Iron Dames Laura van den Hengel and Sarah Bovy show promise in qualifying before mechanical issues derail Zandvoort weekend
Iron Dames endured a frustrating fourth round of the GT2 European Series at Zandvoort, with Laura van den Hengel and Sarah Bovy showing some of their strongest pace of the season in qualifying in the Maserati GT2 before technical issues ruled them out of both races.
Iron Dames endured a frustrating fourth round of the 2026 GT2 European Series at Zandvoort, with Laura van den Hengel and Sarah Bovy showing some of their strongest pace of the season in the Maserati GT2 before a gearbox failure ruled them out of Race 1 and a technical failure ended their Race 2 challenge just before the driver change.
The weekend had initially appeared to offer considerable promise, with the return to the more powerful GT2-specification Maserati allowing the pairing to fight at the front of the ProAm field, while van den Hengel produced one of her best qualifying performances to date at her home circuit, only for the technical problems denying her all of the in-race competitive mileage across the weekend.
Van den Hengel was competing at her home track but was taking part in her first-ever race weekend at the Dutch circuit. The Iron Dames pairing arrived in the Netherlands after a mixed first half of the season, having begun the campaign with the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup operated by SP Racing in partnership with Dinamic Motorsport before switching to the Maserati GT2 at Spa-Francorchamps. The more powerful machinery immediately showed potential at Spa, where van den Hengel and Bovy demonstrated genuine podium pace despite their lack of experience with the car, while their subsequent return to the Porsche at Misano produced a season-best fourth-place ProAm finish in Race 2 and 22 points despite the significant performance disadvantage faced by the Cup car against the GT2 machinery. Zandvoort therefore represented another opportunity to exploit the Maserati's greater performance, and the early signs were encouraging.
Van den Hengel took the wheel of the #85 Maserati for the opening free practice session, but the session was immediately disrupted when the #119 KTM went off at Turn 1, bringing out a red flag. The stoppage consumed a substantial portion of the session, with the track returning to green with 29 minutes remaining, leaving the drivers with limited time to work through their programmes.
Once the session resumed, van den Hengel quickly moved towards the leading ProAm runners. Her first representative lap of 1:44.0 placed her inside the overall top ten and sixth in class, before she progressively lowered the benchmark to 1:43.9, 1:42.9 and then 1:42.4 as she gained confidence on a circuit she was experiencing competitively for the first time. She eventually brought the Maserati into the pits with 11 minutes remaining, handing the car over to Bovy.
Bovy lowered the benchmark, setting a 1:40.150 to move the Iron Dames entry into sixth place in class, and although she found another lap in the 1:40s before the chequered flag, there was no longer enough time to make major improvements. Despite the shortened session, the first practice had provided an encouraging indication of the Maserati's potential.
The second practice session offered an even stronger indication of the pace available from the #85. Bovy began the session and was quickly up to third in ProAm with a 1:41.3 before matching her best morning time with a 1:40.1. She then broke through the 1:40 barrier decisively, setting a 1:39.098 while improving across all three sectors compared with the morning session, a lap good enough to put the Iron Dames Maserati second in class and third overall.
With 36 minutes remaining, Bovy brought the car into the pits to hand over to van den Hengel, who immediately continued the improvement. The Dutch driver was soon into the 1:41s, setting a 1:41.0 to remain third in ProAm. Van den Hengel then found personal-best sectors and improved by around half a second over her previous benchmark, setting a 1:40.530, before handing the Maserati back to Bovy for the closing minutes. Bovy once again found further time, producing a 1:38.945 to break into the 1:38s and bring the session to a close. The result represented a solid improvement from both drivers.
Qualifying on Saturday morning provided the strongest indication yet of what might have been possible for the Iron Dames at Zandvoort. The weather remained overcast and windy, but van den Hengel was entrusted with the opening 15-minute Q1 session and immediately produced a highly competitive performance.
Her first push lap produced a 1:40.425, placing her second in ProAm and third overall, an impressive first qualifying run. She then improved again on her second lap, setting a 1:40.013 with a particularly strong final sector to establish a new personal best for the weekend. With the session approaching its conclusion, Yu Lee moved into second, dropping van den Hengel to third in class by just over a tenth, but the Dutch driver went for one final push.
Although she improved her first sector, she was unable to complete the lap, leaving her third in ProAm and seventh overall. Nevertheless, the result represented one of van den Hengel's best qualifying performances yet and provided a major boost for the Iron Dames.
Bovy then took over for Q2 and continued the momentum, immediately producing purple sectors before setting a 1:38.468 to move the Maserati into provisional overall pole with eight minutes remaining. She improved again, finding a purple middle sector and setting a 1:37.784, her first lap under 1:38 and the fastest time overall at that stage, although Moritz Wiskirchen subsequently moved ahead in the SR Motorsport Mercedes by less than a tenth of a second.
Bovy responded with another purple first sector but was unable to improve the remaining sectors on that lap, although she still lowered her overall benchmark to 1:37.710. She then went faster again, producing a 1:37.521 after finding further time through the final sector and appearing to have more potential still available.
That potential however would never be realised; with only two minutes remaining, Bovy suffered an issue shortly after Turn 1 and was forced to park the Maserati, bringing out a red flag. The timing was particularly cruel, coming just as she was continuing to find time and with the team in contention for a strong starting position. Because the stoppage was caused by the #85, Bovy's best lap was subsequently removed, dropping the Iron Dames entry from fifth overall to eighth.
The technical problem was traced to a gearbox failure, leaving the Iron Dames crew with an extremely short window in which to repair the car before the first race. The team worked flat out and continued working throughout the available period, but the gearbox change could not be completed in time. Despite the highly promising qualifying performance, the #85 Maserati was unable to make the grid, ruling van den Hengel and Bovy out of Race 1.
It was a particularly frustrating outcome after van den Hengel's impressive Q1 performance and Bovy's subsequent pace, but the team returned to the circuit on Sunday morning determined to salvage something from the weekend. The gearbox had been repaired and the Maserati was ready to race, allowing the Iron Dames to take their place on the grid for Race 2, with Bovy starting the opening stint from fifth in ProAm and fourth row overall.
Bovy was immediately in the mix of the action in the opening-lap fights. She took the inside line into Turn 1, but the two Mercedes-AMG GT2 cars were able to use the outside line to sweep around and move ahead, leaving Bovy to settle into sixth in ProAm and ninth overall.
The Belgian quickly found her rhythm and began attacking the KTM of Marioneck ahead. She closed right up through Turns 1 and 2 and looked for an opportunity, but had to back out of an initial attempt before preparing another attack. Running in the 1:38.9s, Bovy was now fully up to speed and began making progress through the field.
By lap seven she had gained a second on the two Masters-class cars ahead and launched a decisive move into Turn 1, completing the pass to move into eighth overall. Her next target was Philippe Prette in the #1 Maserati, and Bovy immediately began applying pressure.
She attempted to pass Prette around the outside of Turn 1 on lap 11, but the gap closed and she was forced to abandon the move. With the pit window approaching, Bovy elected to extend her stint and continued the fight, eventually running side-by-side with Prette on lap 13. This time she braked later and completed the move, climbing to seventh overall.
It was an impressive opening stint from Bovy, who had worked her way through the field and placed the Iron Dames Maserati in a strong position before the scheduled driver change. However, once again, technical trouble struck at precisely the wrong moment.
Shortly before the pit stop, the car suffered a right-rear wheel failure. Bovy was forced to slow dramatically and nurse the Maserati back towards the pits, while van den Hengel waited in the pit lane ready to take over for the second stint.
The failure ultimately meant that van den Hengel never completed a single racing lap during her home weekend. The team's pace would have likely placed them in the battle for second place in ProAm, given van den Hengel's rhythm among the bronze-rated drivers.
The Zandvoort weekend therefore ended as one of the most frustrating of the Iron Dames' GT2 European Series campaign, particularly because the speed demonstrated across qualifying and the opening part of Race 2. The Iron Dames will now have to wait until the championship finale to convert the potential shown by the Maserati into a result, with the final round of the 2026 GT2 European Series scheduled for Portimão in Portugal on October 17-18.
