Experience and leadership: how Rahel Frey will have to guide the Iron Dames Le Mans charge
- RACERS
- Jun 12
- 3 min read
It has been an eventful start of the Le Mans week for Iron Dames – but with a driver at her eighth participation at the most legendary endurance race, the all-female team can count on the experience and leadership of its veteran racer Rahel Frey.
It's the race every driver dreams of. For some, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For others, like Rahel Frey and the Iron Dames, it’s the culmination of years—if not careers—of relentless preparation, passion, and pursuit of excellence.
Now in their seventh participation at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, the all-female Iron Dames team returns to La Sarthe with the same goal they’ve held since the beginning: to prove that a women-led team, when given the right opportunities and support, can challenge for victory in the most grueling and iconic race in motorsport. A race that tests drivers and machinery alike on physical, mental, and mechanical levels.
Over the years, they’ve steadily closed the gap to the top. From consistent top-ten finishes to a best result of fourth in class last year, Iron Dames have become a genuine LMGT3 contender. Currently leading the European Le Mans Series standings and already with a WEC class win under their belt, the team has what it takes to make history once again.
However, the anticipation quickly turned into a nightmare for gold-rated and Porsche official driver Michelle Gatting. Following official practice on Sunday, a pit stop incident resulted in two fractures in her right foot, sidelining the Danish racer from the race she loves the most.
The team swiftly confirmed a last-minute line-up change: Sarah Bovy would step in to replace Gatting. This left Iron Dames as one of only two LMGT3 entries without a gold- or platinum-rated driver. But Bovy is no stranger to such big events: a key part in many of the team’s triumphs, the Belgian has excelled both as a bronze and, more recently, as a silver-rated driver.
Completing the revised line-up is French racer Célia Martin, making her 24 Hours of Le Mans debut. Promoted from the team’s Michelin Le Mans Cup program after a strong rookie GT3 campaign, Martin now steps into one of the biggest races of her career—a defining moment and a significant challenge for the Frenchwoman.
The responsibility of guiding the team through this high-stakes weekend now falls to Rahel Frey, one of the members of the Iron Dames project since its very beginning. With eight Le Mans starts to her name and a career that spans the top levels of international GT racing, Frey is the epitome of the commitment to the project and brings unmatched experience and leadership.
“It’s my eighth participation—eight feels like an expert,” she said. “I like it, because with experience it makes everything a lot easier. Now we have a reliable car, we are with a super experienced team, well-structured. I think we are very well supported, so honestly speaking, I look forward to get it started.”
This season, Frey and Bovy have been alternating roles as the team’s silver-rated driver—Frey in WEC, Bovy in ELMS.
“In WEC we had a difficult start, clearly. It was a rough start. In ELMS the girls are doing super well. It's a bit, let's say, for different reasons.”
“But in Le Mans, you know, the race is long, we cannot make any mistakes. That's the most important, that we don't do mistakes. This we already have proven the last years.”
Iron Dames have traditionally thrived in longer endurance events – their breakthrough moment arriving with a class win at the 2022 24 Hours of Spa. Consistency has become their hallmark, and in a race as unpredictable as Le Mans, it could be the key to another good run paired with a good strategy.
“So we just keep going like this and at one stage,” Frey concluded, “the luck will be on our side.”
Additional reporting: Luca Pellegrini
