The all-female Iron Dames World Endurance Championship LMGT3 entry will swap from Lamborghini to Porsche for subsequent season with the title-winning Manthey group.
Affirmation that the Iron Dames programme, which has up to now yielded one class win and an extra 4 podiums within the WEC, is shifting producers got here on Thursday, the day after the Iron Lynx father or mother squad introduced that it’s becoming a member of forces with Mercedes for its 2025 LMGT3 marketing campaign.
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The announcement implies that the Iron Lynx organisation, which beforehand fielded the Dames automotive, is increasing its illustration in LMGT3 from two to a few entries subsequent 12 months.
The transfer was broadly anticipated after Iron Dames WEC common Michelle Gatting tried out in one of many two Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3-Rs on the official sequence rookie check in Bahrain earlier this month, together with Celia Martin.
Gatting will race the 911 GT3-R subsequent 12 months alongside common team-mate Rahel Frey, the pair returning for his or her fifth WEC campaigns with Iron Dames.
Martin strikes as much as the WEC to fill the necessary berth for a bronze-ranked driver after a season with the Dames racing a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 within the Le Mans Cup on the European Le Mans Collection undercard.
#92 Manthey Purerxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Gilian Henrion, Celia Martin, Michelle Gatting
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Pictures
The 33-year-old takes the place of Iron Dames stalwart Sarah Bovy, who has been upgraded to silver standing for 2025.
Iron Lynx already has established hyperlinks with Porsche. It switched to the German producer from Ferrari for its 2023 marketing campaign in GTE Am after the announcement that it could be partnering Lamborghini for a wide-ranging programme together with the Italian producer’s transfer into the prototype ranks in 2024 with a brand new LMDh.
The Dames additionally contested the ELMS this 12 months with Porsche in a continued tie-up with Proton.
Iron Lynx founder Deborah Mayer stated: “Returning to Porsche and collaborating with Manthey represents a brand new milestone for the Iron Dames. I’ve full confidence in Manthey’s experience and dedication to excellence, which completely match our ambition to shine on the highest stage.
“We’re dedicated to writing a brand new chapter within the Iron Dames’ endurance racing historical past, demonstrating that girls have their rightful place on the prime of the game and galvanizing generations to come back.”
#85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR – 19: Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Pictures
Manthey managing director Nicolas Raeder added: “We’re proud to affix forces with the Iron Dames in FIA WEC subsequent 12 months. We have now all the time admired the challenge and have had many thrilling however truthful on-track duels with them prior to now.”
Martin defined that she was fulfilling an ambition by racing within the WEC with the Iron Dames.
“After I began my journey in motorsport, I all the time hoped that at some point I may compete in top-level GT and endurance racing,” she stated. “In case you had requested me for my final dream, it could be this – FIA WEC and Iron Dames, and to prime it off with Manthey as properly, it’s actually a dream come true.”
The complete line-up at Manthey, which is part-owned by Porsche, has but to be introduced forward of the scheduled reveal of the 2025 WEC entry record on Friday.
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The championship-winning line-up of Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Klaus Bacher, which ran below the Manthey PureRxcing banner, won’t be returning.
Belarusian Malykhin has additionally been upgraded to silver standing and can transfer into LMP2, starting with a programme within the 2024-25 Asian Le Mans Collection beginning at Sepang subsequent month.
Whether or not Lamborghini might be represented within the WEC’s LMGT3 class subsequent 12 months is unclear. It seems unlikely that the Italian model might be a part of the Hypercar grid with its SC63 LMDh.
