ELMS: Pole for Iron Dames at Silverstone ends in frustrating P10 after rain and misfortune
- RACERS
- Sep 15
- 5 min read
Iron Dames were once again protagonists of a highly promising weekend in the European Le Mans Series, as Célia Martin, Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting showed frontrunning pace in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche with a stunning pole and strong early lead at Silverstone, but contact and ill-timed rain during pit cycles left the all-female trio P10 in LMGT3.
Iron Dames were once again protagonists of a highly promising weekend in the European Le Mans Series, as Célia Martin, Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting fought from pole position and remained in contention for victory in the first half of the race. Ultimately, however, a combination of collisions and rain arriving at the wrong time during a pit cycle denied the all-female team another podium chance, and they had to settle for tenth place at Silverstone.
Célia Martin nevertheless delivered the team’s first pole position of the season on Saturday, with a brilliant qualifying run in mixed weather conditions that briefly put the team back on top of the LMGT3 championship standings.
The weekend had started with very positive practice sessions, with Martin showing strong speed on a circuit new to most teams, as ELMS returned to Silverstone for the first time since 2019. Testing went well, and Martin, Gatting and Bovy were quickly clear contenders. Gatting led the opening practice with a 2:00.112 lap, while Martin was sixth fastest in the Bronze Test.
The team continued to refine the setup on Friday afternoon and placed sixth again in FP2, this time in changeable weather. Rain hit just before Saturday’s qualifying but conditions soon began drying, with everyone on wet-weather tyres. Martin was tasked with qualifying duties in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche, as the championship-contending team targeted the front row.
Her first timed lap was a 2:19.2 for seventh, before she improved to a 2:14.811 to briefly go fastest overall with seven minutes to go. Martin Berry’s #63 Mercedes then improved with a 2:12, but Célia responded with another superb lap — a 2:13.006, just two tenths shy of provisional pole. While most competitors pitted for new tyres, Martin stayed out on older wets.
In the final minute, Martin continued to find time: with two purple sectors she produced an outstanding 2:11.819 to secure pole position by almost a full second on worn tyres. The performance gained an extra championship point and put the Iron Dames tied at the top of the LMGT3 standings heading into the race.
An earlier start was scheduled on Sunday due to a weather threat, and the 4 Hours of Silverstone got underway on a dry track. From pole, Célia Martin retained the class lead despite being squeezed by two LMP3 cars. Contact between the three left the #31 Racing Spirit of Leman LMP3 stranded in the gravel, prompting a Virtual Safety Car on lap 2.
While many LMGT3 teams opted to pit for fuel, Iron Dames chose to keep Martin out and maintain track position. On the restart, with 3h43m to go, Martin immediately pulled a gap on Takeshi Kimura’s Kessel Ferrari, setting the fastest lap overall with a 2:02.2 to open a two-second margin.
Avoiding a collision between the #21 United Autosport LMP2 and the #31 Racing Spirit of Leman LMP3 just ahead, Martin kept her cool and extended her lead to five seconds. Lapping consistently in the 2:02s, she was pulling clear at almost three seconds per lap.
Forty minutes into the race, a huge crash for Martin Berry’s Iron Lynx Mercedes after receiving contact from Malykhin’s CLX LMP2 brought out the red flag for barrier repairs. This stoppage neutralized Martin’s growing gap, but lost stint time for the quick bronze-racer was later recovered as the race time was extended.
At the restart behind the safety car with 3h13m to go, Martin immediately attacked again, passing an LMP3 car and settling into the 2:03s pace to rebuild her advantage. However, another major accident — this time involving Giorgio Roda’s Proton LMP2, which was hit at high speed on the Hangar Straight after being sandwiched between two cars — brought out a second red flag.
When racing resumed with 2h53m remaining, Martin pitted as the pit lane opened for Iron Dames’ first stop. She stayed in the car but a slow stop after getting blocked in the pitlane lost her the class lead, rejoining ninth. Martin however charged back through the LMGT3 field, though a small contact with the #66 Ferrari sent Scott Noble spinning.
Pressing on, she passed the #59 Aston Martin of Mateu for seventh, before attacking the #86 GR Racing Ferrari. By lap 37, Martin was back into second, seven seconds behind Kimura’s Ferrari, and she soon closed the gap. On lap 44, Martin completed a superb move on Kimura to reclaim the lead, capping off an incredible recovery. However, the earlier contact with the #66 Ferrari cost the team dearly, as race control handed her a drive-through penalty.
After serving the penalty, Martin rejoined in second, but under pressure from silver-rated Andrade in the TF Sport Corvette, who eventually slipped past on lap 48. With rain looming, Martin continued to match Andrade’s pace, and when Kimura pitted, she climbed back to second before handing over to Sarah Bovy on lap 55.
The team opted for slicks as conditions were not yet wet enough, but rain soon returned — at the worst possible time. Bovy, now struggling for grip, dropped down the order as rivals had switched to wets. She eventually had to pit again on lap 65, compounding the misfortune of a double stop.
Bovy rejoined in tenth, 37 seconds down on David Perel’s Spirit of Race Ferrari, but stayed consistent in worsening conditions. Running off-sequence later in the race, she climbed back to eighth before pitting on lap 82 with 42 minutes left, when Michelle Gatting took over.
Gatting rejoined in P11 but quickly regained tenth and began cutting the gap to the #66 Ferrari ahead, reducing it to 17 seconds as the clock wound down. However, at this point, the team's race had been compromised, and with no safety cars in the latter stages, Gatting had little chances of catching up.
The Dane continued to push through with determination, gaining some ground; with rain intensifying and visibility worsening, however, the race was ultimately red-flagged with eight minutes to go.
The Iron Dames had to settle for tenth place in LMGT3, scoring just a single point after a race of high promise but misfortune with both contact and pit stop timing as the weather turned against them.
In terms of championship points, the fifth round at Silverstone proved costly, as the Iron Dames now sit fourth in the standings, with 47 points. However, nothing is lost yet.
“It was a very disappointing result today, especially if we think about the race within the context of the championship", Célia Martin recalled. "The start was very chaotic and at times, difficult to navigate. We had very good pace this weekend, and it’s a shame not to come away with the result we knew that we were capable of. Despite this, we’re still in a good spot, but we still need to understand what happened before heading to Portimão.”
The LMGT3 title fight is now on for the season finale at Circuito do Algarve, where Iron Dames had previous success and will aim to battle at the front on 16-18 October.
