24H Le Mans, 12H update: Chadwick solidly in top 5 in LMP2, Iron Dames and Wadoux fighting through the night
- RACERS
- Jun 15
- 4 min read
As the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans reached its halfway point, Jamie Chadwick's IDEC Sport remains solidly in the top five with good runs from each of the drivers; Iron Dames and Lilou Wadoux’s Richard Mille Ferrari fought in the top ten before the first safety car of the race.

As the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans reached its halfway point, the race had already delivered hours of mostly uninterrupted action, changing strategies, and the first safety car. All three teams featuring female entries—Iron Dames, Richard Mille AF Corse, and IDEC Sport—remain in contention after 12 hours, showing consistent pace through darkness and traffic.
The Iron Dames Porsche had been among the front-runners in LMGT3 during the opening phase, when rookie Célia Martin made up positions to go from 18th to 5th before Sarah Bovy continued the charge, also briefly leading during the pit cycles at the four-hour mark before handing over to Célia Martin and then Rahel Frey, who continued to push the #85 Porsche into the top five.
Jamie Chadwick completed a strong double stint for IDEC Sport’s #18 LMP2 car, which remained a consistent top-six runner, also thanks to Mathys Jaubert and André Lotterer's fast runs. Meanwhile, Lilou Wadoux’s early pace helped the #150 Richard Mille Ferrari recover from a tough start, climbing into the top-15 of LMGT3, after an early contact that sent the car around and a subsequent drive through penalty for pitting under FCY.
As the race moved deeper into the night, André Lotterer in the #18 IDEC Sport Oreca made up ground with a 3:40 pace, breaking into P4 just before the ninth hour. Running off-sequence due to an earlier strategy choice, he briefly dropped to P7 after the 13th pit stop, but his pace kept the car in contention. Lotterer ran as high as third before pitting on lap 149, with Jamie Chadwick returning to the car and holding P5 with a series of clean, quick laps.
In LMGT3, Célia Martin also returned behind the wheel of the Iron Dames Porsche into the night—one of the few bronze drivers to take on night duty. Despite facing pressure from gold and platinum-rated drivers like Ben Barker and Davide Rigon, she remained consistent with 4:00 lap times and climbed back to P7 in between cycles. After completing her minimum drive time, Martin handed the car back to Sarah Bovy just past the 10-hour mark. Bovy rejoined in P11 and quickly resumed the fight toward the front.
In the #150 Richard Mille Ferrari, Agostini took over from Lilou Wadoux and the Italian put in a strong middle-of-the-night stint, setting multiple 3:58 laps and gaining ground to climb into P13. He handed the car to Ferrari factory driver Wadoux, who continued the recovery with immediate pace, eventually moving up to P12 and closing in on the top ten.
As the eleventh hour unfolded, Jamie Chadwick was back in the #18 IDEC Sport Oreca after Lotterer had ran as high as fourth; she maintained her rhythm and began to close the gap to IDEC Sport’s sister car, now driven by Paul Lafargue. She pitted on lap 171, handing the car to Mathys Jaubert, who resumed in fifth. A few laps later, Jaubert briefly ran third before settling into P4 before a neutralization period.
The first Full Course Yellow in many hours was triggered by an off-track excursion for the #46 WRT BMW, followed soon after by the first Safety Car of the race. This came with 12h47m left on the clock when Cem Bölükbaşı in the #24 Nielsen Racing LMP2 car suffered a high-speed crash at Tertre Rouge. This incident brought a shift in strategies across the field, as many teams took the opportunity to pit.
Wadoux pitted and rejoined in P12, while Sarah Bovy stayed out and cycled up to seventh. The two had battled closely for several laps, with Wadoux initially getting ahead but with Bovy trying to respond back. During the close duel through traffic, Bovy went deep into the second chicane on the Mulsanne straight, but rejoined without issues.
During the Safety Car period, Jaubert briefly moved up to P3 in LMP2, just ahead of IDEC’s sister #28 car, but eventually settled into fourth once the race resumed. As the field completed the pass-arounds and green flag racing resumed, the Iron Dames Porsche sat in P7 with Bovy back at the controls – however the Belgian soon had to pit, dropping to ninth.Â
The IDEC Sport #18 machine was holding fourth in LMP2 with Jaubert at the helm, who also pitted on lap 184 after a disrupted stint for the French up-and-coming star.
The Richard Mille Ferrari was P12, with Wadoux showing good speed and already an extra stop away from those directly ahead, which allowed her to climb to P11 soon after the restart.
As Le Mans passes the halfway mark, all three female entries are navigating the night keeping it clean, avoiding trouble with still 12 long hours to go. With the morning hours on the horizon, the fight is far from over.