Lilou Wadoux secures best finish to date with top-6 in Super GT

Ferrari Factory driver Lilou Wadoux continued her development in the uber-competitive Japanese Super GT series and she secured her best finish to date – a sixth place in the GT300 class – at the three-hour race at Suzuka International Circuit.

Photo credits: PONOS Racing

Ferrari Factory driver Lilou Wadoux continued her development in the uber-competitive Japanese Super GT series, as she secured her best finish to date – a sixth place in the GT300 class – at the three-hour race at Suzuka International Circuit.

After groundbreaking results in some of the most important sports car championships in the world – including a first, historic victory for a female driver in World Endurance Championship – Wadoux is in fact contesting her first season in Japan, at the wheel of the #45 Ferrari 296 GT3 operated by PONOS Racing, a team in its debut season in Super GT.

Lilou shares the car with fellow FIA WEC competitor Kei Cozzolino – giving the team a great mix of experience.

On her first weekend in the series, Wadoux and Cozzolino had a positive outing at Okayama, just missing out on a top ten with an eleventh place that showed great potential for the duo. The first top-10 did eventually come at Fuji just one round later, as PONOS Racing secured a ninth place after a remarkable recovery in the race, with drivers executing perfectly in the first 3-hour race of the season.

At each outing, Lilou is visibly getting more comfortable with the series' format and learning the circuits despite the limited pre-season testing - as the team banks vital experience that translates into valuable learnings and ultimately performance in the following weekend. And this is exactly what happened again at Suzuka, where Wadoux and Cozzolino made the most of the equipment and made significant steps forward in their understanding of the Michelin tyres, topping their best finish with a superbly solid showing at Suzuka.

Wadoux had the chance to test at the home of the Japanese Grand Prix, gaining important insights, although the changeable conditions during the race meeting made for very unpredictable strategies and setups.

The PONOS Racing duo had a strong start of the weekend, clocking the eighth fastest time in the sole practice on Saturday with a 1:59.143 that was also the benchmark for the Michelin-equipped teams in the GT300 category. Lilou carried out setup work and the team collected data on both qualifying and long run.

There were therefore high hopes for qualifying, which was contested later in the day and that saw clear skies and higher temperatures up to 45°C on the track. Kei Cozzolino took over the Ferrari 296 GT3 for the Q1 Group B session and recorded a lap of 1:59.880, which placed him seventh - gaining access to the top group in Q2.

Lilou Wadoux was then behind the wheel for the Q2 session and she clocked a 2:00.004, which was enough for P12 on the grid: a very solid result for the team, due to a strategy that would prioritize race pace over qualifying.

Photo credits: PONOS Racing

In stark contrast with Saturday, race day was marked by cloudy skies and very unpredictable weather - which made strategies a gamble. Rain fell for the warm up session which preceded the 3-hour race - where the PONOS Racing duo set the fourth fastest time - but then the track dried quickly in time for the start of the race in the early afternoon.

With the return of Miki Koyama to Super GT, the third round of the season in Suzuka also became the first race in the series since 1998 to feature two female drivers on the grid. Koyama, who entered four races in 2023, qualified in 24th place and took the start in the #22 R'Qs Mercedes AMG GT3, alongside Hisashi Wada and Masaki Jyonai.

The Suzuka GT 3 Hours Race got underway with the pole-sitting D'Station Aston Martin driven by Tomonobu Fuji leading comfortably the class field, ahead of the #61 Subaru BRZ of Yamauchi, then soon built a small gap in the lead over the first laps. Kei Cozzolino managed to gain one position in the opening laps and advanced to P11, before he quickly closed in on the #96 K-Tunes Lexus ahead.

With the incoming traffic of the GT500 cars starting to lap the field, Cozzolino had to be extra cautious while also focusing on the class battles and he successfully navigated through traffic by gaining one position on lap 10, as he got ahead of the #5 Machsyaken Toyota for tenth place.

The PONOS Racing Ferrari then settled in P10, a couple of seconds behind the #96 K-tunes Toyota for the rest of the first stint. Cozzolino pitted for the first time 45 minutes into the race, opting to stop earlier than most of the class rivals. The Japanese driver remained behind the wheel of the #45 Ferrari 296, rejoining P21 in class and first of the cars on that strategy.

At the one hour mark, the sky turned grey and a light rain made its way onto the circuit, as umbrellas and ponchos appeared on the grandstands. While most of the cars ahead waited to pit anticipating the rain, the heavy shower ultimately did not come and the track was back to fully dry conditions: the front running cars pitted from lap 25 to 30 - and the dominant run of the D'Station Aston Martin Vantage was interrupted by the #31 apr Lexus, who had emerged in the lead after the pit stops.

The PONOS Racing strategy had paid off and Cozzolino made his way up to seventh after the pit cycle. On lap 40, a contact between the Keeper Cerumo Supra and the Niterra Motul Z scattered debris over the main straight and the Full Course Yellow was deployed with one hour and 40 minutes to go. The quick clean-up did not require the intervention of the safety car and the race resumed a few minutes later; Cozzolino resumed his chase of the #2 Muta GR86.

Photo credits: PONOS Racing

Meanwhile, Charlie Fagg had managed to overtake Kazuto Kotaka for the GT300 lead, bringing back the D'Station Aston into the GT300 class lead. A second full course yellow would see the #61 GT500 Subaru BRZ of Yamauchi coming to a halt on track. When the pits opened again, it was the opportunity for several GT300 cars to pit for their second time of the day, as the race approached its second hour. Cozzolino stayed out and climbed the field up to fourth place, before pitting on lap 52 for the second stop.

With Lilou Wadoux now behind the wheel, the PONOS Racing Ferrari was now up to sixth thanks to an efficient strategy and good race pace. The #2 Muta Racing Toyota opted to extend its second stint until lap 76 - and once it pitted from the lead, it handed over the lead to Charlie Fagg's Aston Martin, who returned ahead of the field with a significant gap to the pursuers.

Consistently in sixth place, Lilou tried to close a 20 second gap to the #52 Green Brave Supra - and, marginally faster, she brought the gap down to 15 seconds with 15 minutes to go while also navigating traffic.

The French racer cleared the lapped Upgarage Honda NSX and continued her steady run, but also had to keep the #7 BMW M4 at bay, three seconds down the road. However, Lilou was never under pressure and managed to slightly extend the margin in the final laps. She ultimately crossed the finish line in a highly positive sixth place finish.

"We really didn't know what the weather would be like on the day of the final race, so we started the day thinking, Well, what should we do? - until the very end", Lilou explained.

"I was in charge of the final stint of the race, and it was difficult to get out of the traffic and manage the pace, but overall I think it went well", she continued. "This time, we had a lot of uncertainties since practice, but we were able to put it together well in the end."

Improving their best finish with yet another point-scoring result - and closing in on a top five after just three races in the series, it was a widely positive outing for Lilou Wadoux at Suzuka.

The PONOS Racing driver line up maximised their equipment and made good progress early in the stint - where the car and tyre combination seems to be working better.

"It was challenging for me to drive at Suzuka Circuit for the first time, but I could feel that it is a wonderful circuit, and Michelin is also a very good tyre for a long race", Lilou added. "We will do our best together to prepare perfectly for the next race, improve our ranking even more than this time, and get on the podium."

By improving significantly at each round, the team proved to be on the right path and the drivers will have the opportunity to build on this progression with a further test day before the next round, which will take place on 3-4 August at Fuji Speedway, for the 350km race.