While many of motorsport's top series and iconic events are overwhelmingly male-dominated, the Le Mans 24 Hours is far more diverse. Women drivers are far more common, and have played an important role in the race's history and progression.
This weekend will see just one all-women team take to the track for the Le Mans 24 Hours, with the Iron Dames hoping to better their result of fourth in class last year when the team narrowly missed out on a podium position in the LM GTE Am class.
How many women have driven in the Le Mans 24 Hours?
59 women have taken part across the 88 editions of the Le Mans 24 Hours, with a total of 132 starts and 68 finishes from female drivers. A record ten women took part in the 1935 race, which saw 124 total drivers enter.
France has the most female drivers with 22, followed by the UK on 16 and the US and Switzerland with four each, though women from 13 countries in total have entered the prestigious race.
Which female driver has the most entries in the Le Mans 24 Hours?
The woman with the most entries to the Le Mans 24 Hours is Anne-Charlotte Verney, who took part in 10 consecutive Le Mans races from 1974 to 1983. She and co-drivers Xavier Lapeyre and François Servanin took a class win in 1978 in a Porsche 911 Carrera RSR, while her best overall finish - sixth place - came behind the wheel of a Porsche 935 K3 in 1981.
How well have women done at the Le Mans 24 Hours?
Female drivers are far less common than their male counterparts, however the lack of representation hasn't hampered their ability to secure results.
The best finish for a woman is an overall fourth place and class win, which was taken in 1932 by Odette Siko in an Alfa Romeo 6C 1750. In more recent times Vanina Ickx, daughter of former Formula 1 driver and six-time Le Mans winner Jacky, came in seventh in the 2011 race behind the wheel of a Lola-Aston Martin B09/60.
Of the 4,298 crews that have participated in the Le Mans 24 Hours 23 have been all-female. Odette Siko and Marguerite Mareuse, both French, have the record for the best result for an all-female crew, having taken their Bugatti T40 to seventh place in 1930.
There have been ten female class winners, including Odette Siko, Anne-Charlotte Verney and Michéle Mouton, while Lella Lombardi finished second in class in 1976.
Who are the women racing in the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours?
There is just one all-women team competing in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2024 and no further women have entered the endurance competition. The Iron Dames will take on their third attempt at Le Mans, hoping to finally clinch an LM GTE Am class podium.
The team looked strong in 2023 for a chance on the podium, leading the class race just hours before the chequered flag. A late brake change during the last hour though saw Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy demoted down to fourth, with Bovy admitting: “Obviously we are super disappointed. Finishing so close to the podium after fighting for the lead for so long is painful.”
The three drivers will return to Le Mans 24 Hours in 2024, with Rahel Frey returning to cover an injured Doriane Pin, who had hoped to participate. The current F1 Academy and WEC driver withdrew from last month’s Formula Regional European Championship race in Spa-Francorchamps after fracturing her ribs, though the origin of the injury is still unclear.
Pin released a video on her social media platforms at the end of May to announce that she will be unable to compete with the Iron Dames at Le Mans 24 Hours as she takes time to heal. The French driver said: "This decision is tough and sad, especially since Le Mans is one of the biggest races of the year, and for me, it's a very special one.”
Rahel Frey will replace Pin at the Circuit de la Sarthe for her seventh attempt at winning the race. The Swiss is an experienced endurance racer, taking several podium finishes at the European Le Mans series. She also competed with the Iron Dames in WEC last season, helping the team to come runner-up in the championship.
Frey will be joined by Sarah Bovy who is also an established member of the Iron Dames lineup. The Belgian joined the team in 2021 and became the first female driver to score a class pole in the WEC at Monza in 2022. She also raced for Iron Lynx at the European Le Mans series claiming second place in the penultimate race and a victory in the final race in Algarve to bring the team home with third place in the championship.
Michelle Gatting, who has been with the Iron Dames since 2022, will join the pair for her sixth time at Le Mans 24 Hours. She is currently driving in both the WEC and European Le Mans Series LMGT3 categories for the Dames. The Dane is a previous Ferrari Challenge Europe champion in 2021 and claimed a podium in the 2013 VW Scirocco R-Cup.
How have women been involved in the Le Mans 24 Hours besides driving?
Women are involved in all aspects of Le Mans, whether it's in the driver's seat, on the pitwall, in the garage or in any other capacity, though Leena Gade is arguably the most successful.
In 2011 Gade became the first woman in Le Mans history to be the race engineer of a winning team, when Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoît Treluyer took their Audi R18 to victory. She repeated the feat in 2012 and again in 2014, and is currently working as an engineer in the IMSA series.
