Iron Lynx Motorsport Lab is an Italian auto racing team founded by Andrea Piccini, Deborah Mayer, Claudio Schiavoni and Sergio Pianezzola.[1] The team is based in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. They currently operate two racing teams in the form of Iron Lynx and Iron Dames, who both primarily participate in sports car racing. Iron Lynx are also currently partnered with Lamborghini in operating their Lamborghini SC63 LMDh prototype.
In 2019, Iron Lynx began the "Iron Dames" project, focused on supporting and promoting women in motorsport.
At the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans, Iron Lynx entered two cars, including an all-female line-up in the #85 Ferrari, driven by Rahel Frey, Manuela Gostner and Michelle Gatting.[2] In October 2020, Rino Mastronardi won the GT3 Drivers Championship for Iron Lynx in the Michelin Le Mans Cup[3] to earn 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.[4] In September 2021, it was confirmed that Iron Lynx will be collaborating with Prema Powerteam to enter an Oreca 07 in the World Endurance Championship LMP2 class for 2022.[5] On October 24, 2021, Iron Lynx clinched the LMGTE teams championship in European Le Mans, earning them an automatic invitation to the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans.[6] [7] On November 20, 2021, Michelle Gatting became the first female champion of the Ferrari Challenge.[8] [9] [10] Iron Lynx also won the Michelin Le Mans Cup teams championship for the second year running to earn a second automatic invitation to the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans.[11]
On January 12, 2022, Iron Lynx announced that they would enter 2 cars in the GTE Am class of the World Endurance Championship for 2022. Both entries ran the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, with Claudio Schiavoni returning for the #65 entry while Rahel Frey returned for the #85 Iron Dames entry.[12] On February 16, Iron Lynx announced that Giancarlo Fisichella and Matteo Cressoni would join the WEC campaign, while Davide Rigon joined the ELMS campaign, and Doriane Pin, Arno Dahlmeyer, Marco Pulcini, and Claudio Schiavoni all joined the Ferrari Challenge. 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.[13] The team continued to support drivers in F4 and karting, with Matteo Pianezzola representing the team in karting, while Maya Weug entering select ADAC F4 rounds, as well as a full season in Italian F4 alongside Ivan Domingues and Nicola Lacorte.[14]
Iron Lynx entered 4 cars in the LMGTE category of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with a best finish of 7th in class for the #85 Iron Dames car.[15] Sarah Bovy became the first woman to claim a pole position in WEC history, qualifying first at both Monza and Bahrain.[16] [17] Three podiums in the series helped the Iron Dames clinch third place in the GTE Am category.[18] The Iron Dames finished the GTWS Europe season in second in the Gold Cup, with a class victory at the 24 Hours of Spa and a pole position at the final race in Barcelona.[19] The #71 Iron Lynx entry finished second in the Pro class, with one win, four podiums, and two pole positions, while the #51 finished seventh with one podium.[20] In the European Le Mans Series, both entries took a class victory, with the #85 finishing third and the #60 finishing fourth in the LMGTE teams championship.[21] Doriane Pin took a dominant victory in the Ferrari Challenge, winning nine of fourteen races, with thirteen podiums, ten pole positions, and eleven fastest laps.[22]
On November 6, 2022, Iron Lynx announced they became the Lamborghini factory team from 2023. They entered the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO 2 of 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 does not actively manufacture a car under GTE specifications. At the 2023 8 Hours of Bahrain, 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.[23]
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, appearing at the 72nd annual 12 Hours of Sebring where they scored a 7th place finish. Additionally, with the demise of LMGTE regulations at the end of 2023, the team also ran a pair of Huracán GT3 EVO 2s in the World Endurance Championship under the new LMGT3 class. Iron Dames also entered the Formula Regional European Championship for the first time, with Marta García and Doriane Pin racing for them.[24] In November of 2024, Lamborghini announced their departure from the World Endurance Championship. This meant that the Huracán GT3 EVO 2 and SC63 Hypercar would not return in 2025. However, Iron Lynx will still be running the SC63 in the IMSA Sports Car Championship in the GTP class. On the 20th of November, it was announced that Iron Lynx will be partnering up with Mercedes-AMG and run the current Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo for the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship. This will mark Mercedes-AMG's first appearance in the series in 25 years.[25] The next day, it was announced that Iron Dames would be joining forces with WEC LMGT3 champions Manthey Racing, running one of their Porsche 911 GT3 R race cars for 2025.[26]
With Lamborghini leaving the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2025, Iron Lynx gained backing from debutant Mercedes-AMG for two LMGT3 entries.[27]
* Season still in progress
* Season still in progress
Year | Entrant | Class | No | Chassis | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Pts | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | Iron Lynx | GT3 | 8 | Ferrari 488 GT3 | Nicklas Nielsen Giacomo Piccini Rino Mastronardi | RIC | SPA | LEC | LMS | LMS | MNZ | POR | 1st | 132 | |
9 | Deborah Mayer Emanuele Maria Tabacchi Paolo Ruberti Michelle Gatting Niccolò Schirò Murad Sultanov | RIC | SPA | LEC | LMS | LMS | MNZ | POR | 7th | 33 | |||||
77 | Claudio Schiavoni Andrea Piccini Matt Griffin | RIC | SPA | LEC | LMS | LMS | MNZ | POR | 6th | 48 | |||||
2021 | Iron Lynx | GT3 | 8 | Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 | Rino Mastronardi Paolo Ruberti Gabriele Lancieri Logan Sargeant Rory Penttinen | BAR | LEC | MNZ | LMS | LMS | SPA | POR | 1st | 148 | |
9 | Manuela Gostner Sarah Bovy Doriane Pin | BAR | LEC | MNZ | LMS | LMS | SPA | POR | 3rd | 67 | |||||
2023 | Iron Lynx | GT3 | 60 | Lamborghini Hurácan GT3 Evo 2 | Hiroshi Hamaguchi Vincent Abril | BAR | LMS | LMS | LEC | ARA | SPA | POR | 6th | 48 | |
2024 | Iron Dames | GT3 | 85 | Lamborghini Hurácan GT3 Evo 2 | Célia Martin Karen Gaillard | BAR | LEC | LMS | LMS | SPA | MUG | POR | 6th* | 27* |
* Season still in progress
Year | Car | Drivers | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | D.C. | T.C. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | Tatuus F3 T-318 | Doriane Pin | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27th | 11th |
Marta García | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28th |
Year | Car | Drivers | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | D.C. | T.C. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | Tatuus F4-T014 | Hamda Al Qubaisi | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42nd | NC |
Amna Al Qubaisi | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31st | |||
2020 | Tatuus F4-T014 | Leonardo Fornaroli | 20 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 108 | 9th | 5th |
Yaroslav Shervyrtalov | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36th | |||
Hamda Al Qubaisi | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 25th | 11th | ||
2021 | Tatuus F4-T014 | Kacper Sztuka | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36th† | 5th |
Leonardo Fornaroli | 21 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 180 | 5th | |||
Pietro Armanni | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 25th | |||
Maya Weug | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35th | |||
2022 | Tatuus F4-T421 | Ivan Domingues | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 15th | 6th |
Nicola Lacorte | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 28th | |||
Maya Weug | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 14th | 5th |
Year | Car | Drivers | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | D.C. | T.C. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | Tatuus F4-T014 | Leonardo Fornaroli | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC† | N/A† | |
Hamda Al Qubaisi | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC† | ||||
2021 | Tatuus F4-T014 | Leonardo Fornaroli | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | NC† | N/A† | |
Pietro Armanni | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC† | ||||
Maya Weug | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC† | ||||
2022 | Tatuus F4-T421 | Maya Weug | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC† | N/A† |
Current series | ||
---|---|---|
Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe | 2018–2019, 2022–present | |
Le Mans Cup | 2020–2021, 2023–present | |
European Le Mans Series | 2019–present | |
FIA World Endurance Championship | 2021–present | |
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup | 2021–present | |
IMSA SportsCar Championship | 2023–present | |
Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia | 2023–present | |
French Rally Championship | 2024–present | |
Ligier European Series | 2024–present | |
Former Series | ||
SuperCars Series Trophy | 2019 | |
Italian F4 Championship | 2019–2022 | |
ADAC Formula 4 | 2020–2022 | |
Ferrari Challenge Europe | 2020–2022 | |
Italian GT Championship | 2019, 2021, 2023 | |
GT2 European Series | 2023 | |
Formula Regional European Championship | 2024 |