Léna Bühler's Road to Le Mans hopes undone by misfortune after strong start of the race
- RACERS
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"The first part of the stint was good. But in the end the result is what it is and I'm very disappointed to finish the weekend like this." - One year after making history as the first female outright winner, Léna Bühler showcased the same determination with a great recovery from 25th to eighth, before cruel misfortune struck once again at Le Mans.
The 2026 Road to Le Mans was supposed to be a return to the scene of one of Léna Bühler's greatest career achievements. One year earlier, the Swiss driver had written herself into Michelin Le Mans Cup history by becoming the first woman ever to claim an outright victory in the championship. Her triumph at Circuit de la Sarthe in 2025 was one of the highlights of the season for women in motorsport.
Returning to Le Mans in 2026 with R-Ace GP and new teammate Zack Scoular, Bühler arrived hoping to build on that success. The third round of the Michelin Le Mans Cup season, the prestigious three-hour Road to Le Mans race remains the championship's flagship event, in the most important stepping stone toward the European Le Mans Series.
Since transitioning to sportscar racing, the inaugural F1 Academy vice-champion has continued to impress. After a superb rookie year, a podium finish in the 2026 opening round at Barcelona followed, with Bühler and Scoular looking set for another strong result at Paul Ricard before a rear wing failure ended their challenge despite a brilliant opening stint from the Swiss racer.
Unfortunately, bad luck would strike again at Le Mans.
The weekend immediately took a turn for the worse during qualifying. With Bühler at the wheel of the #86 R-Ace GP Duqueine, the session unravelled when the car lost a wheel, destroying any chance of a representative result.
The incident was a crushing blow for the defending Road to Le Mans winner, as the team was unable to complete a proper qualifying programme, and with slow zones and interruptions affecting her remaining opportunities, Bühler never managed to record a meaningful lap.
Instead of fighting at the front where the crew's pace belonged, the Swiss driver would be forced to start from 25th position, last among the LMP3 field.
When the green flag waved for the three-hour race, Bühler immediately set about recovering the lost ground. The opening lap was chaotic, with multiple incidents unfolding throughout both the LMP3 and GT3 fields as drivers fought for position around the iconic Circuit de la Sarthe. Contact occurred in several packs while slow zones were required in different sectors of the circuit.
Through the chaos, Bühler however excelled, displaying outstanding racecraft as she carved her way through the field almost immediately.
By the midpoint of the opening lap she had already climbed from 25th to 13th in class, a remarkable gain of twelve positions in little more than half a lap.
Several further incidents eventually triggered a Full Course Yellow, temporarily neutralising the race.
Once green-flag racing resumed, more drama unfolded: at the front of the LMP3 field, the #50 23Events Racing car made contact with the rear of Bühler's Duqueine at Arnage. The #50 machine spun into the barriers, while Bühler somehow escaped the incident and continued without losing significant time.
Still running 13th in class, she immediately resumed her charge. By lap four she was right behind the #43 Inter Europol Competition machine of Dannemand. Ahead, the #22 Trajectus Motorsport entry began dropping down the order, giving Bühler another opportunity to advance.
First she passed Dannemand's Inter Europol car, then overtook the #26 Bretton Racing machine of Winslow. By the end of lap four she had climbed all the way to ninth position. From dead last on the grid to the top ten within four laps, it was yet another great opening stints for the Swiss driver.
Once clear of the traffic, Bühler was finally able to settle into a rhythm, and her pace remained competitive. Léna pulled away from the cars behind, while also making significant gains into the leaders' advantage.
By lap six, the Swiss racer had reduced the gap to the race leader to only 12 seconds despite starting from the back of the field. More importantly, she was now just two seconds behind Lucas Fecury's Forestier Racing machine ahead.
Further gains arrived thanks to penalties; both the #7 Nielsen Racing entry and the #15 Vector Sport car received drive-through penalties for start procedure infringements. As Gomez completed his penalty, Bühler climbed into eighth place.
Forty minutes into the race, Bühler brought the #86 Duqueine into the pits on lap eight for the first scheduled stop. The stop was perfectly executed, and the timing coincided with slow zone conditions elsewhere around the circuit, creating a major strategic opportunity. R-Ace GP elected to keep Bühler in the car.
By the time the pit sequence had fully played out and the leaders completed their own stops roughly ten minutes later, the Swiss driver had effectively gained more than 40 seconds through strategy.
Unfortunately, more misfortune was just around the corner. As the pit cycle concluded, the #97 CLX Motorsport Duqueine of Cédric Oltramare suffered a major accident in the Porsche Curves, which triggered a full safety car intervention. When the field was neutralised, Bühler found herself tenth in class.
The race returned to green at the end of lap 13. At that moment, another strong result still looked possible, however, almost immediately after the restart, disaster struck.
Running ninth and nursing a brake difficulty, Bühler was involved in contact from behind that damaged the rear of the #86 Duqueine, causing significant damage.
Bühler was forced to pit on the following lap, and what followed was a lengthy repair stop. The R-Ace GP crew worked frantically to repair the damaged rear deck and wing, with the team losing two laps during the repairs. The podium challenge was over.
Eventually, Zack Scoular took over the car and rejoined in 21st position. Despite the setback, Scoular continued to push and immediately began recovering some positions, benefiting from retirements and incidents ahead while maintaining a solid pace of his own.
By lap 18 he had climbed to 19th; another position followed when Vector Sport driver Enea Frey went off the circuit, promoting the #86 car to 18th in class.
As the race entered its second hour, Scoular continued delivering consistent laps despite the earlier damage and lost time.
On lap 24 he completed the second scheduled fuel stop. When the pit cycle concluded, he had gained another position and was running 17th. Soon afterwards, a stop for Rinaldi Racing elevated him to 16th.
With half an hour remaining, more opportunities emerged as rivals ahead began making their final scheduled pit stops. When Augustin Bernier encountered issues and was forced into the pits, Scoular gained another position and moved into 15th. Twelve minutes from the finish, the damaged #43 Inter Europol machine was forced to pit with diffuser problems, promoting the R-Ace GP Duqueine into 14th place.
With under five minutes remaining, Scoular received a drive-through penalty for track limits violations. The penalty had little impact on the final outcome but was served on lap 35.
Ahead, the battle for overall GT3 victory intensified. On the final lap, the GT3 leaders encountered the #29 LMP3 machine while fighting for position, resulting in a dramatic collision that triggered more chaos around the circuit.
Scoular kept the wounded Duqueine out of trouble and brought it safely to the finish. After three hours of racing, Scoular and Bühler crossed the line 13th in the LMP3 class.
The final result failed to reflect the pace they had shown, particularly during Bühler's extraordinary opening stint. Starting from last after qualifying misfortune, she had executed a brilliant drive, climbing from 25th to eighth in just a handful of laps and placing herself back in contention.
"I think there is nothing to say. It was very frustrating", Léna said. "I think we struggled quite a lot with top speed, and then we had a bad qualifying because we lost a tyre during the session."
"We were not on the same sequence as everyone else and unfortunately I wasn't able to put together a lap without a slow zone or a Full Course Yellow, so I couldn't really set a representative lap."
"We started P25, last. I think I made a really good start and gained quite a few positions. After the restart, though, the brake pedal went long and the braking efficiency wasn't what I wanted."
"The first part of the stint was good. But in the end the result is what it is and I'm very disappointed to finish the weekend like this."
Bühler's start once again demonstrated the speed that made her a race winner at Circuit de la Sarthe twelve months earlier, while Scoular's solid drive ensured the team salvaged every possible position after the repairs.
Bühler and Scoular sit eighth in the Michelin Le Mans Cup drivers' standings heading into the next round at Spa-Francorchamps on 22 August.