Lilou Wadoux secures career-best Le Mans finish as Richard Mille Ferrari maximizes to eighth place in LMGT3
- RACERS
- 1 minute ago
- 6 min read
Lilou Wadoux executed a determined and faultless run at the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans, overcoming a difficult package for the team at Le Mans to secure a very positive eighth-place finish in the LMGT3 class, which also represents her best class finish at Le Mans.
Lilou Wadoux, alongside Riccardo Agostini and Custodio Toledo, executed a determined and faultless performance at the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans, overcoming a difficult package for the team at Le Mans to secure a very positive eighth-place finish in the LMGT3 class.
For Wadoux, returning to the legendary race with Richard Mille Racing and AF Corse, the result marked her best class finish at Le Mans and added another chapter in what is already a remarkable sportscar resumé. The Frenchwoman arrived at La Sarthe fresh from a string of impressive performances across multiple championships, including a class victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring in IMSA, a solid progress in GT World Challenge Europe and coming off a vice-champion title in ELMS.
Driving the striking green-and-yellow Brazilian-inspired #150 Ferrari 296 GT3, the team entered the week hopeful of challenging near the front despite Ferrari's suboptimal BoP for the event that would make the task difficult.
The Richard Mille Racing Ferrari however showed encouraging pace in practice, though the tightly-packed LMGT3 field left little room for error. During the opening practice session, the #150 Ferrari recorded a best lap of 3:57.371 and finished 21st in class. However, the result was somewhat misleading, with only 1.6 seconds separating the entire field.
Qualifying duties fell to bronze-rated Custodio Toledo. The Brazilian continued to improve over the session and lowered his time to 3:57.991. Despite the progress, as rivals found more pace in the closing stages, Toledo ultimately finished 20th in class, missing out on a place in Hyperpole. As a result, the #150 Ferrari would start Saturday's race from 20th position in LMGT3.
Under warm sunshine and in front of packed grandstands, Toledo took the start for the Richard Mille Racing squad. The Brazilian slipped to 22nd through the opening corners but immediately settled into a solid rhythm. With several teams opting for different strategies regarding bronze-driver minimum drive times, the opening phase of the race became as much about execution as outright speed.
Toledo remained competitive over the first stint, as his pace compared favourably to the other bronze-rated Ferrari drivers in the field and he steadily began making progress. An early issue for the Proton Competition Ford promoted him to 21st before he closed on Martin Berry's Mercedes. After applying pressure for several laps, Toledo completed the move and advanced to 20th place.
Running longer than several direct rivals, Toledo climbed as high as 14th during the pit cycle and emerged still inside the top-15 after his stop. He then overtook Alexander West to move into 13th, continuing a good opening stint that steadily improved the team's position.
After more than two hours behind the wheel, Toledo handed the Ferrari to Agostini having gained valuable ground and kept the car completely trouble-free. Gold-rated Agostini immediately found additional pace into the Ferrari. The Italian lowered the team's best lap to a 3:57.5 before beginning a recovery drive through the LMGT3 field, quickly dispatching Alexander West and Antares Au before hunting down Ben Keating's Corvette.
A 3:56.6 lap allowed Agostini to rapidly close the gap. He passed Keating on lap 42 and later erased an 11-second deficit to Peter Dempsey's Corvette before making another successful overtake on lap 49.
As pit strategies unfolded, Agostini briefly cycled into the top ten before settling into 12th position following another stop.
By the four-hour mark, the Richard Mille Ferrari had already climbed from 20th on the grid to 11th in class. Six hours into the race, with night descending over La Sarthe, Lilou Wadoux finally climbed aboard the Ferrari for her first stint.
The Frenchwoman immediately showcased the pace that has made her one of Ferrari's most competitive GT drivers. Her first push lap came within touching distance of the car's best time before she began consistently circulating in the 3:57 range despite heavy traffic and some straight-line speed disadvantage.
Lilou climbed from 18th to 15th before producing a 3:56.7, one of the quickest laps by that point. She continued to chip away at the opposition and moved into 13th through the pit cycle.
On lap 107, Wadoux set a 3:56.119, establishing a new best lap for the #150 Ferrari. Shortly afterwards she overtook Conrad Laursen's Kessel Ferrari and consolidated 13th place.
It was a typically competitive stint from Wadoux: she focused on consistency and steadily extracted more performance than many of her direct competitors.
When the first safety car interrupted the race after a collision between the VistaJet Ferrari and a Ford Mustang, the timing worked in Richard Mille Racing's favour; the team thus caught back during the caution period, and Wadoux handed the car over having moved the Ferrari into contention for the top ten.
As the race entered its second half, Wadoux became remained of the most solid drivers in the LMGT3 midfield battle. Taking over again for her second stint during the night, she immediately resumed her forward progress.
Before a Full Course Yellow interruption, she had already climbed to eighth position. She then overtook Salih Yoluc's Corvette to move into seventh and briefly rose as high as sixth place during the pit cycle.
Wadoux then recorded the fastest first sector of any LMGT3 driver to that point in the race.
The Frenchwoman repeatedly lapped in the mid-3:56 range and remained among the quickest drivers in class despite Ferrari's BoP hampering their chances.
Even after subsequent pit stops cycled the Ferrari back down the order, Wadoux continued to fight. She worked her way back into the top ten, consistently building gaps behind while simultaneously reducing deficits ahead. Throughout the night she repeatedly demonstrated good tyre management and racecraft, making progress without taking unnecessary risks.
As dawn approached, Richard Mille Racing remained in the battle for a top-ten finish. Toledo completed his drive time and again delivered a solid run despite facing increasingly difficult competition from pro drivers around him. Whenever Wadoux returned to the cockpit, however, the Ferrari gained momentum.
The next stint saw her climb from tenth to eighth while simultaneously defending from Conrad Laursen and attacking the faster Akkodis Lexus. Wadoux eventually cleared the Lexus and grabbed the top ten once again as pit cycles rotated.
Lilou returned to the car with eight hours remaining and once again became one of the fastest Ferrari drivers on track. Despite sizeable gaps to the cars ahead, she consistently gained multiple seconds per lap and steadily reeled in the competition, repeatedly lapping in the 3:56-3:57 range.
The final hours became a fight to convert pace into a meaningful result. A lengthy safety car period compressed the LMGT3 field and offered fresh opportunities: the Richard Mille Racing Ferrari focused on maximising its own race with Wadoux and Agostini alternating behind the wheel.
After rejoining in 12th position, Wadoux quickly gained ground and inherited tenth when the leading Heart of Racing Aston Martin stopped with problems. She then continued her charge, climbing to ninth when Laursen pitted. Lap after lap she reduced the deficit to the cars ahead, once again extracting everything possible from the Ferrari package.
When she handed the car to Agostini for the closing stages, the team just outside the top-10.
And Agostini completed the job superbly: through a combination of steady pace and clever strategy, the Italian climbed as high as eighth before the final round of stops. As rivals ahead were forced into additional pit visits with around 10 minutes to go, the #150 Ferrari continued to pick up positions.
With just three minutes remaining, Agostini stayed out and inherited eighth place, successfully bringing the Ferrari home across the line of the biggest endurance race on the planet.
After 24 hours of racing, Lilou Wadoux, Riccardo Agostini and Custodio Toledo secured eighth place in LMGT3.
While eighth place may not fully reflect the potential of the trio, it represented the maximum achievable result. The team executed a perfectly clean race, with spotless race execution and strategy, eventually climbing from 20th on the grid to eighth at the chequered flag.
For Wadoux, the performance was once again particularly impressive; across multiple stints she was consistently among the fastest Ferrari GT3 drivers in the field, repeatedly dragging the #150 Ferrari closer to the top-ten.
The result also represents her best class finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, beating a ninth place in class - although in LMP2 - on her first participation in 2022, and a step forward from the eleventh place finish of 2025.
"This was my fourth 24 Hours of Le Mans, and I have to admit it was fantastic to race in the LMGT3 class", Lilou said, reflecting on the race. "We know the level is quite high: there were 24 cars at the start and we finished eighth."
"I think we did a great job all week and can be satisfied with what we achieved. I'm convinced the entire team, drivers, mechanics, and engineers, did an extraordinary job. In the end, we managed to run a clean race, stay on track, and fight until the end", she continued.
"Le Mans is always special: I think it's one of the highlights of the year for every driver. It's definitely one of the best races of the season, and when you're French, it's even better because you're racing on home soil."
After 24 demanding hours, it was a very solid result for a team that maximised every opportunity and for a driver who once again demonstrated why she remains one of the leading female talents in international endurance racing.