Samantha Tan impresses on Le Mans debut with strong performances in Road To Le Mans races
- RACERS
- Jun 17
- 7 min read
“With more laps, more confidence — every time I was getting better and better" - In a brilliant debut at La Sarthe, Samantha Tan secured P6 and P4 finishes in her first-ever Road To Le Mans, showing great pace in both races on the world’s biggest stage.
The Road To Le Mans — the main support race of the world’s most iconic endurance race — offers one of the best opportunities for sportscar drivers to showcase their talent on the legendary French circuit and edge a little closer to their dream of racing twice around the clock at Le Mans.
Among the many drivers who have dreamt of competing at this venue is 27-year-old Canadian Samantha Tan, who has been working relentlessly for years, steadily climbing the ranks of GT racing in pursuit of her goal.
When we first interviewed her in 2021 during her title-winning season in the 24H Series — which marked her first international campaign outside of North America — Tan was clear: "The dream is to race at the 24 hours of Le Mans". Last weekend, that dream came a little closer to reality.
Joining benchmark BMW outfit Team WRT, Tan made her debut at La Sarthe, returning to Europe after her successful 2021-2022 24H Series campaigns and more recent appearances in the 24H of Spa. Since stepping up to GT3, her main program has been in GT World Challenge America, where she finished vice-champion in the Pro-Am class in 2024.
Over the past few years, Tan — also a BMW M ambassador — has made significant development as a driver. In 2025, she is competing in the IMSA VP SportsCar Challenge in the BMW M4 GT3, where she recently claimed multiple Bronze class wins and podiums in her rookie IMSA-sanctioned season, her first as a solo driver.
For her first ever appearance in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, Tan teamed up with Swedish driver Gustav Bergstrom in the #38 BMW M4 GT3 run by WRT for the Road To Le Mans double-header.
Tan and Bergstrom showed immediately promising pace in FP1 — Bergstrom clocking a 4:00.811 lap while Tan used the session to learn the circuit and made steady progress, the pair finishing fifth in GT3 class.
In FP2, they were again close to the top five, with Tan making huge steps forward and running extremely consistently, setting a personal best of 4:04.9. Bergstrom further improved, placing the #38 BMW sixth in class.
Describing the experience of driving on such an iconic circuit, Tan called it "almost an out of body experience", later admitting she almost teared up in her hotel room when the realization of driving at Le Mans truly hit her.
Qualifying 1 was initialy marked by rain the night before, though the track was drying by the time the session started. Bergstrom took the wheel for the first session, but a series of red flags disrupted running: first for the #84 ANS Motorsport LMP3 of Paul Trojani (who would be forced to start at the back), followed by another stoppage for the #58 GG Classics entry. A third red flag — caused by David Fumanelli’s Kessel Racing Ferrari — ended the session with no times on the board.
Qualifying 2 had a similar fate: an early red flag stopped proceedings after just three minutes. After a lengthy delay, four cars managed to set laps before yet another red flag ended the session. As a result, Samantha Tan did not get a chance to set a time in Q2.
Ultimately, it was decided that FP1 times would set the grid for Race 1, and FP2 times for Race 2 — meaning Bergstrom would line up P4 in GT3 for Thursday afternoon’s first race.
At the start, several cars ran wide through the Dunlop chicane, with Bergstrom slotting into fifth place. The Safety Car was quickly deployed following an incident at Indianapolis involving the #4 Nielsen Racing prototype and the #12 WTM by Rinaldi car. After one lap under yellow, the race resumed, but more chaos followed with an R-Ace GP LMP3 spinning.
Bergstrom fought hard in a tight GT3 battle — briefly falling to sixth but quickly fighting back in continuous wheel-to-wheel action. He had a spirited duel with Nicolae’s Ebimotors Porsche, which edged past after the Daytona chicane.
Out front, Ellis’ Optimum Motorsport McLaren led from Lukas Dunner’s Motopark Mercedes, while Bergstrom remained in sixth, chasing the Porsche through heavy LMP3 traffic. He posted the car’s fastest lap — 4:02.934 — on lap 5.
At the pit window, Bergstrom pitted from P6 and handed over to Tan with eight laps to go. Samantha rejoined in sixth, directly behind the #52 AF Corse Ferrari, which she passed to regain fifth place on lap 7.
In the closing laps, the field saw rapid Pro-rated drivers moving through. Though Tan briefly dropped to eighth as Thompson, Belicchi, and Donno came past, she fought back — passing De Meeus and setting a 4:03.9 lap, pulling away from the chasing cars.
Tan then improved to a 4:02.9 — the best lap for the car, also beating her teammate — and caught Fabrizio Broggi’s Ebimotors Porsche. The Canadian passed Broggi and quickly opened a 10-second gap, then hunted down Heiko Neumann’s Motopark Mercedes, running three seconds per lap quicker with a new personal best of 4:02.622, her best of the weekend.
With three minutes remaining, Neumann hit trouble, and Samantha swept past for sixth. In the final laps, she continued to close on the top five but ultimately took the chequered flag in P6 — a heroic drive in her first Road To Le Mans race, where she recovered against higher-rated drivers to finish just outside the top five.
Team WRT’s strategy worked well, setting them up with confidence for Race 2 on Saturday.
"I'm really satisfied, my teammate is really fast and the whole team is very supportive. The target now is the podium," she stated on Friday, before the second race.
On the morning of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Road To Le Mans staged its second one-hour race of the weekend. This time, Tan would start from sixth on the grid, running a reverse strategy compared to Race 1. At lights out, the first corner saw immediate chaos as a Virage prototype spun across the track uphill to the Dunlop chicane. A bigger accident followed involving both LMP3 and GT3 cars — one incident taking place directly behind Tan, who skillfully avoided the carnage to slot into fifth place as the Safety Car was deployed.
After two full laps under yellow, racing resumed with 42 minutes remaining. Tan made a solid restart and soon overtook Cuahadaroglu’s Kessel Racing Ferrari for fourth in an impressive move from the bronze driver.
Now chasing the silver-rated Bartone in the Getspeed Mercedes, who was setting the overall fastest laps, Tan remained within one second of her rival. When Bartone passed the AF Corse Ferrari of De Meeus, Tan was right behind, flashing her headlights and pressuring the Ferrari, which defended hard.
Setting a purple final sector, Samantha completed a superb first stint — running strongly in fourth and nearly taking third before the pit window opened. She handed over to Bergstrom after a great performance, with Team WRT executing a clean stop and gaining a position on the AF Corse Ferrari in the pits.
Bergstrom’s outlap was strong despite LMP3 traffic, though he soon came under pressure from Optimum McLaren’s Ellis and was then involved in a fight with gold-rated Vincent Abril in the #52 Ferrari for a top five spot.
Another Safety Car followed after a heavy crash for the #11 Van Der Steur Aston Martin and a stoppage for Fumanelli’s Ferrari. The race went back to green with 10 minutes remaining, but was quickly neutralized again after the #37 CLX Motorsport Ligier of Theodor Jensen spun into the pit wall.
With a one-lap shootout to the flag, Bergstrom held fifth in GT3 with Andrea Belicchi’s Kessel Ferrari behind, buffered by an LMP3 car. As Belicchi hit trouble, Nicolae’s Ebimotors Porsche slipped past — allowing Bergstrom some breathing room.
Bergstrom brought the WRT BMW home in P5, securing a valuable top-five finish for the team after Tan’s superb first stint. Following a post-race penalty for a competitor, the #38 crew were promoted to P4 — narrowly missing the podium in an excellent debut weekend for Tan at La Sarthe.
“It was a very good race, especially in my stint," said Tan. “We had the first safety car quite early, but it was just a massive push the whole race. Got to have a couple of really good battles, and there were definitely some penalties ahead of us, so when we came into the pits I didn’t know if we were P4 or P3. We had a really good pit stop — the guys absolutely nailed it — and Gustav took over.”
“Unfortunately, we did get unlucky with a couple of the restarts and safety cars again — I don’t know how many green laps we actually had during this race — but finished P4. I had a much better race today than I did yesterday."
“With more laps, more confidence — every time I was getting better and better", Tan continued. "But overall, the first Le Mans experience was quite solid. To finish in the top 10 for both races is quite good. I was top five for the second race, which was really, really cool.”
“Also, big congrats to Léna on the win”, she added, praising fellow female driver Léna Bühler, who won overall.
When asked how she would describe her Le Mans weekend: “Phenomenal. Fantastic. Incredible. Many, many words," she laughed — clearly hoping to return. “Everybody’s already been hinting — oh, you’ve got to come back for the 24 now. So, I hope to come back next year.”
There will be no rest for Samantha Tan — next weekend, she will contest another grueling event: the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, where she will race in a Mini JCW.......
