Iron Dames lead the Pro-Am cars on the Portimão Race 1 grid after a red-flagged GT2 qualifying

Result, 18 October: Bovy and van den Hengel finished third in Pro-Am and seventh overall in Race 1. In Race 2 they dropped from sixth to eighth in class on the final lap (provisional classification). Full story: our race report.

Update, 18 October: the official Race 1 starting grid has the #85 seventh and as the first Pro-Am car, after the #77 High Class Racing Ligier was withdrawn. Both qualifying classifications are now final, with no changes for the Iron Dames.

The Iron Dames go into the final day of the GT2 European Series season with the #85 Maserati starting seventh in Race 1, at the head of the Pro-Am cars, and seventh in Race 2 on the qualifying order at Portimão. Laura van den Hengel was second in Pro-Am in a first qualifying session that was red-flagged twice and never restarted. Sarah Bovy was fifth in class in the second session, 0.022 seconds behind the next Pro-Am car.

Start times (local, CEST and US Eastern) and how to watch the Portimão weekend: our Portimão schedule. Our preview of the weekend for Bovy and van den Hengel: Back where it started.

Two red flags and a cancelled lap in Q1

Laura van den Hengel took the first session in the #85 Iron Dames by SP Racing Maserati. When the red flag came out with 7:39 on the clock, the live timing had her seventh overall with a 1:48.303. After the restart she improved to a 1:46.973, which put her eighth of the 16 classified cars.

The session never reached its natural end. With 34 seconds left, Race Control reported that the #77 High Class Racing Ligier of Audunn Gudmundsson had hit the tyre barrier at Turn 1, and the session did not restart. The stewards cancelled the #77’s best lap up to that red flag, because the car had caused it. Gudmundsson still kept a 1:46.677 and with it the Pro-Am top spot, ahead of van den Hengel in second. The #27 CMR Lamborghini had its best lap up to the first red flag cancelled and was not classified. The classification does not give a reason for the first red flag.

Antoine Potty was fastest in the #6 I4Race Maserati with a 1:43.932, 3.041 seconds quicker than the #85. In a session cut into three short runs, few drivers got more than a handful of flying laps.

Bovy within two hundredths of fourth in class

Qualifying 2 started at 12:31 local time, 16 minutes behind schedule, and without the #77 and the #27, which did not start. Sarah Bovy set a 1:44.466 on her third lap for seventh overall and fifth in Pro-Am.

The Pro-Am order behind pole was tight. Louis Prette put the #1 LP Racing Maserati on pole with a 1:43.165, 0.027 seconds ahead of Potty. Behind the #1, the Pro-Am cars ran #7 Dinamic Motorsport (1:43.782), #119 MZR Motorsportzentrum Ried (1:44.301) and #111 SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm (1:44.444), with Bovy 0.022 seconds behind the #111.

Fourth and third in practice

The weekend had started well. In Friday’s first free practice, the #85 was fourth of 17 with a 1:45.299, 0.197 seconds behind the #111 Mercedes-AMG of David Thilenius and Jay Mo Härtling, and second in Pro-Am. On Saturday morning the car went 0.646 seconds quicker in the second session: a 1:44.653 for third overall and third in Pro-Am, behind the #1 LP Racing Maserati (1:44.208) and the #7 Dinamic Motorsport Maserati (1:44.541). Both practice classifications are final.

For more on how GT2 cars differ from the GT3 field they share the Portimão weekend with, see our explainer on GT3, GT2 and GT4.

Our read

On pace alone, the Iron Dames belong nearer the front than the grid suggests. They were third in Pro-Am in practice on Saturday morning, then had a qualifying in which van den Hengel’s session was broken up twice and Bovy missed fourth in class by two hundredths of a second. The #77 that beat van den Hengel to the Pro-Am top spot in Q1 did not start Q2 after its Turn 1 impact and has since been withdrawn, which moves the #85 up to seventh and to the front of the Pro-Am cars on the Race 1 grid. A top-five Pro-Am result in both races looks realistic if they keep it clean.

Race 1 at 09:30 local, Race 2 at 14:15

Race 1 starts on Sunday at 09:30 local time (10:30 CEST, 4:30 ET), Race 2 at 14:15 local time (15:15 CEST, 9:15 ET). The official Race 1 grid has the #85 seventh, as the leading Pro-Am car. The #115 NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG drops three places after a stewards’ decision for speeding under the Q1 red flag. The Race 2 grid follows from Qualifying 2, where the #85 was seventh. Both races are the final rounds of the 2026 GT2 European Series season.

Sources: official GT2 European Series classifications for Free Practice 1 and 2 (final) and Qualifying 1 and 2 (final), the official Race 1 starting grid and stewards’ decision 3, and Race Control messages in the official live timing.

Can the Iron Dames turn seventh on the grid into a Pro-Am podium on Sunday? Tell us in the comments.