Doriane Pin’s notable qualifying and opening race stint were memorable highlights for the Iron Dames’ first ever Petit Le Mans after contact early on hampered their competitive chances.

The #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 marked the end of their first ever IMSA WeatherTech (Endurance Cup) campaign this year with a difficult outcome.

Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Doriane Pin all drove the #85 GTD entry to finish 14th in a class of 16, three laps down on the winning #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG.

The female-run outfit recognised their highlight qualifying performance in the hands of WEC Prema Racing LMP2 driver Pin, who qualified second in GTD and third in the entire classification of Pros and GTDs, with a 1:23.795 lap time.

After the qualifying results were amended for others’ infractions, Pin started the race and asserted the fastest laps of the category during her opening stint, which saw her fight past the two Vasser Sullivan Lexus’ who she was racing around.

Afterwards, she quickly established a 10-second gap at the front of GTD.

“The Iron Dames put in a very solid weekend for their first Petit Le Mans, which unfortunately was not reflected in the final result due to a contact at the end of the second hour,” said Deborah Mayer, founder of the Iron Dames project.

“Nevertheless, the results of the weekend, and more generally of this first season in the highly competitive IMSA championship, are very encouraging.

“Doriane, Rahel and Michelle showed very strong driving and mental qualities and there is no doubt that they were up there with the best.

“Doriane’s performance in qualifying will remain a highlight, further confirming her speed, determination and high-speed progress.”

Little over two hours in, rear left contact with an LMP3 car damaged the corner on the #85, thus the suspension had to be repaired behind the wall.

Frey said: “It was a pleasure even if it was a hard first one for us. We have finished Road Atlanta with a lot of positive notes.

“We have been fast, all the three of us, throughout the race unfortunately a contact dropped us down eight laps.

“It’s a pity, I am very sorry for the entire team which did [a] great job but it is overall a good finish to the season and something we can build on for next one.”

Gatting added: “Of course, it is a very disappointing result for this race because Doriane did a great qualifying and a great first stint which put us in the lead with a big gap and gave us a lot of confidence.”

Pin said: “The result is not the one we expected after a strong qualifying yesterday and with a very good car we could aim for something great.

“For sure, the unfortunate contact didn’t help us but we tried to push until the end but it was not enough. I really enjoyed driving here.

“Road Atlanta is a fantastic track like most of the American ones and I hope to come back soon.”

The #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR GTE-Am crew are “still hungry” for their maiden World Endurance Championship victory, after finishing fourth at the 6 Hours of Fuji.

The female-driven team secured their fifth successive top-five finish at the penultimate round of the 2023 calendar, at Fuji Speedway.

Qualifying featured a close battle between Iron Dame Sarah Bovy, and Corvette Racing’s Ben Keating.

Eventually, it was the General Motors outfit who qualified on pole with a final flying lap of 1:33.338, narrowly beating Bovy’s pace of 1:33.373 which put them second on the grid.

After fighting with them during the opening stages of the race, and although the #33 Corvette C8.R served a drive-through penalty, the Iron Dames’ Porsche could not match the 30 extra minutes of fuel saving Keating had accomplished.

“We can be happy today with P4 and with everything we have done together,” said Bovy.

“Of course, the podium was very close, and we were hoping for it at some point.

“At the end we showed that the pink car was fighting at the front of the race, all race, like through all of the WEC season.

“For sure we will once more try to chase for that first victory in Bahrain which is a track that we like a lot.

“We will leave Fuji with a taste for a bit of redemption.”

With two pole positions this season – at Sebring and Monza – in addition to three second-placed qualifying performances, the team have yet to finish on the top step of a WEC GTE podium, but they did achieve the feat last year in the European Le Mans Series.

Rahel Frey added: “We can be quite happy with P4 in the end and with good points for the championship as we made the gap to P3 bigger.

“For sure we are still hungry for a win. We will try one more time in Bahrain.”

Michelle Gatting said: “We knew from last year that the Fuji race wouldn’t be the strongest one for the Porsche.

“Finishing P4 is a solid performance, and it means important points for the championship. 

“We look forward to going to Bahrain and to end our season on a high.” 

Their P4 finish moved the three drivers up to second place in the GTE-Am championship, with Corvette having already sealed the Teams’ championship at Monza, and will do so with the Drivers’ championship in Bahrain.

The 8 Hours of Bahrain will conclude the 2023 season – an endurance challenge with heat, humidity, and the desert dust pushing cars to the limit.

Reliability has been one of the strong points for the Iron Dames, and so Bahrain will require even more patience than the Fuji race.

It will mark their final chance this year to claim their first-ever WEC race victory, but will they be able to overcome the might of Corvette Racing, who do not seem to let their guard down as on-track rivals?

From joining the Iron Dames three years ago, to recalling her first 24 hour race experience, Motorsport Week spoke in depth with young female talent Doriane Pin.

The inception of the Iron Dames programme has rapidly fueled female representation in motorsport, especially within the sportscar discipline.

One of the youngest talents, 19-year-old Doriane Pin, has grown with them from a humble seat in a Renault Clio Cup car to competitively racing GTs and endurance prototypes across some of the world’s most famous circuits and gruelling races.

As for many racing drivers, her motorsport career began in the field of karting when she was just nine years old and competed in the national championship in 2016.

Up until 2019 when she won the female category, her statistics were respectively positive and soon enough Pin made her car racing debut when she entered the 2020 Clio Cup France.

Participating in the FIA Girls On Track programme propelled Pin into the limelight as a potential young female star, in what is still a male-dominated sport. However, unlike most sports, drivers of any gender can mix happily in a racing paddock.

The highest finish for a woman at Le Mans was Odette Siko’s fourth place in 1932, and this record demonstrated how Le Mans has always been at the forefront of having women compete on equal terms as everyone else.

“When I was in the Clio Cup in 2020, I was not expecting that three years later, I would be in an LMP2 in WEC,” she said, reflecting on her career trajectory.

“I’ve been really passionate about motorsport since I was very young. I wanted to be a racing driver.

“Even when I was in the Clio Cup, I was dreaming about the big categories like WEC.

“After the Clio Cup, I did a selection in Formula 4 and the FIA Girls On Track initiative.

“And thanks to that, I met the Iron Dames; they started my career.”

In February of 2021, she spent her first outing as an Iron Dames junior, after concluding the Clio Cup chapter where she scored a best race finish place of ninth.

Her first test with the Iron Dames, ahead of a debut Ferrari Challenge Europe campaign, took place at Mugello in Italy.

She describes her impressions of testing with the Iron Dames and the 488 Challenge car, further detailing a comparison to its GT3 and GTE siblings which she would go on to drive in other championships.

“It went well, the test was really good.

“I really appreciated the team and working with them. So yeah, I got the opportunity to drive in with them just three months after these tests, so it was quite quick and I didn’t expect that.

“Ferrari Challenge is closer to a road car, without too much downforce but more powerful than GT3 and GTE.

“It moves a lot, and it’s quite intense to drive, but it’s really fun,” she says in reference to the 30-minute sprint races that make up the Challenge Series.

“In GT3, you have a bit less downforce and a bit more power than GTE. But you have ABS and it makes a big difference.

“GTE is the best compromise because you have no ABS and more downforce.

“You feel the brakes more in the GTE as a result. It was good to drive those three in the same year, because it was good for adaptation.”

One of her main campaigns in 2021 was the ACO-run LMP3/GT3 feeder series, Michelin Le Mans Cup, a feeder series to the European Le Mans Series (ELMS). In the Cup, she claimed five podium finishes en route to fifth in the Drivers’ Standings — quite an achievement considering she was racing Renault Clios less than 12 months previously.

Pin was also selected to take part in an FIA Formula 3 test day later in November at Magny-Cours, alongside fellow Iron Dames racer Maya Weug and W Series drivers Nerea Martí and Irina Sidorkova.

The Frenchwoman is the current reigning champion of the Ferrari Challenge Europe Pro category after dominating the 2022 season. Across 14 races, Pin won nine from 10 pole positions, claiming the title with one race to spare.

Yet this was just one of her checkpoints in a successful 2022 campaign, as she immersed herself within the Iron Dames family.

An ELMS debut for the Iron Dames took place halfway through the season, replacing Rahel Frey, the teenager asserting her abilities with Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy, her more experienced teammates.

A team-best second place at Spa-Francorchamps saw her take the fastest GTE lap time during the four-hour race, before securing both hers and Iron Dames’ maiden ELMS victory at the season finale in Portimao.

This was not the only success at Spa. Earlier in the year, the team claimed a win in the Gold category at the historic 24 Hours of Spa endurance race — Pin’s first experience of its kind.

“I didn’t know what to expect, 24 hours is really tough.

“And I was driving with Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting, and Sarah Bovy.

“They did a lot of 24 hour races before, as had the team, so I had a chat with them on what to expect, what to do, how to increase energy recovery — to not spend and use too much energy before the race because it was quite intense.

“It’s all about teamwork in endurance, so everyone has to stay connected together.

“It was a beautiful week. You know the run plan is going to change 100 times during the race depending on the strategy, weather and car, so it’s quite different but I enjoyed it a lot.

“I drove quite a lot as well, during the night, my first time — it was quite fun. I really liked the night.

“We were not the fastest but we were really consistent without mistakes. No contact, no punctures, the car was at a perfect balance.

“We won and it was beautiful because when you’re driving 24 hours, you don’t really know what’s going to be the result until the end because anything can happen.”

The Iron Dames-entered Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo led the Gold Cup after just six hours, but Doriane shared some of her thoughts despite this.

“[From leading] quite early in the race, we were staying calm until the last hour.

“It was the longest one hour in my life!

“When Rahel passed the chequered flag, it was an amazing sensation.

“I think it was one of the best of my life. I slept for one hour only [during the race], with adrenaline and everything for the first time.

“Everyone was just so happy. And it’s a lot of work for the mechanics, for the engineer, 24 hours in front of the screen.

“I think we deserved this victory, it was a really good memory.”

A growth of knowledge, understanding and passion had flourished with her maiden outings at the Iron Dames. The endurance discipline, in comparison with sprint races, brought a noticeable introduction in the way a car’s handling changed throughout due to track conditions, wear on components, such as the brakes, and tyre management.

She described the Iron Dames as an all-female motorsport project, led by Deborah Mayer, and how she values it in recognition of the opportunities it has given for her career.

“It is really good because it brings more women into motorsport, and we need it because it’s one of the only sports where we can be mixed — not only drivers, but also engineers, team managers, mechanics and everything.

“If I can help and inspire a lot of younger girls, to motivate them to start, it is the best thing that I can do. And I try to give advice and when they text me on social media, or when I see them on track to support us.

“I want to push them to start the sport, because it’s a beautiful sport.

“If you want to reach your dream, you have to do what you love, and keep fighting until you reach it.”

In 2023, alongside a challenging debut at the IMSA 24 Hours of Daytona, Pin made her first step into endurance prototypes with Prema Racing and their LMP2 World Endurance Championship campaign.

At the 2022 WEC Bahrain Rookie Test, she drove the title-winning JOTA LMP2 for the first time. Some months afterwards, Prema announced she would partner Daniil Kvyat and Mirko Bortolotti in one of the Italian team’s Oreca 07-Gibsons.

Four races into her WEC campaign with Prema, Pin has thoroughly enjoyed the exuberance of LMP2 racing and says the car is substantially more exciting to drive compared to the GTs she had become accustomed to in endurance racing.

“This year, driving with Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvyat, they have a lot of experience and they are official Lamborghini LMDh drivers.

“So it’s really good to be with them and to learn from them.”

It was a challenging Centenary Le Mans for the trio in June, with dramatic wet weather conditions and an unfortunate crash by Kvyat which marked a retirement for the team.

If the Spa 24 a year ago represented a high for Doriane, then her Le Mans debut was an alternative turn of circumstances to process.

“It can happen you know, it’s a 24 hour race [and] you’re fighting for the win,” she reconsolidated.

“[The crash] was in the night condition, it was changing a lot.

“I drove two hours beforehand [and] I was under a safety car for almost two hours because it was undrivable.

“It was raining a lot, but we were in slick tyres.

“[Kvyat] lost the car in Porsche Curves at [roughly] midnight.

“For sure, we were all sad and disappointed, because it was the end.

“We are always driving as fast as possible, doing the best possible job to give the car back to our teammates, and Danil was doing a really good job until that point.

“The most important thing was that he was okay, because it was a big crash. I hope we will have more opportunities in the future.”

Regardless of the DNF result, she expressed how special it felt to drive an Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 car around the historic Circuit de la Sarthe, stating how “the track is fit for prototypes”.

At the 1000 Miles of Sebring season-opener, she managed to score a podium in her debut race, and was denied a potential win in Portimao after the timing of a safety car approaching the end of the race.

Moreover, with the imminent, full-season withdrawal of the LMP2 category after the end of the season, her thoughts are solely focused on the final two races at Fuji and Bahrain before engaging in formal contract negotiations.

During August, her WEC focus will remain on visiting the workshop and running virtual mileage on the simulator, ahead of a maiden trip to the Fuji Speedway circuit.

Stateside, after the 6 Hours of the Glen thriller in June, the Petit Le Mans in October will see Pin’s inaugural IMSA endurance campaign come to a close.

Looking at the wider picture, at just 19 years of age, Pin’s rapid rise in a relatively short amount of time has seen her become a world-renowned star in the making.

Pin’s rapid rise is reflected in the Iron Dames own increase in popularity, since the program’s inception in 2018. The French teenager is just one example of female talent earning its rightful place within the ever-changing sphere of sportscar racing, a discipline where both the driver and team make the difference.

The Super Sebring event, to be held in just under a fortnight’s time at the legendary Floridian race track, will be the biggest challenge the Iron Dames have ever faced, driver Michelle Gatting told MotorsportWeek.com.

The week will comprise of the 1000 Miles of Sebring, the opening round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship, on Friday 17th March, followed by the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the next day. The Iron Dames crew will be racing in both events, one year after racing at Sebring for the first time in the 2022 WEC season.

“[Super Sebring] will without doubt be the biggest challenge that we as Iron Dames has ever faced,” she said, “but I’m happy and confident together with Sarah, Rahel and the rest of the team that we will manage to do well and support each other. In the end what matters for us is to have a good result in both championships,” the Dane added.

The trio, comprised of Gatting, Sarah Bovy, and Rahal Frey, will be racing the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 in IMSA, and the Porsche 911 RSR-19 in the WEC race.

This means they will be continually switching between two cars all week, with only short gaps between free practice sessions for the respective championships — not to mention two endurance races in two days.

“Since the Porsche 911 RSR-19 GTE and the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 are fundamentally two different cars, it will not be easy to participate in FIA WEC and in IMSA at the same time on the same weekend,” said Frey. 

She continued, “It’s difficult to say how quickly we can adapt to the cars as different driving styles are needed. We will also reach our physical limits because there are hardly any breaks. All what comes afterwards in the season will only be easier as we continue to learn and grow.”

Furthermore, the two cars aren’t even the same class — the Porsche runs to the GTE ruleset in WEC, while IMSA runs GT3-regulation cars in its GTD class. 

“I believe SuperSebring will be one of the most demanding race weeks of my career to date,” Bovy said.

“Jumping out of the FIA WEC Porsche 911 RSR-19 GTE car and diving into our IMSA Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 during all of the sessions, as well as working with two different teams of engineers and mechanics will be a big challenge.

“Especially having an 8H FIA WEC race on the Friday before tackling the 12H IMSA race on the Saturday with only a short night’s sleep – it is going to be exhausting,” she added.

As you’d expect, though, all three are excited about the prospect and confident in not just their own abilities, but each others’ too.

“But I know we will have great support from our team, I know together with Rahel and Michelle we will be focused and efficient,” Bovy concluded.

“We have what it takes to come out of that challenging week with a smile on our face. Truth is, I know it’s going to be tough, but I’m super excited!”

Lamborghini will partner with GT outfit Iron Lynx to run its forthcoming prototype campaigns in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship in 2024.

The Italian team, founded by former driver Andrea Piccini, has entered the top flight of sportscar racing very quickly over the last few years.

It’s competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship since 2020, using the Ferrari 488 GTE EVO. This year it ran two cars in the series, plus two more at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This included the ‘Iron Dames’ car, an all-female driving squad crewed by Michelle Gatting, Sarah Bovy, Christina Nielsen and Doriane Pin throughout the season.

It has never run cars in the US, though, but will run Lamborghini’s LMDh campaign in the IMSA GTP class in 2024, alongside the WEC campaign. The full driving crew has so far not been announced, although Lamborghini factory drivers Mirko Bortolotti and Andrea Caldarelli have already been announced for the programme.

The partnership will start as early as next year, with Iron Lynx running a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, before a full season in the IMSA championship. In Europe, it will compete in the GT World Challenge Endurance Cup, with another magenta-coloured car for the Iron Dames squad.

Although an Italian team, Iron Lynx is owned by Swiss company DC Racing Solutions, headed by Debroah Mayer. The Lamborghini programme will also receive engineering support from well-known Italian race team Prema.

Mayer said: “I am really pleased that we can share the news about the partnership between Iron Lynx and Lamborghini, which marks a significant milestone for our group.

“Our championship-winning racing pedigree, combined with the successful motorsport heritage of Lamborghini, will create the perfect mix to deliver a highly competitive performance on track. I am looking forward to this next chapter.”

Meanwhile, Giorgio Sanna, Lamborghini Head of Motorsport, said: “I am extremely proud of the partnership with Iron Lynx.

“It is a team as young as Lamborghini Squadra Corse, which like us, has grown exponentially over the years and has become a protagonist in GT racing around the world after making its debut with us in Super Trofeo in 2018. Now, we find ourselves together again and will strive to be stronger and more mature and set great goals. 

“From GT programmes to LMDh, we have combined the excellence of three Italian organisations, while boasting a technical partnership with PREMA Engineering through Iron Lynx, with whom it is our duty to achieve great results.”

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the biggest races in the world. For the second year running, the French endurance classic will have two all-female squads paving the way and contesting the twice-around-the-clock enduro.

GTE Am is shaping up to be an intense battle with no less than 23 cars taking part. One of them is the #85 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, entered by the Iron Lynx operation.

Dubbed the ‘Iron Dames’, the team is taking part in the race for the third year in a row, but there is one notable difference in the driver line-up as Belgian Sarah Bovy makes her Le Mans debut alongside Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey, who both contested the previous two editions.

That means Frey was also there during the somewhat bizarre 2020 edition, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the famous race behind closed doors for the first time ever.

“It’s always good to be back in Le Mans,” Frey told MotorsportWeek.com. “We are really happy about that fact and we also very happy to have some spectators back but it’s still the same atmosphere. I mean, the paddock it’s still a known bubble and we don’t have the drivers parade yet and so on.

“But nevertheless, we are happy to race. We feel ready to race we we have a strong lineup, we have a strong core, and we believe we can do something great.”

Bovy, 32, makes her Le Mans debut with the squad this weekend. The Belgian has been part of a revolving cast of drivers for the #85 Ferrari. The team started the season with Frey, Katherine Legge and Manuela Gostner.

Gatting then replaced Legge starting at round two at Portimao, before Bovy was inserted in place of Gostner at Monza and now joins the team at Le Mans.

Although new to Le Mans, she is not a new name to endurance racing. Along with a few starts in the W Series, she has previously raced various GT3 cars in what is now the GT World Challenge Europe.

“I’ve been looking up a lot to Rahel and Michelle before my arrival in the team, but also especially since I’m in,” Bovy spoke of her team-mates. “It’s a very specific car to drive, it’s a very specific race to do. So for sure in terms of guidance, I couldn’t do it without their help. That’s 100% certain.”

“Now, it’s true that I had already quite a little bit of endurance experience, it’s not my first 24 hour race, even if it’s the first 24 hours of Le Mans. So it’s good that I have at least a little bit of long race experience, I think it’s going to be very helpful to manage the race properly.”

“But in terms of specifics to Le Mans, for sure. It’s very good to be surrounded by people who have done it already.”

At this point in the interview, Frey takes charge and gives more background about Bovy’s role and arrival at the team.

“What I’d like to mention is – we are really impressed by Sarah so far,” she said. “And we really wanted to give her the chance to do this 24 hour race with us.”

“Basically, she introduced herself to us. She said ‘Do you need some some more support? I’m here and I can jump into a plane like tomorrow’, and this is what she did. I really liked that story. Because basically, this is what what we stand for. Our slogan is ‘We are women driven by dreams’.

“Sarah had a dream to join us. She chased that dream, she worked hard for it, she really called us up. Basically this is something we support a lot and this is also the message we want to spread into the world: keep chasing your dreams and the reality hopefully, will pay off then, that the dream comes true.”

Bovy makes her Le Mans debut in an unusual environment, as this is the first Le Mans since the pandemic started where fans will be back in attendance. It is not yet the full package, with a mere 50.000 fans as opposed to the 250.000 spectators that typically make the pilgrimage to the track under normal circumstances.

According to Bovy, this ‘in between’ version of the event is beneficial to her making her debut.

“I actually think that this is a good year to have a rookie year at Le Mans, because it’s a little bit in between. We have a bit more time to prepare ourselves for the big race.”

“Indeed, we don’t have the parade and it’s very sad, because normally I’m here each year, not as a racing driver, but I follow it very closely. I know the audience, I know how it is and I know also how exhausting it can be for the drivers.”

“So I have the feeling that with everything that happened for me in the last few months, it’s a good thing that I can take it maybe a little bit easier than a normal year. And then hopefully, if I can get back here in the coming years, I hope that I will have a full experience.”

Bovy’s comments echo those made by somebody who made her Le Mans debut last year: Richard Mille Racing Team’s Beitske Visser.

The Dutch racer, also part of the W Series in 2019, is back at Le Mans for her second consecutive year as part of the squad for the #1 Richard Mille Racing Team ORECA 07-Gibson. She shares the car with Tatiana Calderon and Sophia Floersch.

Visser spoke about her experiences during last year’s race earlier in the week, saying that the compressed schedule without fans allowed her to focus on the task at hand better.

“I didn’t have the experience with all the fans but I think on one way it was maybe a bit easier, because it was the first time here for us,” she said. “We had so many things to learn in a short time that we could just focus on the driving part. But now seeing the fans again this year, it’s a lot cooler.”

Visser’s debut in 2020 was something of a last-minute arrangement, as she was not originally intended to race with the team at Le Mans. Instead, she was inserted into the line-up when Katherine Legge sustained injuries from a crash at Paul Ricard.

When asked if she was more prepared for the race now compared to her rookie outing in 2020, Visser replied:

“Definitely. Because last year, I only came in halfway through the season and I was joining the team last year because I was stepping in for another driver and now I’m fully there since the beginning of the year so that makes things a lot easier in preparation for me as well.”

Like the Iron Dames, Visser is part of a full-season World Endurance Championship effort with Floersch and Calderon.

“It’s definitely good to have good team work between the three of us,” Visser spoke of her team-mates. “The fact that I am now there fully makes that easier as well. We just have to work together.”

“It’s a bit different this year with less power and different tyres so there is a lot of new things we still have to learn. But it’s definitely a much better preparation than last year.”

Over at Iron Lynx, the team is well prepared for its third consecutive assault on the race in GTE Am. The team is feeling confident, which reflects in the targets that Frey says the team is setting.

“We got a ninth place now two years in a row. The first year we came to Le Mans, we definitely said ‘first we want to finish the race.'”

“But we grew quickly. We understood very well what it’s all about. With the experience we got the last two years we really believe that we can do well. Now, we feel ready and basically, we want to be better as the last two years.”

“We would say that we want to reach the top five. The competition this year, it’s very high. But Sarah joining us, the practice session went well. We have to believe in us. And we definitely want to go for the top five.”

“We had two years without doing any mistakes,” she continued. “So we already proved that we can stay focused throughout the 24 hours, that we are able not to do mistakes.

“The last two years, we were lacking a little bit of speed, I would say, from driver’s side. So far from the first practice session we felt somehow that we are able to do better than the last two years. And this is something we really want to prove.”