Wayne Boyd brought the M Racing Ligier home in third overall to claim victory in the LMP3 Pro/Am class after his teammate Daniel Goldburg started at the back of the class field. Gillian Henrion finished second in the no98 Motorsport98 Ligier, 98 seconds behind Boyd and 18 seconds ahead of the no3 DKR Engineering Ligier of Quentin Antonel. However, the no78 M Racing Ligier was penalised after the race for not respecting the minimum pitstop reference time and a technical infringement and the victory went to the no98 Motorsport98 Ligier (Stewards Decisions no50 and no61)
There was drama in GT3 with the no95 United Autosports McLaren of Garnet Patterson and the no77 SMC Motorsport McLaren of Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer fighting for the lead for the final 30 minutes of the 3-hour race. On the last lap there was a collision involving an LMP3 competitor at Mulsanne, with Patterson spearing into the barrier and Simmenauer able to continue and take the chequered flag.
The no10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin of Valentin Hasse Clot finished second, 3.4 seconds behind the Gulf liveried McLaren, with 2025 RTLM winner Steve Jans taking the final podium place in the no14 Getspeed Mercedes-AMG after the no21 Kessel Racing Ferrari, which had finished 3rd on the road, dropped back to 5th due to a time penalty incurred during the race.
However, a post race penalty for the no77 SMC Motorsport McLaren, because Gonzalo De Andres Martin not respecting the minimum driving time, and a further penalty for a technical infringement, saw the no10 Aston Martin promoted to the race victory (Stewards Decisions no55 and no62).
The race got underway, with the start seeing 57 cars heading into T1, led by Arthur Rogeon in the pole sitting no12 Ligier-Toyota. The no85 R-ace GP Duqueine of Enzo Peugeot and the no50 23Events Racing Ligier of Colin Queen were fighting hard for second place, with Peugeot holding on to the position.
While the front runners got through the Dunlop curves, there were several incidents further back with the Race Director activating Slow Zone 1 and then a Full Course Yellow to clear the track. Andrew Rackstraw in the no49 High Class Racing Ligier had made a good start in LMP3 Pro/Am moving into the lead on the opening lap from 9th on the grid ahead of Antti Rammo in the no3 DKR Engineering.
The race went back to green after 8-minutes but Slow Zone 6 and 7 were activated almost immediately when the no50 Ligier spun off at Arnage at the restart, with Matus Ryba in the no19 Brutal Fish by Campos Ligier moving up to second ahead of Enzo Peugeot, with the no85 R-ace GP dropping back to 4th after the no7 Nielsen Racing Duqueine of Gael Julien went ahead at Indianapolis, only for Peugeot to regain the place a lap later at Mulsanne.
Colin Queen’s race went from bad to worse when the no50 Liger was given the Black and Orange flag to pit to repair the damage incurred as a result of the earlier spin.
In GT3 Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer was slicing his way through the LMP3 back markers in the no77 SMC Motorsport McLaren, over 23 seconds ahead of the rest of the GT3 field led by the no23 Biogas Motorsport Ferrari of Fran Rueda and Steve Jans in the no14 Getspeed Mercedes-AMG.
Fraser Ross in the no58 GG Classics Ligier was making good progress and was soon challenging Antti Rammo for the lead after the no49 Ligier made an early pitstop from Rackstraw to hand over to Michael Hove.
A big accident at the Porsche Curves brought out the Safety Car just before the end of the first hour. The no97 CLX Motorsport Ligier of Cedric Oltramare went off into the barriers backwards after an earlier incident with another LMP3 car. The Swiss driver was OK but the car was badly damaged, with debris spread across the track.
The race went back to green after 20-minutes with the no20 High Class Racing Ligier of Philip Lindberg now leading overall after the pitstops, with the no12 Brutal Fish by Campos now in second place but with Rogeon closing the gap. The no20 Ligier was then given a 10 second penalty added to the next pitstop for a yellow flag infringement, which dropped Lindberg down the order.
After 90-minutes of racing the two Brutal Fish by Campos Ligiers were 1-2, with the no4 Nielsen Racing Duqueine in third. Quentin Antonel was leading LMP3 Pro/Am in the no3 DKR Engineering Ligier, with Anthony Bartone ahead in GT3 in the no14 Mercedes-AMG ahead of Gonzalo de Andres Martin in the no77 McLaren, with the no95 United Autosports Mclaren of Michael Birch in third.
After the two Campos cars pitted, Lenny Ried in the no20 High Class Racing Ligier took the lead, but when the no12 Ligier rejoined Rogeon, who had taken the car back from August Raber, soon caught and overtook Ried.
Garnet Patterson was now in the lead in the no95 McLaren, with Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer slowly closing the gap in the no77 McLaren.
In LMP3 Pro/Am Wayne Boyd in the no78 M Racing Liger was pulling away after the team had worked the strategy to give their drivers an advantage. Boyd was nearly two minutes ahead of the no98 Motorsport98 Ligier, with the no3 DKR Ligier a further 20 seconds back in third.
Arthur Rogeon had a 15 second lead to Lenny Ried in LMP3 but all eyes were on the lead battle in GT3, with Patterson and Simmenauer nose to tail for lap after lap. While the two Mclarens were battling away, the LMP3 front runners were closing up and with just a couple of minutes left on the clock, Arthur Rogeon was right behind Simmenauer.
The no12 Brutal Fish by Campos Ligier moved ahead of the no77 car and then quickly dispatched the no95 McLaren, but this allowed Simmenauer to attempt an overtake. Patterson closed the door, but Simmenauer was determined to take the win. At Mulsanne, he tried to go down the inside but Patterson defended, with slight contact between the two cars. However, there were some LMP3 cars in the mix and on the exit there was more contact, with the no95 McLaren getting sideways and colliding with the no29 Forestier Racing by VPS Ligier, putting both cars in the barrier. Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer was able to thread his way through in the no77 SMC Motorsport McLaren and take the chequered flag.
However, two post race penalties (Stewards Decision no55 and Stewards Decision no62) for the no77 McLaren give the victory to the no10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage.
Arthur Rogeon claimed the overall victory in the no12 Brutal Fish by Campos Ligier-Toyota, with the no78 M Racing Ligier of Wayne Boyd coming home third overall and first in LMP3 Pro/Am. However, a post race penalty (Stewards Decision no50) for the no78 Ligier saw the win go to the second placed no98 Motorsport98 Ligier of reigning MLMC LMP3 Pro/Am champions Eric De Dedoncker and Gillian Henrion.
The next race in the 2026 Michelin Le Mans Cup will be in Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday 22 August.
CLICK HERE for the final result from Road To Le Mans, Round 3 of the 2026 Michelin Le Mans Cup
