2 days ago
Iron Dames: Why only all-female team racing at Le Mans have ‘advantage'
Once the sun has set at the Circuit de la Sarthe in the Pays de la Loire region, all that is visible are the slivers of light from headlight beams and the track LEDs. Driving around the 8.47-mile track, concentration cannot waver for a second and when news comes over the radio that rain is falling, Le Mans 24's greatest test begins.
'Everything about Le Mans is challenging,' Iron Dames GT3 racing driver Rahel Frey tells Telegraph Sport. 'The most difficult part is when it starts to rain during the night because you cannot see how much or where exactly [it is falling] in Le Mans. With such a long track in some corners it's already a lot of rain, some parts of the track is not raining yet at all.
'Then everybody gets stressed about communication, [it's] super important to make the right call, so rain during the night, that's the real challenge for me.'
Endurance motorsport is like nothing else and Le Mans is the pinnacle. Formula One drivers and Moto GP riders might test themselves at the highest speeds, putting their nerves and bodies on the line, but racing for a team in a 24-hour event is different.
Cars have been known to reach over 200mph in a battle to complete the most laps in the time limit on the circuit that has hosted the event since 1923. Drivers must pit themselves against each other without breaking the car and while sharing stints behind the wheel as part of a three-person team. The length of the race involves sleeping in bizarre stints and eating bowls of pasta at 3am. It is far from a sprint to the finish line.
'Not here just to be female in male-dominated sport'
On Saturday, 62 cars and 186 drivers will line up to take to the start line across three disciplines – Hypercar, LMP2 and LMGT3. Of those 186 drivers, only five are women, including three from Iron Dames, the only all-female team at the event.
There is no missing the Iron Dames on track, nor what they stand for. The bright pink rear wing and driver race suits make sure of that. Founded in 2018 by Deborah Mayer with the goal of supporting and promoting women in motorsport, the team have focused on endurance racing from the outset, competing in their first Le Mans in 2019.
Frey, who first started karting in 1998, had never envisioned going into the endurance side of the sport before the opportunity presented itself and while she is a proud member of Iron Dames, first and foremost she is a racing driver.
'When we are in the car and we race, we don't feel that we are females. We are a driver and we want to go as fast as possible. We want to do our very best,' Frey says. 'We are here to compete, we are not here to be the Iron Dames, we are not here to just be female in a male-dominated sport, we are really here to be competitive.'
Frey also thinks being an all-female team can also come with benefits, adding: 'I believe that we females who do endurance racing, we have an advantage. Because we communicate openly with each other but also with the team I would say – so far it has only helped me in endurance racing.'
'The biggest race of the year'
Le Mans 24 is part of the 'Triple Crown of Motorsport', with the Monaco Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500 – and the Iron Dames will be racing against several drivers who are familiar with a Formula One car, including Jenson Button, Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher.
'There is so much hype around the fact that it's Le Mans,' says Michelle Gatting, who has raced for six years with Iron Dames. 'I hype myself up because I know it's a little more. It's the biggest race of the year. Then I put a lot of expectations on myself, I want to prove, I want to deliver, but it's a lot of pressure to manage.'
Gatting and Frey both have the drive and desire to continue to improve, eventually perhaps competing in the Hypercar discipline. Unfortunately for Gatting, she was forced to withdraw from this year's event after suffering a freak pit-lane injury and fracturing her foot during a test day. She has been replaced by Sarah Bovy but she is still well-placed to discuss the unique aspects of Le Mans.
'Endurance racing is special because it's really a team sport,' explains Gatting. 'Some people would say [we] drive around in circles. I would not really say it's driving around in circles, but we just really love what we do.
'We love our sport and it's so special going in those races, the 24-hour races, when you go into the night and it's such a special atmosphere. You see the sun set, you see the sun rise and it's quite unique. It's just the passion and the love for the sport and I think that's why we love endurance racing.'
That message is echoed by the youngest driver on the team, 33-year-old Frenchwoman Celia Martin, who hopes to have the home crowd on her side at her first Le Mans. 'I'm just living the dream,' says Martin. 'I finally get the opportunity to race in a GT3, to race amazing championships and to race with super cool team-mates with a lot of experience, especially now for Le Mans – I could not have asked for more.'
