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Curations: Meet the Richard Mille mixed-gender racing team that’s driving change in motorsport

STORYMorning Studio editors
The new Richard Mille Racing Team will make history as the first mixed-gender team to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Photo: Richard Mille
The new Richard Mille Racing Team will make history as the first mixed-gender team to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Photo: Richard Mille
Curations

  • The trio of drivers will be the first mixed team to race in the upcoming FIA World Endurance Championship
  • Lilou Wadoux, Charles Milesi and Sébastien Ogier continue the Swiss watchmaker’s campaign to level the track for women drivers

When the Richard Mille Racing Team takes to the track for this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship, it will make history once again. The mix of female and male drivers will be a first for motorsport, and is a major step in the team’s determination to move it towards a more inclusive playing field for women.

Swiss luxury watchmaker Richard Mille established its racing team three years ago, with the specific aim of drawing attention to the lack of opportunities for women in the sport. The drivers of the debut team made history as the first team of women to compete in any European Le Mans Series in 2020, and one to be reckoned with: they finished in the top 10 of their class of race, Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), with a very respectable ninth place.

“It was important for us to start with an all-female team to make our intentions known, to compel people to think and challenge reputations,” says Amanda Mille, the brand and partnership director of the company and the daughter of its founder, Richard. “If we’d had a mixed team right from the start, even if the results were good, people would have attributed all the success to the men. We simply wouldn’t have challenged anyone’s thinking.”

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Mille says putting three women – Beitske Visser, Sophia Flörsch and Tatiana Calderón – in the driving seat started a conversation that the team will continue when it competes in the upcoming FIA World Endurance Championship, now entering its 10th season. Each of the trio has now moved on to single-seat racing.

“When you talk to women drivers, they all say they want to find their place on the track in a mixed team – that’s the goal, no limitations. The dream comes true when men want to drive next to them, in the same team,” Mille says.

The success of the original all-women team showcased the talent and expertise of female drivers, and led to a growing body of support from within the industry. By the end of last years’ championship races, seasoned male drivers were approaching the Richard Mille Racing Team to be included in the mixed trio for the next season.

“These are real têtes d’affiche, the big names; guys who simply wouldn’t risk their reputations or careers just for political reasons,” Mille says. “The fact that they wanted to be part of the team was true evidence that the ladies had made their mark on the circuit.”

The new, hand-picked team was selected for the collective ambition, experience and talent it could bring to the racetrack: Lilou Wadoux, a rising star in motorsport; Charles Milesi, reigning champion and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner in the LMP2 category; and eight-time winner of the World Rally Drivers’ Championship, Sébastien Ogier.

Lilou Wadoux showed her promise as an endurance driver at last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Photo: Richard Mille
Lilou Wadoux showed her promise as an endurance driver at last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Photo: Richard Mille

At 20, Wadoux is the youngest member and the female cog in the team. She had an unconventional yet successful route to endurance racing via saloon car and GT racing, making a name for herself in the one-make saloon series, finishing third in the Peugeot 208 Racing Cup in 2018, and becoming the first female winner in the Alpine Elf Europa Cup.