Lilou Wadoux's 4H of Spa weekend ends before she can take the wheel
- RACERS
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Lilou Wadoux's difficult 2026 European Le Mans Series campaign suffered another frustrating setback at Spa-Francorchamps, where the Ferrari factory driver never had the opportunity to take over the #50 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 after one of her teammates was involved in a heavy accident during the opening stint.
Lilou Wadoux's difficult 2026 European Le Mans Series campaign suffered another frustrating setback at Spa-Francorchamps, where the Ferrari factory driver never had the opportunity to take over the #50 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 after teammate Custodio Toledo was involved in a heavy accident during the opening stint.
The Brazilian driver escaped the crash unharmed, but the Ferrari was severely damaged, resulting in the team's second retirement of the season and leaving the Frenchwoman without a single racing lap to her name at the 4H of Spa.
The misfortune continued a pattern that has followed the Richard Mille AF Corse crew throughout the 2026 campaign. After fighting for the ELMS LMGT3 title in 2025, the team has struggled to convert its pace into results this year, with Wadoux's campaign already compromised by circumstances outside her control. She missed the Barcelona season opener because of a calendar clash, while an early incident involving a teammate at Paul Ricard ended the team's race before Wadoux could take her stint.
There had nevertheless been clear signs of the Ferrari's potential at Imola, where Wadoux almost dragged the team into contention for a podium. After an early penalty, she produced one of the drives of the race to recover the Ferrari from ninth to third, only for a late fuel stop to drop the crew back to eighth at the chequered flag.
Spa initially offered considerable encouragement that the team's fortunes might finally change.
The #50 Ferrari looked competitive in practice, with Wadoux setting a 2:18.373 to put the car fifth in LMGT3 during the opening session. Toledo subsequently took over for the bronze-driver test and continued to show good pace, while the second practice session was affected by rain. Despite the less representative conditions, the Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari finished second fastest in class ahead of qualifying.
Toledo was again entrusted with qualifying duties, taking the wheel for the 15-minute LMGT3 session as the team's bronze driver. Conditions were particularly challenging, with rain having just left the track wet and teams facing a difficult choice between slick and wet tyres.
Those who opted for slicks struggled considerably, with several drivers sliding and spinning as they searched for grip, while Toledo gradually built his confidence in the tricky conditions. His opening benchmark of 2:29.197 placed the Ferrari third with six minutes remaining, before the field began to improve as the circuit evolved.
Toledo's final run produced a significant improvement to 2:21.956, restoring the Ferrari to third position before the closing stages. The #50 ultimately slipped one place as the remaining drivers completed their final attempts, but fourth place in LMGT3 represented an excellent qualifying result given the conditions and put the Ferrari on the second row of the class grid.
Sunday brought considerably better conditions, with the fog that had covered Spa early in the morning clearing to leave sunshine over the circuit for the four-hour race. Toledo made a clean start from fourth in LMGT3, carefully negotiating the outside line through the opening corner while riding the kerb and avoiding the incidents unfolding elsewhere. The immediate Safety Car deployment following Bukhanstov's crash in the #13 Inter Europol Competition LMP3 meant that the field was neutralised almost immediately, but Toledo emerged from the opening phase still fourth in class.
When racing resumed three laps later, the Ferrari driver maintained his position and gradually established a useful margin over the cars behind. His 2:22.9 pace was sufficient to keep the immediate challengers at bay, although the #50 was beginning to lose contact with the leading trio.
The race's constantly changing conditions then began to work in Toledo's favour. A Full Course Yellow around the 40-minute mark, triggered after several GT3 and LMP2 cars encountered trouble, allowed the Ferrari to make its first pit stop on lap 16. The timing of the stop proved beneficial, with Toledo rejoining in third place in LMGT3.
Another Safety Car followed shortly afterwards, and once racing resumed after the first hour, Toledo remained in third. Yet the race could barely settle into a rhythm. An incident involving the #74 Ferrari at the exit of Turn 7 immediately brought out another Safety Car just moments after the restart, while a subsequent collision between Takeshi Kimura's Ferrari and the #8 Virage LMP3 car caused another neutralisation.
Through all of this, Toledo continued to keep the #50 Ferrari clean and remained third in class, putting the team in an excellent position to hand the car over to Agostini and Wadoux for the second half of the race.
Another Safety Car was triggered by an incident involving the #59 Aston Martin at Turn 9, meaning the field completed very few uninterrupted laps during the opening half of the race. When green-flag running finally resumed, the pit-stop window approached and Toledo continued to run inside the LMGT3 top three.
Toledo's performance had been particularly important because, despite the numerous interruptions, he had kept the Ferrari in contention and was still running third as the race approached the halfway point. The Brazilian was, however, beginning to come under increasing pressure from Kurzejewski's Proton Competition Porsche.
Then came the incident that ended the team's race: while running in traffic, Toledo was unsettled by an approaching LMP2 prototype, which sent the Ferrari heavily into the barriers. The impact caused extensive damage to the #50 car, bringing the race to an immediate end. Toledo was thankfully able to walk away from the accident unharmed, but the Ferrari was severely damaged.
For Wadoux, the consequences were particularly frustrating: despite completing a strong weekend of preparation, she never even had the opportunity to climb into the car. It marked the second time this season that Wadoux has been denied her stint by an incident involving the team.
With the championship now heading towards its final stages, Wadoux and the Richard Mille AF Corse crew will have another opportunity to turn their speed into a result at the 4 Hours of Silverstone on September 13.
