Marta García escapes horror crash in otherwise promising Le Mans Cup debut
- RACERS
- 5 hours ago
- 5 min read
It had been an overwhelmingly positive debut for the new Iron Dames pairing in the Le Mans Cup, with Vanina Ickx impressing in her return and Garcia leading the GT3 race. While the accident brought it all to an unfortunate and frightening end — ultimately the only thing that matters is Marta Garcia’s well-being and safe recovery.
Marta Garcia's highly promising debut in the Michelin Le Mans Cup was cut short by a monster accident while leading the 2-hour season opener at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, when contact from another car sent the #85 Iron Dames Porsche into the barriers at high speed.
Garcia, who shares the car with Vanina Ickx, was able to exit the vehicle under her own power but was later admitted to hospital for precautionary checks given the severity of the impact. Fortunately, the Spaniard is recovering well and has been cleared of major injuries.
Up to that point, it had been a remarkable debut for the new Iron Dames duo in the Michelin Le Mans Cup squad, which features 2023 F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia teaming up with the vastly experienced Vanina Ickx — returning to competition after last racing at top-level endurance in 2011.
The 49-year-old Belgian, daughter of F1 and Le Mans legend Jacky Ickx, has competed in seven editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, including in the LMP1 top class.
Returning to competition as a bronze-rated driver, the new Iron Dames lineup blends Ickx’s experience with Garcia’s rising talent, as the Spaniard makes the step up from single-seaters after competing in FRECA in 2024. Garcia had made her first sportscar appearances at the end of 2023, entering the final two rounds of the Ligier European Series. There, she won on her debut weekend at Spa-Francorchamps and returned to the top step in Portimão.
Now embarking on a new challenge aboard the Porsche 911 GT3 R operated by Proton Huber Competition, Garcia and Ickx take over from Karen Gaillard and Célia Martin, who have moved up respectively to Porsche Carrera Cup France and the main Iron Dames squads in ELMS and WEC — all under the banner of the pioneering all-female team.
After the Prologue at Barcelona, the duo immediately showed strong progression in the official practice sessions. Garcia was third fastest in FP1, just four-tenths off the GT3 class pace-setter, the #95 Ebimotors Porsche. In the bronze session, Vanina Ickx gained valuable seat time and posted the sixth fastest lap. In FP2, the #85 Porsche once again narrowly missed the top three in the hands of Garcia, who showed consistent improvement with each session in her official GT3 race debut, also under the coaching of Rahel Frey.
On Saturday morning, Vanina Ickx took on her first qualifying session at this level in several years. As the designated bronze driver, she gradually brought the tyres into the optimal window, and her first representative lap — a 1:45.019 — put her third. With times quickly falling, she improved to a 1:44.644, which ultimately secured sixth on the grid in the GT3 class — one second off pole, set by the Motopark Mercedes of Neumann.
In the season’s first 2-hour race, with a packed 42-car field, 34 LMP3s and 8 GT3s, Vanina Ickx took the start. A slight moment on the formation lap to avoid a slowing car ahead caused no damage.
At turn 1, overall pole-sitter Léna Bühler was tagged into a spin, triggering chaos and multiple contacts. A safety car was immediately deployed. Vanina Ickx navigated the opening lap cleanly and moved up to third in GT3 with a clever and composed drive.
Following the restart after 15 minutes, Ickx held her position well, staying within a second of Cuhadaroglu and maintaining a safe gap to Mayola’s #23 Biogas Motorsport Ferrari behind. On lap 11, she overtook the Kessel Racing Ferrari of Murat Cuhadaroglu for second place and closed to within five seconds of the lead — at that point held by Alessandro Cozzi.
While Cozzi extended his lead over the following laps, Ickx remained comfortably in second. Meanwhile, an incident involving Heiko Neumann and Oscar Tunjo’s #70 Gebhardt Duqueine left the Mercedes AMG GT3 stranded in the gravel at Turn 4, triggering a caution period.
On lap 24, as the pit window opened under caution, most teams pitted. Vanina Ickx completed a brilliant first stint and handed the #85 Porsche over to Marta Garcia from second in GT3.
After the pit stops, Garcia rejoined in the class lead — in a perfectly timed strategy move by the team. She immediately came under pressure from Eliseo Donno, though a few LMP3 cars between them gave her some buffer.
A few laps later, disaster struck: on the back straight, the #51 AF Corse Ferrari tapped the rear of the Iron Dames Porsche, sending it violently into the barriers. The car bounced back onto the track and caught fire in a terrifying crash. The race was immediately red-flagged.
Garcia was quickly attended to by marshals, who helped her out of the car while it was still burning. She was initially treated at the circuit medical center, then transported to the Hospital General de Catalunya at Quirón for precautionary checks. The impact measured 21G.
She spent the night under observation but was fortunately not seriously injured.
"I experienced one of the toughest moments in my career", Marta Garcia wrote a day after the massive accident. "The car caught fire, and although I managed to get out by myself, I inhaled some smoke and felt dizzy afterwards", she explained.
"I couldn’t open my door because it was stuck from the impact, and I started panicking as more and more smoke was coming into the car… until the marshals broke the co-driver’s door and got me out. I’m so thankful to them for reacting so quickly and for the job they did."
"I spent the night in the hospital and will probably stay one more night just as a precaution", she continued. "All scans came back clear, but I’m still feeling shaken and not quite back to normal yet.
I will take some time to rest properly and come back racing soon", she concluded.
"A huge thank you to the trackside medical team, the marshals, the rescue crew, and everyone at Hospital General de Catalunya at Quirón for taking such good care of me — and to everyone who’s sent me messages of support. I really appreciate it. And also the team Huber Racing and Iron Dames for the support they gave me."
It had been an overwhelmingly positive debut up to that point for the new Iron Dames pairing in the Le Mans Cup, with Vanina Ickx impressing in her return and Garcia leading the GT3 race. The accident brought it all to an unfortunate and frightening end — but ultimately, the only thing that matters is Marta’s well-being and safe recovery.
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