Lola Lovinfosse battles adversity, scores top-10 finish at Paul Ricard

Despite being unable to show her true performance after an unfortunate weekend at Paul Ricard, Lola Lovinfosse scored a top-10 in the Pro class in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo opener, showing encouraging speed in qualifying and bouncing back from a technical issue in race one.

Photo credits: Fotospeedy

In the 2025 season opener of Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe, Lola Lovinfosse was unable to show her true performance after an unfortunate weekend at Paul Ricard. Racing alongside Swiss driver Pablo Schumm, the duo encountered a technical issue in race one, before overcoming challenging conditions in race two to score a top-10 finish in the Pro class.

Lovinfosse returned to Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe after a successful partial campaign in 2024. Alongside her F1 Academy commitments, Lovinfosse raced for Schumacher CLRT where she partnered both Jean-Baptiste Mela and Laurent Hurgon at selected rounds. This provided the young French driver with valuable experience as she was also chosen for the 2024 Lamborghini Young Driver program.

Now switching to front-running squad Leipert Motorsport, Lovinfosse joins forces with former ADAC GT Masters driver Pablo Schumm. Competing in the Pro class, Lovinfosse and Schumm are targeting a season of progress as they both embark on their first full-season in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe.

On-track action at Paul Ricard began on Thursday with the teams given a four-hour test session to work on car setup. Lovinfosse and Schumm ended the day with the 19th quickest time overall, tenth in the Pro class, with a fastest lap of a 2:05.377.

On Friday morning, the Leipert Motorsport duo participated in the first free practice session. Lovinfosse and Schumm completed 25 laps, the most of any team, while Lola set the team’s fastest time on the final lap of the session. Setting a time of a 2:05.850, the pair ended free practice one in 17th overall, tenth in the Pro class. It was a consistent end to the day for the team as Lovinfosse and Schumm finished the second practice session in 14th overall, ninth in the Pro class.

Qualifying was held in two back-to-back session on Saturday morning with Schumm driving in the first session. It was an encouraging debut for Schumm who set a number of consistent times throughout qualifying. Although the session was ended early with a red flag, Schumm’s fastest time of a 2:06.024 placed the team in 15th overall, ninth in the Pro class.

Lovinfosse drove in the second session and was aiming for a strong qualifying effort to begin the season. It was an good performance from Lola to start the season as she set a personal best time on the final lap of the session. Her quickest time of a 2:05.636 placed the young French driver in 15th overall, 11th in the Pro class.

Photo credits: Fotospeedy

For race one of the weekend, Schumm started the Leipert Motorsport machine from 15th on the overall grid, ninth within the Pro class. It was an action-packed opening lap and Schumm did an excellent job to move forward and avoid a number of incidents ahead. As a result, he moved up to 12th overall at the end of lap one, while climbing to seventh in the Pro class.

On lap two, Schumm briefly moved ahead of the Am class machine of Adrian Lewandowski before falling behind the GT3 Poland machine. Hugo Bac also moved ahead and now Schumm was running in 14th overall, while remaining seventh in class.

The Swiss driver was doing well as the race settled into a rhythm until misfortune struck on lap five as the left-rear wheel detached at the end of the Mistral straight. This forced Schumm into retirement and meant that Lovinfosse was unable to show her performance in the opening race at Paul Ricard.

Looking to bounce back in race two, Lovinfosse faced a further challenge with light rain falling prior to the start. The Leipert Motorsport team fitted the wet tyres, with the majority of the grid choosing the grooved rubber. Following an extra formation lap due to the change in conditions, Lola started the race from 15th overall, 11th in the Pro class. It was a confident start from Lovinfosse as she held down a position inside the top-15 following the first racing lap, while moving inside the top-10 in the Pro class.

In the early stages of the race, Lovinfosse was building up her confidence in the tough conditions while looking for a way past some of the drivers in the Am class. Lola’s pace looked good as her lap times improved, however overtaking proved challenging for the entirety of the field. On lap four, Adam Putera had a high-speed crash and this resulted in the race entering a period of full course yellow.

Despite the low track temperatures, the safety car was not deployed once Putera’s car was retrieved and therefore the drivers resumed green flag racing on cold tyres. Karim Ojjeh and Renaud Kuppens had separate incidents as they built tyre temperature, before Lola had a spin at the end of the mistral straight. Lovinfosse avoided contact with the wall and a great job from her fellow drivers resulted in no damage to her car despite briefly being stricken on the racing line.

Lovinfosse was able to rejoin the circuit and complete the lap in 25th overall, ninth in the Pro class. As the pit window opened, Lola remained on the circuit and this enabled her to climb as high as 16th overall, eighth in the Pro class as she pitted on lap nine.

Photo credits: Fotospeedy

Pablo Schumm got behind the wheel during the pit stop with the conditions remaining challenging. Staying on the wet tyres, Schumm ran in 21st overall, ninth in the Pro class, following the conclusion of the pit cycle. Schumm was lapping consistently in the early part of his stint as he aimed to move up the overall order. On lap 12, he overtook his Leipert Motorsport teammate Gerhard Watzinger to claim a place inside the overall top-20.

In the closing stages of the race, a number of drivers who had fitted slick tyres in the pit stop started to come back into contention. As a result, Hugo Bac and Anthony Pretorius moved ahead, with the latter claiming ninth position in the Pro class. Schumm kept it clean in the final laps and took the checkered flag in 21st position overall, tenth in the Pro class.

It was an encouraging start to the season for Lovinfosse and Schumm who displayed good speed throughout the weekend without having the results to show for it. Gaining experience in both wet and dry conditions will serve the duo well as they embark on a full-season campaign for Leipert Motorsport.

The next round of Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe takes place at Monza on the weekend of 30th May/1st June.