Rahel Frey, Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting, and Doriane Pin in the No. 83 Iron Dames Ferrari 488 GT3 became the first all-female lineup to win their class at the 24 Hours of Spa, one of the world’s most competitive GT3 races. The team dominated the second half of the race and crossed the checkered flag with a three-lap lead in the Gold Cup class.

The team held the lead in class for the final 11 hours of the race. While the team’s result was not an overall win, it beat out competitive entries from experienced GT3 outfits like AF Corse, Team WRT, Inception Racing, and Walkenhorst Motorsport.

“This feels like a big result, historically,” Frey said. “It’s a very good sign and a very good message to send out. We want to motivate more girls to come and achieve the same, to encourage them to join us within the motorsport world.

“We drive in pink suits in a pink car and this is just underlining the message we want to spread about getting females involved in motorsport. It was a tough race and we keep fighting, as hopefully more successes can follow this.”

It has been a record-setting year for Iron Dames, which already secured the first podium and first pole position for an all-female team in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Frey, Bovy, and Gatting are the team’s usual lineup in the WEC. They were joined for this race at Spa-Francorchamps by 18-year-old Doriane Pin who leads the 2022 Ferrari Challenge Europe championship with Iron Lynx.

This is what it means to us 🤗#Motorsport #Spa24h pic.twitter.com/eD2QoAGpMQ

— Iron Dames (@IronDames_) July 31, 2022

“It was just amazing. The race was incredible and so emotional,” Pin said. “We did an amazing job and made no mistakes and had good pace. I also got to do my first stint in the night and it was just an amazing job from my teammates and the team. I want to cry every second right now.”

The overall win went the way of the No. 88 Mercedes AMG Team AKKODIS with Raffaele Marciello, Daniel Juncadella, and Jules Gounon. The No. 88 Mercedes squad started the race on pole position and battled with the No. 2 Mercedes AMG Team GetSpeed in the closing hours of the race.

“Last year was very difficult for us, but we knew we had the car for it. It was heartbreaking when we had the mechanical failure,” Gounon said of last year’s race.

“I was lucky enough to win this race when I was 22 and, at the time, I didn’t realize quite how tough it was to win this race. Then, coming here in years since and not winning it, you see the challenge and you know that winning here is something very special. I think to win this race you need everything — the teammates, the team, the car…everything to succeed. I think it was just our day today.”