Lilou Wadoux's strong run at Fuji just short of third consecutive top-10

In the fourth round of Japan's Super GT championship at Fuji Speedway, Lilou Wadoux showcased strong performance in qualifying and the early stages of the race, battling steadily at the front of the GT300 class, but high tyre deg in extreme heat ultimately saw the #45 PONOS Racing Ferrari just missing out on a third consecutive point-scoring finish.

Lilou Wadoux's fourth round in Japan's premier sports car championship was a promising yet ultimately unrewarding experience. After a highly positive qualifying effort, Wadoux ran a really strong first half of the Fuji 350km race, battling comfortably with the front runners and putting the PONOS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 in contention for a top-five finish.

However, a more challenging second half of the race saw Wadoux and teammate Kai Cozzolino drop just outside the top ten due to high tyre degradation in the hot temperatures, thus missing out on their third consecutive point-scoring result.

In her first season in Super GT, the Ferrari factory driver has made significant progress. Quickly familiarizing herself with the new team and the championship, she became the first woman to score points in Super GT in 12 years when she claimed a P9 in just her second race, also contested at Fuji Speedway.

The PONOS Racing duo, a team in its first-ever season in the championship, is also learning and making significant gains as the season progresses: having found even more performance in the third round at Suzuka in the 3-hour race, Wadoux and Cozzolino finished sixth in the GT300 class, showing that they were clearly closing in on a top-five finish and had the potential to contest for podiums.

When the series returned to Fuji over a month later, Wadoux, who is also contesting a partial IMSA campaign in LMP2 machinery, returned behind the wheel of the #45 PONOS Racing Ferrari on a scorching hot Japanese weekend, aiming to continue the upward trend.

The on-track action started extremely positively in practice: Kei Cozzolino kicked off the session, and the car felt good straight away, recording a 1:38.569 on the fourth lap. The team then focused on setup work, making several adjustments before a red flag 45 minutes into the session that gave Wadoux the opportunity to jump onboard for the final minutes. She also had a positive run and finished sixth fastest.

Qualifying took place again in very hot conditions, the session was delayed due to an oil leak in a support series race, and times were not combined. Cozzolino got behind the wheel for Q1 and, while he couldn't quite warm up his tyres optimally, the Japanese driver recorded a 1:38.710 lap that placed him eighth and advanced the duo to Q2.

Lilou Wadoux took over in the second session: the Frenchwoman had a brilliant run and, with a good feeling with the tyres, she improved to a 1:38.359 that qualified the PONOS Racing Ferrari in seventh place, proving that they would likely be in contention for the top five.

On race day on Sunday temperatures soared over 35°C. The team had the opportunity to test a few more solutions in the 20-minute warm-up session, and Lilou Wadoux immediately raised expectations with a 1:39.292, topping the timing sheets.

"The feeling of the warm-up where I recorded the top time was very good, as everything was in line with the air temperature and the track surface temperature at the time," Lilou commented, with the car behaving perfectly for the track conditions on the softer tyre compound.

However, temperatures further increased before the race, almost reaching 50°C on the tarmac, which forced the team to ultimately opt for the harder tyres.

The race started cleanly in the GT300 class, with the pole-sitting #65 Mercedes getting away well and immediately trying to pull away. Meanwhile, Wadoux held seventh into turn one, attempted an attack, but ended up losing two positions in the process, then had to defend from the #7 Studie BMW, which almost forced her onto the grass and found a way past on the second lap.

Wadoux, however, kept in touch with the group of cars ahead and held ninth, then attacked Kishi Ishikawa's #11 Gainer Nissan on lap 6, completing a clean pass into turn one for eighth. She soon gained two seconds and chased the cars ahead with competitive pace.

The fast GT500 cars began lapping the GT300 field by lap 8, and Lilou tried to use the traffic to get within half a second of the #7 BMW. The French racer continued to run a few tenths behind in the following laps while creating a buffer to the #31 APR Lexus, which had passed the #11 Nissan.

Ahead, the #65 Leon Pyramid Mercedes AMG pulled away, leading the #87 Metalive Lamborghini Huracan by 5 seconds before the gap stabilized.

Just as the first pit stops were approaching, the stranded #25 Hoppy Schatz Toyota GR Supra at the chicane triggered the full course yellow. Seconds before the neutralization, the race-leading #56 Leon Pyramid Mercedes dived into the pit lane, anticipating the caution, and completed the driver change before the pit lane closed.

The green flag was back out on lap 30, with most teams now heading to a busy pit lane.

Wadoux pitted on lap 31 and handed over to Kei Cozzolino after a very solid run, where she held her own in the battles and kept contact with the leading group. The Japanese driver rejoined in P14 and moved up to 13th during the pit cycle.

The #52 GreenBrave Toyota Supra and the #2 Muta GR86 went for a longer first stint and stayed out, leading the GT300 class ahead of the dominant #65 Mercedes, whose strategy under caution had significantly increased its gap to the closest rival who had already pitted.

Once the final cars finally made their pit stops with 30 laps to go, Cozzolino brought the #45 PONOS Racing Ferrari back into the top ten, although he would have to battle with the #5 Machsyaken Toyota 86 in the following laps to keep tenth place. Having to eventually slot in behind, Cozzolino managed to keep up with his rival but couldn't quite fight back in the following laps. However, both leapfrogged the #31 APR Lexus, reclaiming P10 with less than 20 laps to go.

Now in a four-car group, Cozzolino trailed the #5 Toyota MC86 and the #52 GreenBrave Toyota Supra, covered by less than a second. In these temperatures, the PONOS Ferrari started was now severely struggling with tyre degradation, and the tyres were completely worn out in the final 10 laps.

Cozzolino briefly fell back to eleventh but again snatched tenth following a penalty for a car ahead with 8 laps to go, although the closest rival ahead was now 8 seconds up the road. Unfortunately, he was overtaken again on the very final lap in a disappointing development for the PONOS Racing team that barely missed the third consecutive point-scoring finish -  just 0.009 of a second behind the #11 Gainer Nissan, which crossed the line side by side.

"I was in charge of the first stint, but I felt that the race would be difficult from the beginning due to the performance adjustments," Lilou said. "Immediately after the start, the middle group was crowded, but after I was running alone, I was able to run at my own pace."

"In the second half of the stint, I was able to battle with other cars, but everyone was fair and fun, and I managed to endure it," she continued. "However, it is true that things did not go as I had hoped because the tyres were worn out at the end."

After a dominant performance paired with a perfect strategy, the #65 Leon Pyramid Mercedes AMG GT3 driven by Takuro Shinohara and Naoya Gamou took victory by over 30 seconds ahead of the #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku Mercedes.

While it was a frustrating end, Lilou's performance in both qualifying and the race was once again proof of a remarkable progression for the young French racer in one of the most competitive GT series globally.

Suzuka will host the next round on 31 August-1 September, on a circuit that has proved to be fitting for the Ferrari 296 GT3.

"For the next race, we will have to solve the small problems one by one, but we are getting better with each race, so we will just keep moving forward," Lilou concluded.