The pole-sitting #7 Toyota charged to victory after six hours of thrilling action at the 6 Hours of Monza, Round 3 of FIA WEC Season 9.
2H REPORT – 6H Monza: Bittersweet for Toyota with race lead and troubles into 2-hour mark
4H REPORT – 6H Monza: Hypercar drama as United Autosports assert LMP2 dominance at fourth hour
Glickenhaus Racing performed an eight-minute-long front brake change to return them back amongst the LMP2 field, but they would go on to assert already-proven pace for the rest of the race.
The #22 United Autosports was being held well at the lead of the LMP2 field, as Fabio Scherer completed a strong double-stint.
He handed the car to Filipe Albuquerque to take the car home with a double-stint run.
A recurring battle for the final spot on the GTE-Am podium created a thrilling spectacle.
Matteo Cairoli in his #56 Porsche and Augusto Farfus’s #98 Aston Martin dueled intensely, but Farfus came out on top on a charge for D’station Racing.
The #83 AF Corse which started last at the beginning was leading the GTE-Am category in-front of their home spectators.
Into the final hour of the race, the leading #36 Alpine Elf Matmut of Matthieu Vaxiviere was being chased by a rapid Mike Conway who was on pole position until the Alpine pitted with 40 minutes left.
The race’s second Full-Course-Yellow was deployed for seven minutes to repair a damaged curb at the Ascari chicane.
Toyota was under a close call for their final pit stop for an infringement, but were given a warning.
It was a 25-minute sprint to the end of the race and both GTE classes were in the main frame of action.
Home hero Alessandro Pier Guidi put on a fight to the end in pursuit to claim a victory off the Kevin Estre in the #92, and this fight ran right to the final two minutes until they needed to make a quick pitstop for the extra lap at the end of the race.
Meanwhile, the GTE-Am fight for P2 lasted for the final 20 minutes and to the last lap.
Augusto Farfus asserted strong pace to battle side-by-side and then overtook the #777 of Tobonano Fujii for P2 in the category, on the final lap of the six-hour race.
It was a home victory in GTE-Am with the #83 taking victory from the last spot on the grid six hours ago.
In GTE-Pro, it was the #92 that sought victory after their ongoing battles with Ferrari.
The LMP2 category presented a close fight between the #31 and the #22 until the three-hour mark when United Autosports build a momentous gap to dominate in the class.
This is their eighth consecutive FIA WEC podium appearance, and a fourth time for the championship to have an LMP2 on the overall podium (the first for United).
Toyota GAZOO Racing’s #7 pole-sitter went on take victory with four out of the five Hypercars experiencing dramas throughout.
Glickenhaus finished fourth overall in the #709, and the #708 retired due to a gearbox issue earlier on.
| OVERALL POSITION | TEAM |
| 1 | #7 Toyota GAZOO Racing [HYPERCAR] |
| 2 | #36 Alpine Elf Matmut [HYPERCAR] |
| 3 | #22 United Autosports [LMP2] |
| 4 | #709 Glickenhaus Racing [HYPERCAR] |
| 5 | #31 Team WRT [LMP2] |
| 6 | #29 Racing Team Nederland (Pro/Am) [LMP2] |
| 7 | #34 Inter Europol Competition (Pro/Am) [LMP2] |
| 8 | #28 JOTA [LMP2] |
| 9 | #21 DragonSpeed USA (Pro/Am) [LMP2] |
| 10 | #70 Realteam Racing (Pro/Am) [LMP2] |
| 11 | #1 Richard Mille Racing [LMP2] |
| 12 | #20 High Class Racing [LMP2] |
| 13 | #82 Risi Competizione [LMP2] |
| 14 | #44 ARC Bratislava (Pro/Am) [LMP2] |
| 15 | #92 Porsche GT Team [GTE-PRO] |
| 16 | #51 AF Corse [GTE-PRO] |
| 17 | #91 Porsche GT Team [GTE-PRO] |
| 18 | #52 AF Corse [GTE-PRO] |
| 19 | #83 AF Corse [GTE-AM] |
| 20 | #98 Aston Martin Racing [GTE-AM] |
| 21 | #777 D’station Racing [GTE-AM] |
| 22 | #56 Team Project 1 [GTE-AM] |
| 23 | #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing [GTE-AM] |
| 24 | #88 Dempsey-Proton Racing [GTE-AM] |
| 25 | #54 AF Corse [GTE-AM] |
| 26 | #85 Iron Lynx [GTE-AM] |
| 27 | #86 GR Racing [GTE-AM] |
| 28 | #61 AF Corse [GTE-AM] |
| 29 | #388 Rinaldi Racing [GTE-AM] |
| 30 | #46 Team Project 1 [GTE-AM] |
| 31 | #47 Cetilar Racing [GTE-AM] |
| 32 | #33 TF Sport [GTE-AM] |
| 33 | #38 JOTA [LMP2] |
| 34 | #8 Toyota GAZOO Racing [HYPERCAR] |
| 35 | #708 Glickenhaus Racing [HYPERCAR] *DNF |
| 36 | #60 Iron Lynx [GTE-AM] *DNF |
