Preview: WEC 6 hours of Monza season finale
Text & Images: Rick Kiewiet
The FIA World Endurance Championship closes its 2026 season at Monza this weekend, with the 6 Hours of Monza running on Sunday 8 November. Toyota already wrapped up the Hypercar Manufacturers’ title in Barcelona, but three of the four championships remain undecided. It is the series’ first visit to the Autodromo Nazionale since 2023.
Hypercar: drivers’ championship to be decided by Toyota family affair
The Drivers’ World Championship has come down to Toyota’s own crews. The #8 Toyota of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa leads on 114 points, 17 clear of the #7 car of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries on 97. The expectation is a straight contest without team orders. The #8 won in Barcelona by 0.583 seconds from its sister car, a result that sealed the Manufacturers’ crown, Toyota’s eighth in 14 seasons.
Monza is also Conway’s final race before retirement. The twice-world champion has a good record here: he won in 2023 in the #7 alongside Kobayashi and José María López, beating the #50 Ferrari by 16.520 seconds.
Behind Toyota, BMW, Ferrari and Cadillac are fighting over second place in the Manufacturers’ standings. Ferrari are 24 points behind BMW, with a maximum of 44 available. It has been a lean year for the reigning champions, who won the first four races of 2025 but have only one victory this season, the #50 at COTA. That crew of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen were the best of the rest in Barcelona, finishing third behind the Toyotas, and have moved ahead of the #51 in the Drivers’ standings. The 2025 champions in the #51 finished 15th, three laps down, after a troubled race. The same #50 trio were second here in 2023, so a home podium is not out of reach.
In the Drivers’ standings, BMW’s #15 pairing of Magnussen and Marciello and the #20 pairing of Rast and Frijns share 75 points. The #50 Ferrari crew and Dries Vanthoor, who also drives the #15, are on 69. Sheldon van der Linde in the #20 has 65 and the #51 crew 59. The title is a matter for the two Toyotas, but those positions are still to be settled. BMW’s own title hopes ended in Barcelona, where the #15 WRT car was seventh and the #20 missed the points for the third race running. Cadillac’s best result there was fourth for the #38 Hertz Team JOTA car.
LMGT3: four crews, one title
Four crews from three manufacturers arrive with the LMGT3 title still in play. Jonny Edgar leads the standings in the #33 TF Sport Corvette on 92 points, with Catsburg on 88. The car finished only seventh in Barcelona after losing time in the pits, taking a 10-second penalty and being passed on the final lap. The sister #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette was fourth and is four points further back.
The biggest mover was the #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R. Its Barcelona win, the first of its season, was the seventh different LMGT3 winner in seven races, a class record. It cut the deficit to the #33 from 37 points to 18, and the crew now has 74 points, with 26 still available. Monza is home ground for Riccardo Pera, who was on the front row in Barcelona’s Hyperpole. Manthey racing director Patrick Arkenau summed up the mood: “Everything is still possible heading into the season finale at Monza.”
The #69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo was third in Barcelona and sits on 66 points, 26 behind Edgar, which equals the maximum on offer. It needs a perfect weekend and trouble for its rivals to take the title.
Corvette have history here. The #33 clinched the GTE-Am world title at Monza in 2023 with two races to spare, with Ben Keating, now in the LMGT3 #33, among its drivers. Pera was also on the GTE-Am podium that day, third for GR Racing in the #86 Porsche.
Looking back: Monza 2023
The last WEC race at Monza ended with Toyota’s #7 winning from the #50 Ferrari. Toyota started from the front but lost the lead to Mikkel Jensen’s Peugeot before the end of the first hour. It regained it around half distance and held on after a late safety car, making a fuel-only final stop. The #93 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 of Paul di Resta, Jean-Éric Vergne and Jensen completed the podium, a year after the car’s race debut at the same circuit. It did so despite an early pit stop and gear selection problems.
Other news
Peugeot shuffles its line-up for 2027. Peugeot has confirmed that Monza will be Malthe Jakobsen’s last race for the team, while Robert Shwartzman will make his return to the WEC with the manufacturer next year.
The 23-year-old Dane has spent two seasons as a race driver after starting as test and reserve driver. He took the 9X8’s first WEC pole at Spa this year, and his best result of 2026 is sixth at Fuji. He also finished on the podium at COTA last year. He has long been linked with McLaren, which has so far announced Jensen, Laurens Vanthoor, Alex Lynn and Leonardo Fornaroli for its 2027 debut, though not Jakobsen. Stellantis Motorsport director Olivier Jansonnie said the team wants to finish the chapter on a positive note.
Shwartzman missed 2026 after his IndyCar program with PREMA ended due to the team’s financial difficulties. He took pole for the 2025 Indianapolis 500 with the team. He raced in the WEC in 2024 with AF Corse’s #83 Ferrari 499P, winning at Austin, and told DailySportscar that he wants to use that experience to help develop the 9X8. He has driven the 2027-spec car at Portimão and attended the Silverstone test, and said he was up to pace after about 10 laps in his first run. He says he has not closed the door on IndyCar, but his focus is on Peugeot.
Genesis weighs a GT3 car. Genesis Magma Racing team principal Cyril Abiteboul says the brand is not looking to upset the GT3 system with its Magma GT3 Concept, which was unveiled at Le Mans. SRO boss Stéphane Ratel warned in June about GT3 drifting away from its road-car roots, and Abiteboul said those comments made sense. No final decision has been taken on building a car, and a track debut would be years away.
New LMGT3 scoring from 2027. The WEC will combine the points of both cars entered under the same licence to decide the LMGT3 Teams’ title from next season. Until now, each car has scored independently. The change was announced after the FIA World Motor Sport Council’s autumn meeting.
Comments