Léna Bühler ends Le Mans Cup season with bad luck after impressive first stint
Léna Bühler and Zack Scoular completed their Le Mans Cup season with a 17th-place finish in LMP3 at Portimão, as another promising performance by the R-Ace GP Duqueine was undone by late-race damage. Starting from 16th on the grid, Bühler produced an impressive opening stint, making up eight positions on the first lap alone and climbing as high as seventh before handing the car over.
Léna Bühler and Zack Scoular completed their Michelin Le Mans Cup season with a frustrating 17th-place finish in LMP3 at Portimão, as another promising performance by the #86 R-Ace GP Duqueine was undone by late-race damage.
Starting from 16th on the grid, Bühler produced an impressive opening stint, making up eight positions on the first lap alone and climbing as high as seventh before handing over to Scoular. The New Zealander continued to fight his way forward and was running seventh in class when damage to the rear of the car forced an unscheduled pit stop, undoing the pair's recovery and leaving them three laps down at the finish.
Bühler and Scoular had arrived in Portugal hoping to build on their return to the points at Silverstone, where they finished eighth after the Swiss driver climbed from 11th to sixth during her opening stint. The pair had shown encouraging speed throughout the season, with Bühler making an immediate impression in her second year of prototype racing after transitioning from single-seaters in 2025.
A podium at Barcelona and a strong opening stint at Le Castellet, where the #86 was in contention for victory before a late rear-wing failure, highlighted their potential, but repeated setbacks had prevented them from consistently converting that pace into results. A wheel failure in qualifying at Road to Le Mans and a difficult race at Spa-Francorchamps, where they finished 14th despite strong underlying speed, added to a frustrating campaign.
The Portimão weekend followed a familiar pattern, with the two drivers closely matched in practice, separated by just a tenth of a second in FP1, before the car finished 15th in class in FP2. Scoular took qualifying duties in the #85 R-Ace GP LMP3 entry, setting a 1:40.2 lap to briefly move up to 14th before ultimately ending the session 16th, leaving the #86 crew with some work to do in Saturday morning's two-hour season finale.
Bühler took the start from 16th and immediately made up ground as the field funnelled into Turn 1, avoiding the early chaos as several cars spun or made contact. An excellent launch carried her up to 11th, and she continued to gain positions through the opening corners to end the first lap in eighth. The race was soon interrupted by a Full Course Yellow on lap two to clear debris, with another neutralisation following shortly after the restart when a further piece of carbon fibre was reported on track.
Once racing resumed, Bühler settled into a consistent rhythm, recording a 1:41.6 lap as she closed on Lucas Fecury ahead while defending eighth place. The Trajectus Motorsport LMP3 car was later hit and spun around following contact, but the incident did not bring out another caution, allowing Bühler to continue applying pressure to Fecury. Her progress was however interrupted on lap 17 when Angelard's Muecke Motorsport car ended up in the gravel at Turn 8, prompting the Safety Car. Jacoby had slipped past Bühler shortly before the neutralisation, dropping her to ninth.
The restart on lap 22 proved more difficult, with Bühler losing some positions and falling to 12th, but she quickly returned to the attack. She passed Fecury and then closed on Meyuhas, working her way forward and recovering to ninth place as the pit window approached.
When the #29 Forestier Racing car spun into the gravel shortly before the stops, another Full Course Yellow was deployed, and Bühler remained on track to move temporarily up to seventh in the order. She then brought the Duqueine into the pits from that position on lap 28 to complete her stop and hand the car over to Scoular, who rejoined 12th overall and 10th in LMP3 Pro.
Scoular began his stint looking to continue the recovery, but the race was interrupted again when Thomas Canning's #91 Blackthorn Aston Martin ended up in the barriers at Turn 15. The Safety Car was deployed before the field returned to green with 39 minutes remaining, and Scoular soon moved up to ninth in class as he worked his way towards the top ten. When the #50 car slowed while running second, he gained another position, while further contact sent Vic Stevens spinning after an incident with a GT3 car, promoting Scoular to 10th overall and eighth in class.
Another Full Course Yellow interrupted the action, with the restart coming around the 30-minute mark. Scoular continued to push, setting a personal best of 1:41.1 as he chased down Rabin's CLX Motorsport entry. A further caution for debris was followed by a quick return to green, and Scoular seized the opportunity to pass Rabin, climbing to ninth overall and seventh in class.
With the #86 finally in contention for a stronger finish, however, misfortune struck again: damage to the rear of the Duqueine forced Scoular to return to the pits on lap 49 for repairs after being shown the black and orange flag.
The unscheduled stop erased the gains made by both drivers, and Scoular remained in the pit lane long enough to lose a couple of laps before rejoining the race. The #86 crew ultimately crossed the line 17th in class, bringing another difficult weekend to a close after a particularly strong opening stint from Bühler and a determined recovery by Scoular.
Bühler and Scoular ended the Michelin Le Mans Cup season 13th in the LMP3 championship standings with 19 points. While the final result did little to reflect the pace they showed across the campaign, Bühler's rapid progress through the field at Portimão once again demonstrated her potential in the opening stints, in a season repeatedly compromised by incidents and technical setbacks rather than a lack of speed.
