Sarah Bovy has been asked the question countless times before: How does it feel to be a woman competing in a male-dominated sport?
And these days, she doesn’t really feel like she needs to answer it. “To be honest, I got sick of that question back when I was 16 years old,” she laughs. “I understand why they ask it, of course,” Bovy adds, cracking a smile. “It’s still unusual for most people to see a woman in a race car—but that’s exactly what we’re hoping to change.”
The now 34-year-old Belgian racecar driver is grabbing lunch in midtown Manhattan with her teammates—Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting, and Doriane Pin—as they enjoy a few quiet days of sightseeing before jetting off to their next race. Their team, known as the Iron Dames, is about to embark on the home stretch of what has been a long and hectic season.
Founded in 2018, the Iron Dames burst onto the racing scene as the sport’s only all-female endurance team, competing across the globe in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and, starting this year, in the U.S. as part of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) series. Their distinctive pink Porsche 911 (which replaced a pink Lamborghini Huracán) has become a fan favorite, drawing some of the loudest roars from crowds at racetracks throughout the world.
“Seeing fans in the grandstands wearing pink caps to support us has been amazing,” says Frey, a 37-year-old Swiss driver and the Dames’ de facto leader. “We’ve put in years of hard work for this, and it’s amazing now to see it all paying off.”
Courtesy of Iron Dames
The Dames, it’s worth pointing out, have grown their fanbase largely thanks to their exceptional results—they’re not just a novelty act. Over the past few seasons, the team has consistently set records and made history, achieving the first-ever pole position and podium in WEC for an all-female team, along with dozens of other podiums over the past few years.
And at this past weekend’s WEC finale in Bahrain, they made even more history by becoming the first all-female team to win a WEC race, clinching second place in the championship thanks to their emotional victory.
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