One hundred years on and the challenge of the Le Mans 24 Hours remains as captivating as it was when the clock began its first countdown in 1923. As the greatest sports-car race in the world celebrates its centenary this weekend, one of its little-known but most trailblazing innovations, not of technology or engineering, is pertinent now perhaps more than ever.
Swiss driver Rahel Frey knows change is coming in motor racing and while it has been torturously slow she is enthusiastic to be at the vanguard of promoting it at the vingt-quatre with the all-female Iron Dames team. She is proud of anything that can be done to encourage greater female participation in the sport, even if it is something of a cliche. Sometimes making a point, is the point.
“We have decided to race in pink suits and with the pink car,” she says. “We want to underline our message that we support females in our sport and I am proud to have such a bright car so the Iron Dames can’t be missed. I hope people who haven’t followed the race before will choose our pink Porsche and follow it throughout the race.”
Frey’s enthusiasm, shared by fellow drivers Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting, from Belgium and Denmark respectively, is palpable. Le Mans has always driven advances in racing and road car technology but for women in the sport, 100 years has been an awfully long time with awfully little representation.
The first 24 Heures du Mans was held in 1923 and the organisers, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), who put on this annual spectacle at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France, were more forward thinking than most. From the off they mandated that women were entitled to compete on an equal footing alongside men, which for the time was remarkable. The first women to race at Le Mans were Marguerite Mareuse and Odette Siko in 1930, who came seventh in their Bugatti Type 40. Siko, a pioneering French driver, would win her class at La Sarthe in 1932; her fourth place overall remains the highest finish for a female driver at the race.
As the decades ticked by Le Mans only grew in popularity, a test, largely, of man and machine that put both through their paces with relentless demands and no little drama, such that during the Group C era of the 1980s, sports-car racing was a serious rival to Formula One.
Women had kept up a small but noticeable participation in the 24, including Michèle Mouton who won her class in 1975 before moving on to become a hugely successful rally driver with Audi. But the numbers regarding female participation in motorsport remained tiny, 65 in total since 1923. In part this was due to the ACO’s controversial decision to row back on its originally progressive attitude by banning women from taking part between 1957 and 1971. The drive to change these numbers is one of the purposes behind the Iron Dames project.
The all-female squad, which will compete in the No 85 Porsche 911 RSR-19 in the GTE-AM class, is part of the team created with the intention of promoting women in motorsport at every level – driving, engineering, management – and which has been successfully doing so since 2018. They have entered an all-female team in the 24 since 2019, securing ninth place three times as well as seventh last year in their class. This time they want a podium.
The team was formed in 2017 and first raced in 2018 at the Dubai 24 Hours, a year before the W Series struck out in a similar direction. Since then they have become the first all-female team to take a podium in the World Endurance Championship, in 2022. They also won their class at the 24 Hours of Spa in the same year.
One of the founders of the project is Deborah Mayer, now president of the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission. She believes competing at Le Mans is key to making a difference. “The project is dear to my heart, it is a programme which is there for the long term,” she says. “Le Mans is the most mythical race and it is important to be there, because Le Mans is the lighthouse of endurance racing. It is one of the most complete races that exists. As a team it is pivotal to be there, to show our potential and the will to excel.”
As a showcase for the team, Le Mans in 2023 could not be better. The race is drawing more attention than ever with the new hypercar class attracting manufacturers in droves. This year Ferrari also return to the scene of some of their greatest triumphs for the first time since they last raced in the top class in 1973. Indeed, the Scuderia claimed pole position and a front-row lockout on Thursday night, their first for half a century when Arturo Merzario and Carlos Pace were on top back in seventy-three. They are joined by Porsche, reigning champions Toyota, Cadillac and Peugeot. The meeting has sold out to its capacity of 300,000 for the first time.
“When you drive it, Le Mans is simply spectacular,” says Frey. “I have never experienced a race as intense as the first time here. I believe that is the same for every driver and that is what makes you want to come back and that is the same for spectators. Once you have been once, you want to come back.”
She is spot on. It is an addiction, a spectacle like no other. The 37-year-old has adored the sport since her father let her take a shot at karting, since when she has successfully pursued a career as a full-time driver. For Frey, Le Mans remains a unique experience. “At the Porsche curves, two long left-handers and then a quick right-hander, you simply feel the power and the downforce of the car,” she says with a smile. “I don’t get the same sensation of speed anywhere else. You really feel the force of the car, you feel very much linked with your car. It gives you a sensation of speed, it’s a unique track.”
When darkness falls and the headlights pierce the gloom amid the pervading smell of barbecues from the boisterously entertaining campsites, the track, the atmosphere and the challenge is like no other.
“From a driver’s perspective at the first part of the night, you are excited in the dark,” says Frey. “You follow your intuition – sliding into corners, you can’t see braking points properly so sometimes you overshoot but you manage to stay on track. Most challenging is the second part of the night, two or three in the morning. The night is not done and the last hours before the sun comes up again is just intense, it feels long and that is the most important part where you cannot make mistakes.”
Just finishing the 24 is rightly considered an achievement, a team effort from everyone involved with an enormous sense of release when the flag falls on Sunday. There is also a huge sense of pride. This is a feeling multiplied at the Iron Dames. “In 2018 we were five women, now we are 28 women,” says Mayer. “It’s not only drivers, it’s about all the women in motorsport at all levels working as a team.
“At Le Mans there is no place for egos, you need all of these people working together. It is the pinnacle of racing and it shows all the possibilities in racing, where there are 300,000 passionate people, pushing you to succeed. It is absolutely beyond words.”
