2026 FIA WEC 6 Hours of Monza

The final round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship took place in Italy, namely, the 6 Hours of Monza. The weather was challenging for teams and drivers this weekend. The free practice sessions were wet and the circuit dried in qualifying for the first time. Race day was dry, but cold. This affected tyre pressures for some teams, Ferrari in Hypercar and Ford in LMGT3, in particular.

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Family affair

In the Hypercar class, the two Toyota Racing machines were the only ones in contention for the world drivers’ championship. The #8 machine (Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa) had a significant advantage over the sister car #7 (De Vries/Conway/Kobayashi) going into the race. The #7 machine had to win to stand a chance of winning the title.

Unfortunately for the marque, they struggled with lack of pace throughout the weekend and had a subdued race. The team said farewell to Mike Conway, who announced his retirement after racing for the team for 12 seasons. The team’s struggles were compounded with #7 making contact with A LMGT3 car, as well as being clattered off the circuit by Genesis #17. Neither car finished in the points.

Americans win

Cadillac Hertz Jota #38 (Aitken/Bourdais/Bamber) took the lead in the early stages of the race and controlled the race from the front. Aitken showed his speed and pulled out a gap over his rivals. Sebatian Bourdais, in his swansong for Cadillac and WEC, resisted pressure from Alpine to maintain the lead, before Bamber took control for the final two hours.

It is Bamber’s first WEC win since COTA 2017 and Bourdais’s first WEC win since Le Mans 2016. Cadillac #12 (Stevens/Lynn/Nato) lacked the pace of their sister car in the early stages of the race. Alex Lynn drove his final stint as a Cadillac driver, but will return as part of the McLaren Hypercar programme next season. His tenure with Cadillac ended in the barriers with 2 minutes remaining on the clock, tangling with future teammate Malthe Jakobsen (Peugeot #94) in the battle for fifth position.

“I’m over-the-moon!” enthused Bamber. “Everybody at Jota and Cadillac Racing has put in a lot of effort and worked so hard, and the car was faultless. Jack did an amazing job and Seb executed everything perfectly. We’ve got a great mix of ingredients to look forward to in 2027 – I think we will be a real force to be reckoned with!”

French swansong

Alpine ran strongly at their final WEC event, as they announced their withdrawal from the series earlier in the year. Alpine #36 (Gounon/Martins) ran strongly in the top five in the early stages, and became Cadillac’s main rival for victory in the second half of the race. Martins was running in the battle for the lead and began taking chunks out of Bamber’s (Cadillac 38) lead with less than 30 minutes remaining.

Bamber responded by pulling away and Alpine #36 finished a fine second. The sister machine, #35 (Habsburg/Milesi) lost control of their machine at the exit of Parabolica and connected heavily with the tyre wall. Thankfully, Milesi walked away unscathed, but the car was destroyed and the tyre wall required repair.

Home pole

Ferrari took pole position at Monza for the first time in WEC, with Antonio Fuoco behind the wheel of #50 (with Molina/Nielsen). They lost the lead to Genesis #19 immediately after the start and lost another place to Aitken (Cadillac #38) soon afterwards. Both #50 and #83 (Hanson/Ye/Kubica) were penalised twice for tyre pressure infringements, compromising their challenge for victory.

Interestingly, none of the WEC Hypercar pole sitters took victory this season. Ferrari #51 (Giovinazzi/Calado/Pier Guidi) showed good race pace and, while they were never in contention for victory, they crossed the finish line in fourth place. This was revised to third position following a post-race penalty for Aston Martin #007. The customer #83 machine was further compromised when a wheel came off under a virtual safety car period, forcing them to pit again from fourth place. Despite this, they finished eighth behind #50 in seventh.

Strong showing

Peugeot Sport featured well at Monza, with both cars running in the top six before half distance. Pourchaire qualified well in the #94 (with Duval/Jakobsen) and ran solidly, if unspectacularly. They came back strongly in the latter stages of the race, still managing to finish fifth after the tangle with Cadillac #12. The #93 car (Di Resta/Cassidy/Quinn) passed the sister car in the early stages but could not maintain its pace. They still managed to finish tenth. It was Peugeot’s first double-points finish of the season.

BMW M Team WRT struggled in Hyperpole, but used the virtual safety car periods well to move them up the order. The #20 (Rast/S. van der Linde/Frijns) machine ran strongly in the hands of Sheldon van der Linde, but Frijns struggled and had some off-track excursions. The #15 (Magnussen/Marciello/D. Vanthoor) quietly finished in sixth position, while #20 still scored points for finishing eighth.

Other challengers

Aston Martin showed flashes of speed in the race, particularly #009 (Sorensen/Ribeiras) who ran in the top ten, before locking up the brakes and clouting the barrier at Rettofilo. The #007 (Tincknell/Gamble) ran at the back of the field in the early stages of the race, trying to make a difference with an alternative strategy. They produced a late charge, carving through the field and passing #51 for third place. They took the chequered flag in third place, but were penalised post-race for tyre pressure infringements. They were classified fourth.

Genesis Magma Racing #19 (Juncadella/Chatin/Jaminet) qualified on the front row and took the lead by cutting the exit of the Rettifilo chicane. This resulted in a 5-second penalty to be added to a pit stop. They did not get the chance to serve the penalty, as the machine lost power at the exit of Variante Ascari. The machine ground to a halt after two hours of racing. The #17 machine (Lotterer/Jaubert/Derani) had a more subdued race. They struggled with brakes in the closing stages of the race, tagging Toyota #7 into a spin at Rettifilo.

LMGT3

The Bend Manthey Porsche #92 (Pera/Lietz/Shahin) took their second LMGT3 race win on the trot, keeping Heart of Racing Aston Martin #23 (Barrichello/Newell/Adam) at bay, winning by just 0,3 seconds. Their victory was not enough to claim the class championship, as TF Sport Corvette #33 (Keating/Catsburg/Edgar) finished third.

The #33 needed to finish sixth to guarantee championship victory. Ben Keating celebrated with his team as LMGT3 team champions, as he steps down from driving duty following the 2026 season. WRT BMW #69 (McIntosh/Thompson/Harper) finished a strong fourth ahead of Akkodis ASP Lexus #78 (Van Rompuy/David/Masson).

Penalties aplenty

There were plenty of penalties dished out by the stewards, which included The Bend Manthey Porsche #92, TF Sport Corvette #33, Racing Team Turkey by TF Sport Corvette #34 (Eastwood/Dempsey/Yoluꞔ, for contact with an Aston Martin) and both Proton Ford Mustangs #88 and #77. Aston Martin #23 was punted off the circuit at Variante Ascari (by #79 Mercedes), yet, remained in the hunt for class honours.

Akkodis ASP Lexus #87 (Umbrarescu/Schmid/Lopez) ran strongly at the start, as did the Proton Ford Mustangs, but both #88 (Gattuso/Levorato/Sargeant) and #77 (Powell/Tuck/Priaulx) had to serve penalties, compromising their charge. Both Fords returned to the lead group, before #88 had to serve another 15-second penalty with just over two hours remaining. Lexus #87 retired from the lead at half distance, after debris from a Hypercar penetrated its radiator.

WRT #32 (Leung/Farfus/Gelael), sporting Alex Zanardi tribute livery, failed to finish. Darren Leung, driving his final WEC race for the team, was collected by a careening Alexander West (Project 59 McLaren #58, with Gehrsitz/Goethe) at Rettifilo, resulting in heavy damage to both vehicles. Leung retired on the spot, while West crabbed slowly back to the pits. The damage to the car was too great to continue racing, however.

2026 champions

The top ten finishers in each class score points. There are three points-scoring allocation forms, with different allocations for 6-hour, 8-10-hour and 24-hour events, respectively.

Hartley/Hirakawa/Buemi won the world championship with 114 points. It is Buemi’s fifth title, Harteley’s fourth and Hirakawa’s third. Kobayashi/Conway/De Vries finished as runners up (97 points). Magnussen/Marciello finished third in the final classification (83 points), ahead of Bamber/Bourdais (81 points). Rast/Frijns, Dries Vanthoor and Aitken ended up tied at 77 points each. Sheldon van der Linde was classified tenth with 67 points.

Jonny Edgar makes history as the youngest WEC world champion at 22 years old, winning the LMGT3 category with 107 points ahead of teammate Nicky Catsburg (103 points). Pera/Lietz/Shahin finished third in the standings (99 points), ahead of Keating (85 points) and Harper/McIntosh/Thompson (78 points).

The World Endurance Championship 2027 season is scheduled to begin with the Qatar 1 812 km on 27 March. Following the 2026 season conclusion, Alpine departs the series, however, Ford and McLaren join the Hypercar class in 2027. Post race, Robert Kubica announced that he would be leaving the AF Corse Ferrari squad, but that he hopes to be back in the paddock soon.