Iron Dames' Sarah Bovy was close to clinching her first pole position in ELMS, as the all-female trio will start from second place in today’s 4H of Monza, third round of the European Le Mans Series.
Sarah Bovy qualified the #83 Iron Dames Ferrari on the front row of the grid for today’s 4 Hours of Monza, third round of the 2022 European Le Mans Series.
After a stunning recovery drive at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the trio bounced back after a first lap tyre puncture to finish in seventh place – their best result at La Sarthe – Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy were back behind the wheel of the pink Ferrari 488 GTE at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza.
Showing very consistent pace throughout the practice sessions, Bovy tackled the 10 minute qualifying in a very hot Summer day at the 5,793m of the iconic Italian racetrack.
The Belgian led the early stages of the session, quickly claiming the top of the timesheets. She then improved lap after lap, until the #77 Proton COmpetition Porsche driven by Christian Ried edged the #83 Ferrari by less than a tenth of a second.
Bovy managed to go faster in her penultimate lap, setting a 1:49.105 which was unfortunately not enough to clinch pole position. Sarah has now claimed front row starts in the last two ELMS rounds, with two second places and a third place at the season opener at Le Castellet.
“It was a bit frustrating that we could not clinch that first pole position – I really went for it, it was everything I got” – Sarah told us after the session. “I think the Porsche over the quali laps was really strong and I’m quite happy at the end that I managed to do a few good laps and to finish as the first Ferrari. To start from the first row I think it’s really good”, she continued.
While the elusive first pole position for Iron Dames had to be postponed, all three drivers lapped consistently within a few tenths in FP2 and race pace is looking to be strong ahead of tomorrow’s race.
“For sure I think we have a good pace for the race tomorrow, so even if we are a little disappointed to not have pole position, we are very happy about the work we have done through the week and we really have a good car for the race, and that’s the most important for the race” – said Bovy.
“[In practice] I was preparing qualifying, while Michelle and Rahel were preparing the long runs. Everybody is working on their roles, but Michelle and Rahel did a very good job and showed some very strong pace and so I think it’s very good for tomorrow.”
“For me I think it will be important to try to stay ahead in the race and to give them the car in the best possible position”, she commented.
Due to BOP, the Ferraris had lacked some top speed on the straights at the previous races – especially at Le Castellet and at the very fast Le Mans – the Italian brand seems to have picked up the pace a bit in Monza, despite Bovy’s best qualifying lap still lacked 6 km/h at the top speed mark compared to pole sitter Ried.
“In qualifying, for me, there was still a bit of gap”, Sarah commented.
“But probably over the stint with the heat I think we have something better to play with. The Aston Martins seem to have had a bit of a step back and now at least we can fight on a better equity.”
TDS Racing x Vaillante secured overall pole position with driver Mathias Beche, who preceded Van Uitert (Panis Racing) and Pietro Fittipaldi (InterEuropol), after Jack Aitken’s third place lap was deleted for track limits infringement.
Sophia Floersch was behind the wheel of the #19 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca and finished P14 in LMP2, having only used one set of new tyres. She was the fastest Silver-rated driver on the grid.
The 2022 4 Hours of Monza will get underway on Sunday 3rd July at 11:30 local time.