ELMS: Lilou Wadoux claims top 5 at 4H of Spa with inspired final stint

Lilou Wadoux brought the #50 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari across the finish line of the 4H of Spa to secure fifth place in the fourth round of the European Le Mans Series – the team’s third top-five finish of the season – maintaining their consistency and moving up to third place in the LMGT3 standings.

Photo credits: FocusPackMedia - Marcel Wulf

Lilou Wadoux brought the #50 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari across the finish line of the 4H of Spa to secure fifth place in the fourth round of the European Le Mans Series – the team’s third top-five finish of the season – maintaining their consistency and moving up to third place in the LMGT3 standings.

Ferrari factory driver Wadoux, alongside teammates Custodio Toledo and Riccardo Agostini, narrowly missed out on a podium in the closing stages when the young Frenchwoman was forced to pit for fuel from third position with just a few minutes to go.

After a disrupted first half of the race, the team recovered from eighth on the grid and, thanks to an inspired final stint from Wadoux, kept front-running pace to fight for the podium before ultimately claiming a valuable fifth place.

The Richard Mille AF Corse trio began the season with ninth at Barcelona, before enjoying a breakthrough moment at Lilou’s home race at Paul Ricard, where Wadoux produced another stellar performance to secure victory and put the #50 crew firmly in LMGT3 title contention. An eighth-place finish followed at Imola, in a weekend defined by changeable weather and a recovery drive from the back of the grid.

At Spa-Francorchamps, marking the start of the second half of the season, the Richard Mille AF Corse team aimed to bounce back with a strong points haul. In practice, Agostini set a 2:18.609 in FP1 for seventh in class, while in the Bronze Test session Custodio Toledo showed promising speed with a 2:20.425 for fifth. The #50 Ferrari continued to close the gap in FP2, again ending the session seventh.

Qualifying on Saturday saw typical Spa weather, with rain in the morning over the Ardennes. In the LMGT3 bronze-driver session, Toledo clocked a 2:44.621 on his first timed lap for eighth position, then improved to 2:42.8 before eventually finishing P8 with a 2:39.720, placing the #50 Ferrari on the fourth row of the grid.

Photo credits: FocusPackMedia - Marius Hecker

Race day brought sunshine to Spa. As in previous rounds, Toledo started for Richard Mille AF Corse and made a strong getaway, climbing to sixth. The bronze-rated driver showed solid pace in the 2:22s and closed in on the top five, battling Duncan Cameron in the #558 Spirit of Race Ferrari. Half an hour in, the #31 Racing Spirit of Le Mans LMP3 Ligier went off at Les Combes, triggering pit stops just before a VSC was called, which soon became a full safety car. After over 30 minutes of caution, racing resumed, but Toledo had fallen to 12th in class after the round of pit stops.

Almost immediately more incidents occurred – the #22 United Autosport car went into the wall at Stavelot, followed by the #27 Nielsen Racing crash at Blanchimont – resulting in nearly another full hour under safety car conditions. Racing finally restarted with 2h28m to go, and Toledo handed over to Agostini after pitting.

Agostini rejoined P11, and as most teams switched to their pro drivers at mid-distance, he began climbing through the field. By the midpoint he was up to tenth, then briefly ninth after overtaking Tom Fleming in the #86 GR Racing Ferrari, before Fleming retook the spot. Agostini was then locked in a tight fight, running ninth and chasing Davide Rigon in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari, with Gianmaria Bruni just ahead.

With 1h10m to go, the #50 Ferrari pitted early for its final stop, with Agostini handing over to Wadoux for the closing stint. The stop left them hoping for further cautions to reach the flag on fuel.

Wadoux immediately showed superb pace, lapping in the 2:19s – among the fastest in the field – and soon climbed into podium contention. After a sequence of pit stops from rivals, she ran as high as third, maintaining lap times comparable to the leaders.

With 24 minutes remaining, a Full Course Yellow for an LMP3 off at Les Combes was good news to the teams still owing a pit stop; the restart brought a sprint to the finish, Wadoux still pushing in the low 2:21s.

It was eventually not enough for fuel saving and as leaders made late fuel stops, the #50 Ferrari rose back into third – but with just four minutes remaining, Wadoux was also forced to pit for a splash of fuel, dropping to sixth before recovering to finish fifth after a spectacular drive.

It was a strong result nonetheless, with Wadoux’s final stint once again proving decisive. From eighth on the grid, the team fought through a chaotic race to secure their third top-five of the year. One of the few crews to score points in every race so far, Richard Mille AF Corse now sits third in the LMGT3 standings on 41 points – just five behind the leaders.

Next up is the 4H of Silverstone, with the British venue returning to the ELMS calendar for the first time since 2019.