Iron Lynx was created in 2017 by Deborah Mayer, Claudio Schiavoni, Sergio Pianezzola, and Andrea Piccini. In their first year of competition in 2018, Iron Lynx achieved second and ninth place in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe Pro-Am, securing one pole position, twelve podiums, and two victories. In 2018, Deborah Mayer launched the Iron Dames Project to support and promote women in motorsport, with Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting, and Manuela Gostner competing in the 12 Hours of Dubai. For the 2019 season, Iron Lynx continued in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe and entered two cars in the Italian GT Championship. The team also debuted in the Le Mans Cup and the European Le Mans Series, racing under the Kessel Racing banner. In the Le Mans Cup, the #8 car secured first place with one pole position and four victories, earning an automatic entry to the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the 2019 European Le Mans Series, the #83 “Iron Dames” car placed 4th and the #60 placed 6th, with both entries achieving podium finishes twice. At the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, the #83 placed 9th in class, and the #60 placed 13th in class.
2020 marked the first year the team competed under the Iron Lynx name. In the European Le Mans Series, they fielded the #60 of Claudio Schiavoni, Sergio Pianezzola, and Andrea Piccini, as well as the #83 entry for Frey, Gatting, and Gostner. Gatting and Deborah Mayer formed the first all-female pairing in Le Mans Cup competition. Iron Lynx continued in the Italian F4 Championship. In October 2020, Rino Mastronardi won the GT3 Drivers Championship for Iron Lynx in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, earning an automatic invitation to the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2021, Iron Lynx entered the FIA World Endurance Championship for the first time. On October 24, 2021, Iron Lynx clinched the LMGTE teams championship in the European Le Mans Series, earning an automatic invitation to the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans. On November 20, 2021, Michelle Gatting became the first female champion of the Ferrari Challenge. Iron Lynx also won the Michelin Le Mans Cup teams championship for the second consecutive year. In 2022, Iron Lynx entered two cars in the GTE Am class of the World Endurance Championship. The Iron Dames began racing under their own license, fielding a team of Frey, Gatting, and Sarah Bovy in WEC, ELMS, and GTWC Europe Gold Cup. Sarah Bovy became the first woman to claim a pole position in WEC history, qualifying first at both Monza and Bahrain. Three podiums in the series helped the Iron Dames clinch third place in the GTE Am category. The Iron Dames finished the GTWS Europe season in second in the Gold Cup, with a class victory at the 24 Hours of Spa.
On November 6, 2022, Iron Lynx announced they became the Lamborghini factory team from 2023. They entered the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO 2 in the IMSA Sportscar Championship and GT World Challenge for 2023. Iron Lynx also entered the FIA World Endurance Championship, using two Porsche 911 RSR-19s as Lamborghini did not actively manufacture a car under GTE specifications. At the 2023 8 Hours of Bahrain, the Iron Dames became the final LM GTE class race winning team. Their drivers – Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting, and Rahel Frey – became the first all-female lineup to win a FIA WEC race. In 2024, Iron Lynx made the move to competing with the new Lamborghini SC63 Hypercar in the IMSA Sports Car Championship in the GTP class. Additionally, with the demise of LMGTE regulations at the end of 2023, the team ran a pair of Huracán GT3 EVO 2s in the World Endurance Championship under the new LMGT3 class. Iron Lynx became the first team to win the ELMS LMGT3 title. In November 2024, Lamborghini announced their departure from the World Endurance Championship. Iron Lynx will still be running the SC63 in the IMSA Sports Car Championship in the GTP class.
On November 20, it was announced that Iron Lynx would partner with Mercedes-AMG to run the current Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo for the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship, marking Mercedes-AMG's first appearance in the series in 25 years. The next day, it was announced that Iron Dames would join forces with WEC LMGT3 champions Manthey Racing for 2025. For 2025, Iron Lynx gained backing from Mercedes-AMG for two LMGT3 entries. The Iron Dames expanded their rally program, with Sarah Rumeau and Julie Amblard joining the WRC2 Championship.
Iron Lynx has secured four team titles: European Le Mans Series LMGTE (2021), Michelin Le Mans Cup GT3 (2020 and 2021), and European Le Mans Series LMGT3 (2024). The team has entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans every year since 2019.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
Gallery · 4 related images
