Léna Bühler makes epic LMP3 debut in Le Mans Cup with top-5 in Barcelona
- RACERS
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Swiss racer Léna Bühler delivered a sensational LMP3 debut in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, recovering from a first-lap incident that sent her at the back of the 42-car field to finish fifth alongside teammate Matteo Quintarelli, in a weekend marked by race-winning pace for the drivers of the 23Events Racing by AF Corse team.
Swiss racer Léna Bühler, former F1 Academy Vice-Champion, delivered one of the most remarkable sportscar debuts in recent memory. Despite being tagged into a spin at Turn 1, she recovered from the back of the 42-car Michelin Le Mans Cup field to finish in the top five alongside teammate Matteo Quintarelli, in a dominant performance for the duo aboard the #50 23Events Racing by AF Corse entry.
Bühler and Quintarelli were consistently the class of the field across every session, dominating all practice and qualifying runs leading up to the race, and put on a show during the 2-hour contest that opened the 2025 Michelin Le Mans Cup season, charging back to finish just shy of the podium.
The Swiss driver made her formula racing debut in the 2020 Spanish F4 Championship, soon impressing with front-running pace. She later stepped up to FRECA, contesting the 2021 and a partial 2022 season before returning to F4 in 2023, as F1 Academy launched its inaugural season. Following a preparatory campaign in F4 UAE, Bühler joined ART Grand Prix for the all-female F1 Academy series and entered the Sauber Driver Academy. She delivered strong results, claiming 13 podiums and two victories—her first in single-seaters—to ultimately finish Vice-Champion. In 2024, she stepped up again to contest part of the FRECA season.
In 2025, Bühler made the move to LMP3 machinery in the Michelin Le Mans Cup—a natural progression in her career, with her experience in high-downforce single-seaters expected to translate well into prototype racing. Following participation in the 2024 ELMS rookie test in LMP3 cars, she signed with 23Events Racing for her first full season in sportscars, competing in a Pro entry operated by AF Corse alongside Matteo Quintarelli.
The partnership proved immediately successful with a standout season opener in Barcelona—the same venue where Bühler had scored her maiden victory in racecars during the 2023 F1 Academy season.
In the first official practice session, Léna Bühler topped the overall timesheets with a 1:36.176 lap, placing her ahead of the 34-car LMP3 field. Her teammate Quintarelli followed closely at just 0.282 seconds behind, making the 23Events Racing pairing over 1.2 seconds clear of the next closest competitor. Their dominance continued into FP2, where Quintarelli posted a 1:38.265—again placing the #50 Ligier JSP325 machine firmly atop the leaderboard, almost a second clear.
Quintarelli was behind the wheel for qualifying and quickly asserted their dominance once again. He went fastest on the first flying lap and then improved to a 1:34.647—over a second ahead of second-placed Axel Gnos—becoming the only team to break the 1:35 barrier.
The first race of the season—a two-hour contest—featured a packed 42-car grid: 34 LMP3s and 8 GT3s. Léna Bühler took the start. Unfortunately, her debut got off to a dramatic start when she was tagged into a spin at Turn 1 amidst a chaotic series of incidents and contacts.
The safety car was deployed immediately. Bühler managed to rejoin the race, but she was now down in 17th place in LMP3 and 37th overall. She had been hit by Schwarze—who briefly took the lead before receiving a drive-through penalty for causing the accident.
After 15 minutes under caution, the race restarted. Bühler immediately went on the attack, clearing several GT3 cars. However, at Turn 9, there was another contact with the #65 Mercedes, which sent her into another spin. Despite the setback, her car remained undamaged, and she resumed, setting purple sectors right away.
Continuing her charge, Bühler gained several positions while carving her way through GT3 traffic and rising to P16 in LMP3. Her pace was astonishing—up to four seconds faster than the cars ahead.
By lap 14, she had set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:38.752—becoming the only driver to break into the 1:38s bracket. Her fastest lap remained unbeaten for most of the race.
Bühler executed a series of clean and impressive overtakes, including a bold dive into Turn 5 to pass Romano Ricci for P14. She was soon up to P13.
An incident between Heiko Neumann and Oscar Tunjo in the #70 Gebhardt Duqueine left the Mercedes AMG GT3 stranded in the gravel at Turn 4, triggering another caution.
After a spectacular stint, despite early incidents, Bühler handed over the #50 Ligier to Quintarelli on lap 24 from tenth position. The pit window had opened under caution, prompting a flurry of stops.
Quintarelli rejoined in P12. However, several LMP3 entries were caught out by a green light at the pit exit while the safety car was still gathering the leaders.
The race restarted with one hour remaining. Quintarelli had a phenomenal restart—he immediately surged into the top ten, lapping three seconds faster than some of his competitors.
A massive crash then occurred on the back straight. Marta Garcia, who was leading the LMGT3 class, was tagged by the #51 AF Corse Ferrari; Garcia’s Porsche was sent into a violent crash into the barrier and caught fire. Remarkably, she walked away after being assisted by the marshals. The race was red-flagged.
Following cleanup and barrier repairs, the race resumed behind the safety car with 26 minutes to go. When the green flag flew again with 21 minutes remaining, Quintarelli—now running ninth overall—immediately passed the #30 CD Sport car of Rogeon and quickly reeled in and passed Axel Gnos.
Now into seventh, Quintarelli continued his charge, overtaking for sixth on lap 35. But his run was interrupted when the #62 LMP3 of Arendsen spun and was left stranded in the gravel at Turn 10, bringing out another caution.
A short full course yellow followed. When the race resumed with 12 minutes to go, Quintarelli had a 2.6-second gap to close on Theo Micouris. After another quick FCY, Quintarelli completed a brilliant move around the outside of Turn 3 to take fifth.
He then set his sights on the #86 R-Ace GP car of Edgar Pierre. Quintarelli made the move for fourth. While the third-placed #29 Forestier Racing Ligier received a 10-second time penalty for crossing the white line at pit exit, the team had built a sufficient margin to retain the podium spot.
Despite the chaotic start, Bühler and Quintarelli crossed the finish line in a stellar fourth place overall—just four seconds shy of a podium. A post-race time penalty for a VSC infringement dropped them to fifth, but it remained an outstanding result.
It was a remarkable run for both drivers—bittersweet for what could have easily been a win, had it not been for the early incidents, lengthy red flag, and frequent FCYs. Nevertheless, nothing can take away from a world-class performance by Léna Bühler—who held the fastest lap of the race until the final minutes and climbed from the very back of the 42-car field to the doorstep of the top ten in her stint—and Matteo Quintarelli, who took pole position and nearly clinched a podium.
After a stellar debut for the Swiss racer, she will now look to carry momentum into the second round at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, South of France, on 2–3 May.
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