Iron Dames’ Martin ‘Progressing in Each Round’ of Debut Season

Photo: Drew Gibson/Porsche

Celia Martin says she is ‘making progress each round’ as she works through her debut season in the FIA World Endurance Championship as the newest member of the Iron Dames LMGT3 lineup.

The 33-year-old made her WEC debut at the Qatar 1812km as the Bronze-rated driver aboard the No. 85 Porsche 911 GT3 R, teaming up with Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting.

The WEC season forms part of a double program for Martin, as she also competes with Iron Dames in the European Le Mans Series alongside Gatting and Sarah Bovy.

Martin’s racing career started at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 2018, competing in both NLS as well as the Nürburgring 24.

Most notably, she picked up a class victory at the N24 in 2021, sharing a Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 with Carrie Schreiner, two-time IMSA GTD champion Christina Nielsen and multi-time Indianapolis 500 racer Pippa Mann.

She then stepped into ADAC GT4 Germany with PROsport Racing and Aston Martin before joining the Iron Dames in Michelin Le Mans Cup last year.

Martin qualified 13th for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, missing out on making the cut in Hyperpole by just over half a second.

“It’s a super high level in WEC, and everything matters and counts and that’s why it’s frustrating to miss Hyperpole by tenths,” Martin told Sportscar365.

“But in a way, it’s good because you have to push to work to keep improving and to put everything together, which is not easy in Spa.

“I make progress each round and this is what matters at the end. Consistency, progression. Honestly, I’m hoping for a better end of the season.”

Despite not yet having made the cut for Hyperpole, Martin has shown progression in qualifying during the early stages of her debut WEC season, as the 13th place in Spa marked her best result to date.

She put the No. 85 Porsche 15th on the grid for her series debut in Qatar, while Imola brought 14th place.

“Qualifying is so different from the race approach and this is something you just have to understand and get used to,” she said.

“It’s such a different mindset from racing. For sure, there will be one time where I will be in a Hyperpole and this will happen.

“Otherwise, I would have really missed something and it would be quite a big regret.”

Martin described her dual program in WEC and ELMS as a big benefit due to the large amount of track time it offers, allowing her to speed up the learning process in her sophomore GT3 season.

“When we saw the FP2 and FP1 [at Spa] it was a bit messy, so it’s good to have extra driving time, even in ELMS,” said Martin.

“For sure it’s just different [teams] as well, in my case that’s Proton and Manthey so it’s always a bit of getting used to it.

“But at the end, it’s a Porsche luckily, so yes, it’s driving time. I’m very grateful to have this possibility to keep improving.”

When asked what she feels are the most prominent areas for improvement in her driving, Martin noted that it is “a bit of everything.”

“It’s sometimes just a process,” she said. “Qualifying is very different. You cannot do track limits, you need to do a good lap, but without mistakes.

“So it’s different from racing, because racing you are on the limit, but it’s a different limit. So this is the process.

“On the driving technique, I’m getting more precise and just driving better. Also mentally, the approach of the weekend with the pressure and Le Mans coming. So it’s a bit of everything.

“To be honest, I never dared to look at Le Mans because already to be able to do GT3 was a biggest dream for me.

“So now I have the possibility to do Le Mans, it’s just unreal still.

“I am super excited. I still don’t realize really completely. I think when I will be there, it will be something different.”