ELMS: Iron Dames score P9, Gatting wins Wingfoot Award in Imola
- RACERS
- Jul 7
- 5 min read
Iron Dames endured a challenging 4 Hours of Imola in the European Le Mans Series, recovering from an early incident to lead the LMGT3 class before a spin in challenging weather conditions dropped them to ninth, despite a heroic comeback drive by Michelle Gatting on her return from injury that gained her the Goodyear Wingfoot Award.
The 4 Hours of Imola, third round of the European Le Mans Series, proved a challenging one for the Iron Dames, who entered the weekend as LMGT3 championship leaders. After an action-packed race that saw the #85 Porsche recover from an early incident to lead, changeable weather added another layer of difficulty, and a spin into the gravel eventually dropped them to a ninth-place finish.
Nevertheless, the all-female team could once again count on their gold-rated driver Michelle Gatting, returning from injury just over two weeks after a pit stop practice accident during the Le Mans collective test left her with a broken foot, forcing her to miss the endurance classic.
Despite still on crutches, Gatting returned to the cockpit at Imola and delivered an impressive final stint, earning her the Goodyear Wingfoot Award for the most valuable driver in the LMGT3 class—testament to the determination and fighting spirit that define the Iron Dames project.
At the midway point of the ELMS calendar, Iron Dames arrived at Imola with a win at the season opener in Barcelona and maintained the championship lead after Le Castellet, where another mixed-weather race shuffled the order but still yielded valuable points with a seventh-place finish.
The third round at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari marked a return to the circuit where the team had claimed a spectacular victory in 2024. They aimed to continue their strong ELMS campaign—also with the added challenge of success ballast.
Alongside the returning Gatting, Célia Martin delivered a remarkable qualifying effort, extracting the maximum from the package and leading the car into the top positions with a strong opening stint. Sarah Bovy ran the middle portion of the race, although she inherited the car already two laps down.
The team built pace progressively through practice sessions, working on setup and optimization for the BoP and success ballast that has hindered the Porsche in the past two rounds. Martin was third fastest in the Bronze Collective Test on Friday, preparing for qualifying, while Gatting gradually pushed through the her injury to get back up to speed.
Dark clouds loomed as qualifying began on Saturday afternoon. Iron Dames fielded Célia Martin as their Bronze-rated driver and the Frenchwoman went purple in the second sector, posting a 1:44.505, just one tenth off the #59 Aston Martin of Clément Mateu. She pitted for fresh tyres, but a red flag was soon deployed after the #50 Ferrari of Toledo went into the gravel at Piratella.
With six minutes remaining, the session resumed: Martin Berry led the LMGT3 class in the Iron Lynx Mercedes ahead of the final flying laps. Martin improved her first sector, stayed within thousandths in sector two, and posted a strong final sector—but it wasn’t quite enough for a front row start. The Iron Dames Porsche would line up P3 in class.
Under dry but overcast conditions, the 4 Hours of Imola got underway on Sunday at noon, with Iron Dames starting P3 and Célia Martin behind the wheel.
Chaos struck early as several LMP3 cars went off. LMGT3 class leader Martin Berry was caught in traffic, allowing Martin to move into second.
Recovering from last on the grid, Riccardo Agostini—the only gold-rated driver in the opening stint—lunged into Variante Alta and collided with Martin, spinning the Iron Dames Porsche and dropping her to sixth. Agostini later received a 10-second penalty for causing the incident.
Shortly after, Charles Samani went off in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari but rejoined. The #23 McLaren of Michael Birch then got stuck in the gravel at Rivazza, triggering the first Full Course Yellow just 15 minutes in.
Célia however fought back and recovered to fourth with strong pace before the race went back to green. She was significantly quicker than the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Duncan Cameron and made a clean move into Tosa to reclaim third—second among Bronze drivers.
Thirty minutes into the race, a major crash eliminated four cars: the GR Racing Ferrari of Wainwright collided with the Iron Lynx Mercedes of Berry and the Kessel Racing Ferrari of Takeshi Kimura, before the #28 IDEC Sport LMP2 Oreca of Paul Lafargue struck them at speed. Debris scattered everywhere, and the Safety Car was deployed, followed by a red flag.
After a delay, the race resumed behind the Safety Car with 3h16m to go, as the time lost by the interruption was addad back to the clock. Following pit stops, Martin emerged in the lead thanks to a superb stop by the team.
At the restart, Martin extended her lead over the #92 TF Sport Corvette of Hiroshi Koizumi. Despite losing some time in LMP3 traffic, she maintained a 5-second gap when rain began to fall lightly on parts of the circuit.
As the rain intensified and Sarah Bovy was preparing to take over, Martin went deep at the Villeneuve chicane and spun into the gravel. The car needed assistance to rejoin, losing a lap and dropping to ninth in class. A Full Course Yellow was triggered.
Martin stayed in the car and recovered to P8 before pitting on lap 56 to hand over to Bovy. The team gambled on wet tyres as the rain intensified—but the gamble didn’t pay off; Bovy had to pit again soon after to switch back to slicks.
Despite the challenging conditions, Bovy set the car’s fastest lap—a 1:45.547 on lap 73—but was now two laps down.
With one hour remaining, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed when the #68 M Racing LMP3 Ligier of Quentin Antonel suffered a tyre blowout and left carbon debris on track.
Iron Dames pitted under caution and completed their final driver change, with Michelle Gatting taking the wheel for the final stint in P8. The VSC turned into a full Safety Car.
Despite a 26-second gap to the car ahead, Gatting was on a mission. She soon set a 1:44.3—lowering the team’s benchmark and delivering a stunning drive on a broken foot.
Michelle moved into P7 as the #59 Aston Martin pitted, but Iron Dames were handed a 10-second penalty for a Full Course Yellow infringement.
Gatting continued her heroic effort amid further cautions caused by LMP3 and LMP2 incidents. In the final 15 minutes, Hasse Clot began to close in, but Gatting held firm.
At the chequered flag, Gatting crossed the line in seventh, securing the Goodyear Wingfoot Award for her outstanding performance. However, the time penalty dropped the #85 Porsche to ninth—still scoring points toward the championship.
“A difficult race at Imola", said Gatting. "It was looking very good from the start, but then some mistakes happened and we lost the lead that Célia built up. She did extremely well, but we lost a lot of points towards the championship. But mistakes happen."
"We kept cool, Sarah got into the car in tricky conditions, and she did everything that she could and so did I, but in the end, there wasn’t much to fight for because the gap was too big. But again, we showed that we never give up and we keep fighting until the end. We crossed the finish line, which is the most important thing, and we need to stay positive for the next round at Spa.”
It was an unlucky round for the all-female team, who now sit third in the LMGT3 championship standings with 33 points. However, there’s no time for disappointment, as they head to Brazil for the 6 Hours of São Paulo—round five of the FIA WEC—where they’ll look to bounce back.
With three rounds remaining in the European Le Mans Series, the next event will take place at Spa-Francorchamps on 23–24 August.
