Iron Dames take third consecutive FIA WEC podium at season finale in Bahrain

The result means the Iron Dames finish the season third in the FIA World Endurance Championship standings.

The #85 car of Rahel Frey, Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting started on pole position in GTE Am after another great lap from Sarah on Friday. The Iron Dames lost some positions after a Full-Course Yellow period, but Michelle showed strong pace to bring the car back through the field.

They led the GTE Am class for more than seven hours; Rahel took the car into the lead throughout her first stint, handing back over to Sarah with a 30-second advantage and just under five hours remaining. Rahel fought for the lead as she took over for a second time, with Michelle bringing the car home in third place for the #85 car’s third consecutive FIA World Endurance Championship podium.

Claudio Schiavoni started the #60 Iron Lynx car from tenth place in LMGTE Am, and gained positions under a Full-Course Yellow period just after the first hour. He stayed in the #60 car for a triple-stint, running inside the top ten. Giancarlo Fisichella put in a great stint to bring the car up the order as the race reached half-distance, and Matteo Cressoni set the Iron Lynx car’s fastest laps of the race when he got in as night fell. Giancarlo kept the car in the top ten to finish the race in ninth place.

The #9 PREMA Orlen Team car started tenth in LMP2 for the final race of the season, still with a chance to finish second in the standings in their first season in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Lorenzo Colombo, Louis Delétraz and Robert Kubica had the car in first place just after half-distance, and kept the #9 car in a fight for the podium places throughout the race, finishing the 8 Hours of Bahrain fourth in LMP2 to end a great debut season.

Andrea Piccini, Iron Lynx Team Principal, said: “We can be proud of what we achieved this year, we brought the Iron Dames to the top three of the FIA World Endurance Championship, GT World Challenge Europe and European Le Mans Series.

“They have had two pole positions and three consecutive podiums this year in WEC, and they showed a great pace again by leading the race for almost seven hours.

“Car #60 was fast today, the engineers did a great job to manage the best strategy throughout the race. Claudio had a good race without any mistakes, Giancarlo and Matteo also had strong pace in their stints. A top ten finish brings valuable points and we were definitely the fastest Ferrari today.”