Back where it started: Iron Dames’ Bovy and van den Hengel close their GT2 season at Portimão
Van den Hengel won her first race on this circuit in 2025 and Bovy took ELMS pole here by almost a second in 2024; after a double retirement at Zandvoort, the #85 Maserati wants a result in the GT2 European Series finale
The GT2 European Series season ends this weekend at the Algarve International Circuit, and for the Iron Dames crew it is a return to familiar ground. Sarah Bovy and Laura van den Hengel share the pink #85 Iron Dames by SP Racing car in the Pro-Am class, and both have a history at Portimão. RNT-Motorsports follows them all weekend and will speak to them after the races.
Van den Hengel’s first win came on this circuit
In 2025, at the season opener of GT Cup Europe, van den Hengel won the Pro-Am class in race 1 at Portimão with Paul Meijer for Burgers Motorsport by HWM. It made her the first woman to win a race in that series, and she fought for the overall win until the final corner, as Racers Behind the Helmet reported. Van den Hengel pointed us to that weekend herself. It was the start of a season that ended with the Pro-Am title at Monza, the first title for a woman in a GT Sport championship.
Bovy’s benchmark from 2024
Bovy knows the circuit from the 2024 European Le Mans Series finale. In the Iron Dames Porsche she took LMGT3 pole with a 1:42.408, almost a second clear of the rest of the class. It was her fourth pole of that ELMS season.
From Porsche to Maserati
Iron Dames entered the GT2 European Series for the first time this year. The crew started the season at Monza in a Porsche 992 Cup car in the team’s pink colours and later switched to a Maserati MC20 GT2. For Bovy, the team’s experienced Silver driver, the programme pairs her with last year’s GT Cup Europe Pro-Am champion; for van den Hengel it is her first season in the team’s main programme after one year in the “Supported by Iron Dames” scheme.
Zandvoort: fast, then nothing
The previous round, at Zandvoort in September, was meant to be van den Hengel’s home weekend. According to Racers Behind the Helmet, she set one of her best qualifying times of the season, but as we reported from Zandvoort, a terminal failure in the second qualifying session kept the #85 out of race 1, and race 2 was over after fifteen laps. Portimão is the last chance this year to turn that pace into a result.
Not the only women at Portimão
The Iron Dames are not alone this weekend. In Saturday’s GT World Challenge Europe race, Lilou Wadoux drives the #50 AF Corse Ferrari in the Pro class and Carrie Schreiner the #88 Tresor Attempto Audi in the Bronze class (see the full entry list). More stories about women in the sport are on Through Her Eyes, and how the GT classes work is explained in GT World Challenge classes explained.
Our read
Two non-finishes at Zandvoort hide the most encouraging part of that weekend: the pace in qualifying. On a circuit where both drivers have already been fast, two clean races would be the result this programme has been waiting for.
When to watch
According to SRO’s provisional timetable, GT2 European Series qualifying is on Saturday at 11:55 local time (12:55 CEST). Race 1 starts on Sunday at 09:30 (10:30 CEST) and race 2 at 14:15 (15:15 CEST).
Will Portimão give Bovy and van den Hengel the result Zandvoort took away? Tell us in the comments.
