Célia Martin "super happy" to start on pole for the 4 Hours of Silverstone
- Ghazlan Atqiya Firmansyah
- 16 hours ago
- 2 min read
The Iron Dames trio of Célia Martin, Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting will start Sunday's 4 Hours of Silverstone from pole position. Martin represented the team during the wet qualifying session following a thrilling LMGT3 qualifying battle.
Rainfall 15 minutes before the start of the session made the conditions tricky, but it did little to dampen the French driver's spirit. From the start of the session, the 33-year-old showed an encouraging pace by setting the sixth-fastest lap during her first run.
The improving conditions meant her lap time continued to improve as well, and she topped the timing sheet with a 2:14.811 lap in her second run. Her rival for pole position was the No.63 Iron Lynx's Martin Berry.
During her penultimate lap, Martin was just 0.222 seconds behind Berry. But with the track drying up quickly, she snatched pole position during her final run with 2:11.819.
With pole position in hand, the Iron Dames scored one crucial bonus point to move into the lead of the LMGT3 Drivers' and Teams' championships, tying the No.59 Racing Spirit of Léman. This was also Martin's first pole position in the ELMS.
Martin said: "I'm super happy!
"That's finally my first pole position, and especially in the tricky conditions at Silverstone Circuit, it's super cool.
"At the end, this was really a team effort. We managed the session very well."
Martin then explained how challenging her final lap was as the grip was nonexistent.
"The conditions were changing lap by lap.
"It was all about finding the grip which, at the end, almost didn't exist any more for the wet tyres.
"I'm super happy for the whole team and for the Iron Dames. We are back to P1 in the championship, or at least equal, so the fight keeps going, and I'm really excited to go racing tomorrow!"
