Cadillac wins at WEC 6 hours of Monza, #8 Toyota claims WDC

Text & Images: Rick Kiewiet

The 2026 season finale at Monza gave Cadillac its first WEC win of the year and Toyota’s #8 crew a Drivers’ World Championship it did not have to race for. The #38 JOTA crew of Jack Aitken, Sébastien Bourdais and Earl Bamber finished 5.607 seconds ahead of Alpine’s farewell podium, while the #8 Toyota of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa won the Drivers’ title from 11th place. In LMGT3, Manthey’s Porsche won the race, but the title went to Jonny Edgar and the #33 TF Sport Corvette.

Hypercar

Pole-sitter Miguel Molina lost the lead of the #50 Ferrari at the first chicane, where Daniel Juncadella in the #19 Genesis went around the outside and cut the corner to move ahead. The Genesis driver later received a five-second penalty for it. Aitken, who started third, also got past the Ferrari and took the lead from Juncadella on lap seven on the run to Parabolica. The #38 Cadillac stayed in front for the rest of the race, though a string of cautions in the opening two hours stopped it from building a gap.

The #19 Genesis was still second when Paul-Loup Chatin stopped at the start of the third hour, with what seemed an electrical shutdown. Bourdais took over under the resulting Virtual Safety Car and had to hold off the #36 Alpine A424 of Victor Martins and the #20 WRT BMW of Sheldon van der Linde on the restart. Van der Linde passed Martins before halfway after a Full Course Yellow, but the places swapped back after the fourth VSC, caused by Charles Milesi’s heavy crash in the #35 Alpine at Parabolica. Martins retook second at the first chicane on the restart and stayed there to the flag.

Bamber took over from Bourdais during that VSC and led the rest of the way. A lead of more than ten seconds shrank as the Cadillac saved fuel, but it still crossed the line 5.607 seconds clear. It extends JOTA’s run of winning at least once in every WEC season it has entered. The result also ends Alpine’s Hypercar involvement with a podium.

Third on the road was the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Tom Gamble, who took over from Harry Tincknell. He passed the #94 Peugeot with 25 minutes to go and then the #51 Ferrari in the final 15. A 20-second penalty for low tyre pressures dropped the Aston to fourth after the flag, and it faces an investigation into energy use. That elevated the #51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi to third, a podium for the reigning champions. They were the only Ferrari to avoid a tyre pressure penalty early on, as teams ran Monza in fully dry conditions for the first time this weekend.

Fifth was Peugeot’s best result of 2026. The #94 car of Loïc Duval, Theo Pourchaire and Malthe Jakobsen, in the Dane’s last race for the team, finished there despite a clutch issue. Jakobsen had a close fight with Alex Lynn in the #12 Cadillac in the closing laps. The two made contact exiting the Roggia chicane with two minutes left, which sent Lynn into the barrier. Both are subject to a post-race investigation. The #15 BMW took sixth, ahead of the #50 and #83 Ferraris. The #20 BMW was ninth and the #93 Peugeot completed the top ten. BMW briefly held two cars in the top four but faded as Robin Frijns had two offs at Ascari on worn tyres.

Toyota had no pace and no clean race, and neither car finished in the points. The #8 of Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa took 11th and of course the drivers' title, one place ahead of the #7 of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, which needed to finish second to overhaul it in the standings. Conway’s career ended in 12th.

LMGT3

The first half was a Proton Competition Ford and Akkodis ASP Lexus affair, with all four cars leading at some point. The #77 Mustang passed the pole-sitting #78 Lexus after five laps, but both collected penalties: two drive-throughs for track limits for the Ford, and two VSC infringements for the Lexus. The #87 Lexus then led for a couple of hours before the #88 Ford took over, and the Lexus was stopped on track after debris holed its radiator.

The fourth VSC changed the race. The #92 Manthey Porsche and #33 Corvette, the two title contenders, were the only cars yet to stop, so they ran first and second. Ben Tuck in the #77 Ford took the lead back in the fifth hour, but its race was ruined when Seb Priaulx collided with the #7 Toyota and needed repairs. Richard Lietz, in his 100th WEC race, brought the Porsche of Yasser Shahin, Riccardo Pera and himself home 0.270 seconds ahead of the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage of Gray Newell, Eduardo Barrichello and Jonny Adam, as Barrichello charged at the end. It is the car’s second win in a row, but not enough for a third LMGT3 title for Manthey.

The #33 Corvette finished third, which gave Jonny Edgar the crown, with Ben Keating and Nicky Catsburg sharing the car. He needed sixth. Keating had earlier been given a penalty for a VSC infringement in the second hour that dropped the car out of the points, but penalties for rivals and a steady run from Edgar put it back in contention. TF Sport also took the Teams’ title, and Edgar is the first sole Drivers’ champion in the class since 2015. The #34 Racing Team Turkey Corvette’s slim hopes ended when Peter Dempsey hit the #27 Aston Martin of Zacharie Robichon at Turn 1 while fighting for third in the third hour. The resulting drive-through left the car 11th.

The #69 WRT BMW was fourth, ahead of the #78 Lexus and the #91 Manthey Porsche. The #10 McLaren lost laps when Antares Au went off at Ascari avoiding an incident between Newell and Johannes Zelger’s #79 Iron Lynx Mercedes. Its sister #58 McLaren retired after Alexander West collided with Darren Leung’s #32 WRT BMW at Turn 1 in the second hour, which also ended Leung’s race. The #54 Ferrari retired and the #21 Ferrari was ninth.

The 2027 season starts with the Qatar 1812km in March.