Iron Dames “Extremely Motivated” After ELMS Setback

Sarah Bovy said the Iron Dames are “extremely motivated” to deliver a strong LMGT3 class result for Lamborghini in the 6 Hours of Imola, a week after the team lost out on a class victory in the European Le Mans Series through late-race drama.

Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Doriane Pin will start the six-hour race at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari from fifth in class and will be looking to bounce back after a dominant performance in Barcelona went unrewarded.

There, driving a Porsche 911 GT3 R, Bovy, Gatting and Rahel Frey were on course to victory when a wheel nut mishap at the final pitstop curtailed their run and led to retirement.

“At the end of the day, that’s racing,” Bovy told Sportscar365.

“We know it can happen. It can happen at the end of the 24 Hours of Le Mans [and] it can happen at the end of a four-hour race and sometimes you are the one taking benefit out of it.

“So I don’t believe in bad luck and that kind of thing. I believe in hard work and I believe in the fact that the more we’re going to lead the race [like] the way we led Barcelona, the more we’re going to win some.

“So the target is there and we are all extremely motivated for this race to make a good result for the team.

“It’s a home race also for Lamborghini. It’s the home race for Iron Lynx and Iron Dames. So we have a lot of motivations to do well here.”

Bovy admitted to being left a bit puzzled about the discrepancy in shown between the two qualifying sessions by the No. 85 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

In addition to her own time dropping off in between regular qualifying and Hyperpole, setting a 1:42.924 in the first stage and a 1:43.151 in the second, the gap to pole sitter Alex Malykhin also grew.

During the first segment, Bovy sat less than two-tenths of a second down in second place, while the deficit to the No. 92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche was 0.786 seconds during Hyperpole.

“I have a bittersweet feeling about the quali because I think that we could have been on the front row,” Bovy said.

“The lap time I’m doing in the first qualifying basically put me in second, so obviously being fifth is disappointing.

“We lost half a second between qualifying 1 and qualifying 2. I cannot really explain why, but that’s the way it is. So obviously disappointed with that, but happy with the fact that we are there.

“I think we are better than in Qatar and I think on the long stint we’re going to have a strong race.

“So at the end of the day the quali is just a small step to the race. Now I’m focused on the double stint with the tires and being consistent.”

When asked if she anticipated the No. 85 Lamborghini to be able to challenge for a class victory, Bovy remained cautious in her predictions.

“It’s going to be difficult because we still miss a little bit of pace, I think, compared to a few cars,” she said.

“But clearly we are going for that. We work for that. We work in that direction. We are always motivated for that.

“It’s going to be a very intense race. I’m expecting a lot of neutralizations. The strategy will be key. So I hope we can be smart on that and take benefit out of it.”