Richard Mille Racing Depart The Scene

After a three season adventure, Richard Mille Racing will not return in 2023. Announced in 2019 with a mould-breaking all-female driver line-up, the first season was spent in the European Le Mans Series before the team moved into the FIA WEC in 2021, and stayed on, this time with a mixed driver line-up for 2022. […]

After a three season adventure, Richard Mille Racing will not return in 2023.

Announced in 2019 with a mould-breaking all-female driver line-up, the first season was spent in the European Le Mans Series before the team moved into the FIA WEC in 2021, and stayed on, this time with a mixed driver line-up for 2022. The team, always run with the support of Signatech, will step aside next season as Signatech move back into LMP2 as a bridging programme ahead of their Alpine factory HyperCar programme due in 2024.

“Our initial aim in creating the Richard Mille Racing Team was to make a strong impact and highlight the lack of opportunities for female drivers, recalls Amanda Mille, head of the Richard Mille Racing Team project. With an all-female line-up, the target was to take them to the highest level of motor racing.

The initial effort hit a major hurdle at the very first race as star driver Katherine Legge suffered a major accident in practice at Paul Ricard, leg injuries counting her out for the season.

The team rebounded however, and with a two race stand-in from Andre Negrao, were soon, quite literally, back on track.

‘Our approach and performance, in no way inferior to that of our male counterparts, challenged biases. Gradually, we developed the project by listening to our drivers. They all told us they would have succeeded in advancing in this wolrd the day men asked to team up with them. We succeeded this year with excellent and enthusiastic drivers around our project: Lilou Wadoux, joined by Charles Milesi, Sébastien Ogier and Paul-Loup Chatin later on.”

“We have reached a new level each year, explains Amanda Mille. Our performances allowed us to prove many things. We’ve been lucky to have the support of like-minded people who see the potential of female drivers, and we’ve had more and more requests to join us. We owe this success to Signatech and all the drivers, engineers, technicians and mechanics. These three wonderful years would never have been possible without Signatech; under the leadership of Philippe Sinault and Giuseppe Bizzoca. They were the only ones who believed in our project and made it move forward by giving it all the means to exist and shine with the best female drivers within an ever more competitive FIA World Endurance Championship. We thank them all for demonstrating that motor racing is a team sport while normalising the presence of women at this level.”

“We would like to sincerely thank Richard Mille and all its teams for their confidence in this adventure, added Philippe Sinault, Signatech Director and Richard Mille Racing Team Manager. It was a fantastic opportunity, both from a sporting and human point of view, and we are honoured to have been able to take part in it. Women’s place in our sport is no longer in question. As our Deputy CEO Giuseppe Bizzoca likes to remind me, some drivers refused to replace Katherine Legge after her injury in 2020. Today, some of them are calling us to join the programme. It shows that women are finally being recognised as full-fledged racers, as they should have always been. Lastly, we are proud to have seen our protégés improve in their career, just like Lilou, who went from the Alpine A110 Cup to the Hypercar class at the rookie tests in just one year. It is a strong message and bolsters the fact we have provided them with a top environment thanks to the bravery and determination of Richard Mille and his teams.”

After three years, the involvement of the Richard Mille brand will evolve while remaining faithful to its initial objectives: “Today, the Richard Mille Racing Team is closing the garage door,” concludes Amanda Mille. “A chapter closes, but a new adventure begins, in line with the project’s genesis.”

2020 ELMS

(10th in Championship – best result 5th Paul Ricard)

Tatiana Calderon (4 races)
Sophia Flörsch (3 races)
Beitske Visser (4 races)
Andre Negrao (replacing the injured Katherine Legge) 2 races

2021 FIA WEC

(9th in Championship – best result 6th Portimao & Bahrain 6 Hours)

Sophia Flörsch (6 races)
Tatania Calderon (5 races)
Beitske Visser (5 races)
Gabriel Aubry (1 race)

2022 FIA WEC

(9th in Championship – best result 6th at Le Mans 24 Hours)

Lilou Wadoux (6 races)
Charles Milesi (6 races)
Sebastien Ogier (3 races)
Paul Loup Chatin (3 races)