“Huge Challenge” for Iron Dames in Double-Duty With New Cars

The Iron Dames crew is gearing up for a “huge challenge” at Sebring this week as its drivers prepare to jump between different cars that are new to them in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy are sharing a Porsche 911 RSR-19 for the first time in the WEC’s 1000 Miles of Sebring on Friday, before driving a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2s in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring the following day.

The Iron Dames previously focused on Ferrari machinery in Europe last year, but their team Iron Lynx has switched to different other for its GTE and GT3 programs.

The Italian squad is partnered with Lamborghini in LMDh and GT3, but the manufacturer doesn’t have a GTE car so Iron Lynx forged a deal with Porsche team Proton Competition to get it through the final season of the WEC’s GTE-Am class.

The updated EVO2 Lamborghini is also new to the team, although it has already completed the Rolex 24 at Daytona with the car.

“It’s going to be a huge challenge this weekend, jumping from one car to another,” Gatting told Sportscar365.

“We were able to test both cars quite a bit. We had a test in Barcelona where we tested the Lambo one day and the Porsche another day. It’s two different cars with different driving styles.

“But we have been driving at this level for a while now and we should be able to jump from one car to the other. I think it will benefit us in the future.

“It’s a little bit easier jumping into the Porsche from the Lambo. They are super amazing cars, but very different.

“In the Lambo it takes a little bit more time gaining confidence because it has the tendency of being a bit more nervous on the rear, whereas [the Porsche] is just planted.

“I cannot tell how it’s going to be out here because the track is very challenging. We will have sessions where we jump straight from one car to the other. We are lucky that we’re able to do this.”

The Iron Dames have done more mileage in the Lamborghini because they raced at Daytona in January, finishing 18th in the GTD class.

It is understood that they have done three tests with the Porsche GTE. The first was a preliminary session at Portimao after last year’s European Le Mans Series finale, followed by additional outings at Paul Ricard and Barcelona.

The latter was the only time Iron Lynx tested the Porsche and Lamborghini simultaneously.

“Always, you would like to test more,” Gatting said.

“But we also need to see what the possibilities are, and we need to take everything we have been given. We were lucky to come and test with the Lambo before the race. I think that helped us a lot.

“The result in Daytona was not what we wanted, but we still got a lot of hours in the car, during the night. We got more hours in the Lamborghini [than the Porsche].”

Aside from the physical challenge of switching between different cars built to different regulations, the Iron Dames are also coming across different rules in the two championships.

“In Daytona, there were a lot of things that had to be learned and we have some penalties because we were just not aware of certain situations,” said Gatting.

“Everyone has to learn, as a whole team, going into the IMSA championship. But it’s very different to the WEC, that’s for sure.

“We cannot do it alone. We need the support from the whole team and to support the whole team as well. We are a big group but there are lots of new people for us.

“For the next week it will just be important that we support each other, because it’s going to be a challenge.”