Gatting crossed the line in eighth place in LMGT3, scoring Iron Dames’ first top ten of the 2025 FIA WEC season.
While a better result was probably left on the table, all three drivers delivered consistent stints, maximizing what they could after losing track position early in the race on a circuit where recovery is notoriously difficult.
“So, P8, first points in the championship”, Rahel Frey commented after the race. “we take them, it's a good step in the right direction. Nevertheless, the sister car has won the race, so congratulations to them. It’s a big achievement, showing also the potential of the team, of the car. Also it means that we have simply done too many mistakes.”
“And mistakes we cannot do on this level of the championship”, she added. “So, that's something we have to work on. And we will be back stronger in Spa.”
“Imola is always emotional, as we know. It was a pleasure, but as I said, no more mistakes – and then we will fight back.”
Nevertheless, it was a strong showing for the all-female team, who bounced back from a tough Qatar season opener – now with a car able to compete at the front. They will now head to Spa-Francorchamps with growing confidence, encouraged by the pace that could see them potentially contend for a top-five finish. The next round is scheduled for 10 May in the Ardennes for the 6 Hours of Spa.