Le Mans Cup: Top five for Léna Bühler at Silverstone
- RACERS
- Sep 15
- 5 min read
In her first outing at Silverstone, Léna Bühler secured her fourth top-5 finish in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, as together with teammate Matteo Quintarelli, the 23Racing Racing duo had another strong weekend to secure fifth place in their LMP3 rookie season.
In her first outing at Silverstone, Léna Bühler secured her fourth top-5 finish in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, as together with teammate Matteo Quintarelli, the 23Racing Racing duo had another strong weekend to secure fifth place in their LMP3 rookie season.
On her first season of endurance racing, in fact, the Swiss driver has been nothing short of impressive. A race winner and vice-champion in the inaugural F1 Academy season, Bühler made the step up to LMP3 in the Michelin Le Mans Cup in 2025, joining 23Events Racing as part of the ladder towards the European Le Mans Series. Sharing the #50 Ligier with fellow rookie Matteo Quintarelli, she immediately proved competitive, consistently fighting at the front.
Her campaign began strongly at the season opener in Barcelona, where she impressively recovered from a first-lap contact to climb back into the top five. At Le Castellet, she and Quintarelli again showcased podium pace before a penalty dropped them out of contention. The breakthrough, however, came on the biggest stage: the Road To Le Mans double-header supporting the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Bühler in fact made history by becoming the first woman to win a Le Mans Cup race outright with a stunning victory in Race 2, in only her fourth start in the series.
With a string of frontrunning results, she arrived at Spa-Francorchamps firmly in the LMP3 title fight, where she and Quintarelli added a fifth-place finish after recovering from a challenging qualifying.
The fifth round at Silverstone – the iconic venue that hosted the Michelin Le Mans Cup for the first time – was off to a great start once again for Bühler and Quintarelli, who were immediately up to pace and third fastest in LMP3 in the opening practice, with a 1:54.609 lap. Both drivers made big steps forward, on their first visit to the track.
The 23Events Racing duo confirmed themselves among the fastest in class with second place in LMP3 in the second session, just one tenth from the championship-leading #85 Duqueine – and overall showing good consistency on race pace.
In LMP3 qualifying, Quintarelli took over driving duties for the 15-minute session. His first representative time was a 1:53.530, second fastest by half a second to the #85 R-Ace GP Duqueine. Quintarelli then improved to 1:53.109, closing the gap to just 0.08s off pole. The battle for pole was fully on, as the Italian set a purple first sector but hit traffic and couldn’t improve. The #50 23Events Racing team secured second place and would line up on the front row.
Léna Bühler took the start for the #50 23Events Racing duo, from the front row for the second time this year, this time alongside the #85 LMP3 R-Ace GP driven by Hugo Schwarze.
At the green flag, Bühler was pushed wide at Copse and forced off line, losing second place as both the #87 CLX and the #29 Forestier Racing cars got by. A few spins in LMP3 added to first-lap chaos, but the race stayed green.
With tyres not yet up to optimal temperature, Bühler came under pressure and dropped to eighth as the #86 R-Ace GP and the #30 CD Sport dived through, forcing their way past. She had to defend in tricky low-grip conditions, with the track dry but still damp from earlier rain.
Bühler then battled elbows-out with Cédric Oltramare, the two running side by side into Stowe. Bühler held her own under braking, but they traded positions again. She eventually settled in ninth, showing improving pace with a 1:56.6 lap.
On lap 11, the #98 Motorsport98 Ligier LMP3 of De Doncker spun and was stranded in the gravel, bringing out the first Full Course Yellow of the race.
The green flag waved again with 1h24m to go, but immediately another major accident saw the Ebimotors Porsche collide at high speed with the #62 Bretton Racing prototype in a three-wide action at Copse. The Porsche slammed into the outside wall at speed, bringing out the safety car, although both drivers escaped unhurt.
The restart came with 1h09m remaining. Bühler held ninth, had a good restart and attacked Oltramare, carefully navigating GT3 traffic and staying close to the car ahead.
Bühler, now up to pace, improved her personal best to a 1:56.438, extending the gap to the cars behind while staying close to the group of leaders, lapping on par with the overall top five.
As LMP3 rivals began pitting for driver changes, Bühler went a lap longer before bringing the #50 Ligier in on lap 21, handing over to Matteo Quintarelli from eighth in LMP3 class.
Quintarelli rejoined in P20, in the midst of the pit stop cycle. As others completed their stops, he climbed back into the top ten, eventually slotting in eighth by the end of the round of stops.
A Full Course Yellow was deployed on lap 26 as Dopplemeyr’s Ligier stopped at pit exit.
At the restart, Quintarelli made a strong charge, attacking Droux’s CLX Motorsport Ligier but unable to get ahead. Still, the #50 23Events Racing Ligier pushed hard in a three-car battle.
Quintarelli stayed close in duels, then cleared the #86 R-Ace GP of Doquin after setting a new personal best of 1:55.199. Up to eighth, he chased again David Droux’s CLX Ligier and capitalized when Droux ran wide over a kerb, seizing seventh place.
When Rabin in the #31 CD Sport went off into the gravel, another Full Course Yellow was called.
On the restart with 17 minutes to go, Quintarelli was now up to fifth, having also cleared the #30 CD Sport of Rogeon. He set his sights on the #92 Forestier Racing Ligier, five seconds ahead.
Quintarelli kept gaining ground, improving sector times and clocking his first sub-1:55 lap with a 1:54.957, then added purple sectors. With five minutes left, the gap was under 1.5s.
In the closing laps, Quintarelli set the fastest lap of the race in 1:54.310 and caught Roussanne, almost launching an attack, but ultimately had to settle for a solid fifth.
It was another strong points finish in LMP3 for Léna Bühler – her fourth top-five result of the season.
"My first time racing on the iconic Silverstone circuit, I really enjoyed the experience," Léna commented. "We had strong pace and the car performed well, which allowed us to qualify second. At the start of the race I struggled to get the tyres up to temperature and lost a few positions. We still managed to finish in 5th place. There’s still one race to go and we’re ready to show our speed."
With the win at Silverstone, Hadrien David and Hugo Schwarze sealed the 2025 Michelin Le Mans Cup title. But with one round remaining at Portimão, Portugal, on 18 October, Léna Bühler – now fourth in the championship standings – can still fight for the vice-champion title.
