Léna Bühler concludes highly promising rookie LMP3 season with top-ten finish at Portimão
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Léna Bühler wrapped up an impressive rookie season in the 2025 Michelin Le Mans Cup with a top-ten finish in the final round at Portimão, where the Swiss racer once again displayed front-running pace alongside teammate Matteo Quintarelli in the #50 23Events Racing Ligier but was denied a potential podium by unfortunate penalties.
Léna Bühler wrapped up an impressive rookie season in the 2025 Michelin Le Mans Cup with a top-ten finish in the final round at Portimão, Portugal. The Swiss racer once again displayed front-running pace alongside teammate Matteo Quintarelli in the #50 23Events Racing Ligier JS P320, after a year marked by strong performances not always capitalized due to misfortunes.
Bühler however made history as the first woman ever to win a Le Mans Cup race outright at the flagship event at La Sarthe, remaining the highlight of the season.
Despite a challenging final round that included penalties and a chaotic race with several interruptions, the duo wrapped up their campaign with ninth place at the chequered flag and seventh in the championship standings, with Bühler confirming herself as one of the standout rookies of the season.
Vice-champion in the inaugural F1 Academy season, Léna made the step from single-seaters to endurance racing this year with 23Events Racing, forming an all-rookie line-up with Matteo Quintarelli. The pair immediately impressed with top-five pace from the opening round at Barcelona, where Bühler recovered from first-lap contact to finish in the top five.
At Le Castellet, they again fought for a podium finish before a penalty dropped them down the order, but their breakthrough came at the Road to Le Mans double-header — the prestigious event supporting the 24 Hours of Le Mans — where Bühler claimed a sensational overall victory in Race 2.
The momentum continued with a fifth place at Spa-Francorchamps after a recovery from a difficult qualifying, and another top-five finish at Silverstone, marking her fourth top-five result of the season.
At Portimão, Bühler and Quintarelli immediately showed competitive pace in free practice once again, the #50 Ligier running near the top of the LMP3 leaderboard in both sessions and topping FP2 with a 1:39.523 lap. Quintarelli took the wheel for qualifying and initially sat fifth after the first runs before a red flag interruption halted the session.
When the track went green again, he improved significantly, setting a time within half a second of pole and moving up to third on the grid behind the #85 R-Ace GP Duqueine of Hadrien David and the #70 Gebhardt Motorsport Duqueine, securing a strong starting position for Saturday’s two-hour season finale.
Bühler took the start for 23Events Racing and lined up third overall. Despite a tricky getaway, she managed to hold her ground through the opening corners and completed the first lap in fourth position. On lap two, the safety car was deployed after Lemoine went off into the gravel at Turn 7, neutralizing the race with Schwarze leading from Catalano, Provost, and Bühler in fourth.
At the restart with 1 hour and 47 minutes to go, Bühler made a clean getaway and maintained her position before another interruption followed shortly after when debris on track caused a full course yellow. As the field slowed, a major accident unfolded on the main straight involving Stone and Romano Ricci, as well as a separate collision between Aust and Gudmundsson, which eliminated all four cars. The safety car was deployed once more, and then the race was red-flagged for cleanup, with the clock paused.
Racing resumed under the safety car with 1 hour and 39 minutes remaining, and when the green flag waved again with 1 hour and 33 minutes to go, Bühler came under pressure from Valint at the restart but held firm. She then picked up the pace and set the overall fastest lap of the race at that point — in a 1:40.266 — while keeping her rivals at bay and maintaining a roughly one-second gap to the cars behind.
With 1 hour and 25 minutes left, another full course yellow was called for debris in multiple locations. On the restart, Catalano, running in second, bunched up the field, allowing Valint to find a way past Bühler into Turn 1, dropping her to fifth. Soon after, Max Mayer began to challenge her for position, but Bühler defended well to keep him behind.
On lap 20, chaos struck again when Provost suffered an issue from third place, and Mayola spun, getting collected by Imbourg — both cars were forced to pit or retire, bringing out another safety car. Bühler remained in fourth as the majority of the LMP3 field pitted on lap 23; the 23Events Racing team followed suit, executing a very quick stop and handing over to Matteo Quintarelli. After the pit cycle, the Italian emerged second in class and fourth overall, behind the #85 R-Ace GP Duqueine driven by Hadrien David, with two Pro-Am entries — which had pitted a lap earlier — temporarily leading overall.
On the restart with 48 minutes to go, however, drama struck as the #50 23Events Racing squad was handed a drive-through penalty for exceeding track limits, which relegated Quintarelli to 13th once served. Despite the setback, the Italian displayed strong pace and began clawing his way back up the order, passing Lindberg for twelfth on lap 39, then overtaking Pitamber and Kristensen to move into tenth by lap 41. He continued his charge by passing Lehmann for ninth on lap 42. A 13-second gap separated him from Pierre, who soon received a drive-through penalty for track limits himself, allowing Quintarelli to advance to eighth.
Unfortunately, the stewards then placed 23Events Racing under investigation for a potential short pit stop, and with just eight minutes remaining, a one-second stop-and-go penalty was issued for being under the minimum pit stop time. Quintarelli served the penalty, dropping to twelfth once again, but launched another late charge, overtaking Pierre for eleventh and then Lindberg for tenth in the closing laps. After post-race penalties were applied to other competitors, the #50 Ligier was promoted to ninth in the final classification, completing a strong recovery considering the multiple setbacks endured during the race.
Despite the unlucky end to their season, Bühler and Quintarelli demonstrated pace to challenge consistently for top-five finishes throughout the year and wrapped up their debut campaign seventh in the LMP3 championship standings with 55 points.
Bühler’s performances across the season, from her historic Le Mans victory to her consistent front-running speed, were particularly promising, making the Swiss driver one most promising new talents in prototype racing. Her positive first season in endurance racing was rewarded with an invitation to the official European Le Mans Series Rookie Test held in the days following the Portimão finale, where she joined AF Corse to test the Ferrari 296 GT3. The opportunity represented a fitting conclusion to a strong year for the Swiss driver.
Additional reporting: Liam Redford