Monza Post-Race Notebook

***Ferrari appeared to be dissatisfied with the Balance of Performance in Hypercar after finishing second and fifth in the 6 Hours of Monza. Senior representatives from Ferrari were seen in discussions with FIA and ACO technical personnel shortly after the checkered flag and declined to take media questions post-race.

***Part of a post-race Ferrari statement read: “After winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the expectation was to fight in the same conditions as in the French race. However, the conditions imposed at Monza put the team at a disadvantage compared to its rivals.”

***Toyota Gazoo Racing was visibly buoyed by getting back into winning form at Ferrari’s home circuit. “It was a bit of a target to upset our colleagues,” said the Japanese manufacturer’s WEC technical director Pascal Vasselon.

***Toyota now leads Ferrari by 26 points in the FIA Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers Championship, an increase of eight points since Le Mans. Cadillac is a distant third, 80 points beyond defending champion Toyota.

***Alex Lynn felt that the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac team “just had a bad day” despite strong pace. “Genuinely, all weekend, we enjoyed driving the car and felt happy,” he said. “Every time we were out there, it was great fun. We just didn’t have the luck.”

***An example of that bad luck was when the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R did an emergency pit stop during a Full Course Yellow but the slow period ended while it was still on pit lane, causing a substantial time loss.

***Lynn added that the Cadillac ran on hard compound tires until the final stint, when he drove on a set of mediums. This was the same strategy used by the No. 7 Toyota. “I think I probably would have kept the hard if I had the choice,” he said. “But there wasn’t a lot in it.”

***Porsche Penske Motorsport had a “clean race” with its pair of Porsche 963s, according to the manufacturer’s works LMDh program director Urs Kuratle. “We are in front of some LMDh cars which made some mistakes or had some more problems than we had,” he reflected. The exception to the clean race was a penalty.”

***Both customer Porsche 963s encountered trouble, however. A software problem for Hertz Team JOTA forced the team to make an unscheduled stop to change steering wheels, after which the No. 38 Porsche 963 also served a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane when the speed limiter malfunctioned.

***Proton Competition, meanwhile, retired from its maiden top-category outing with what was initially posited as a clutch issue. “Maybe the root cause is a sensor or something spiky on that one,” said Kuratle. “At the end of the day, there was no more drive on it. I’m not saying the clutch is the issue, but the clutch remained open for whatever reason.”

***Floyd Vanwall Racing Team had its “cleanest” race to date according to Tristan Vautier, as the Vanwall Vandervell 680 Gibson completed 191 laps to finish 20th overall.

***Vautier explained that the ByKolles-run Vanwall team needed to adjust the car’s brake ducting due to overheating. The Frenchman also highlighted that the car “cannot make the power that is allowed” under the BoP. Sportscar365 understands the Vanwall was running about 36 hp down on its permitted output.

***The Glickenhaus 007 Pipo, meanwhile, had one of its best runs in Hypercar this season but high brake wear in the latter stages contributed to it slipping from fourth to eighth.

***JOTA’s Pietro Fittipaldi reckoned the fight for LMP2 honors would have gone down to the wire, had the No. 31 Team WRT Oreca 07 Gibson not retired with a late engine failure. “When I boxed we were half a second behind them, came into the pits really hard,” he said. “The team put the fuel really fast into the car and we got going, so I thought it was going to be really close if they didn’t have that issue, I think we would have been side-by-side into Turn 1 fighting for the win.”

***United Autosports submitted a protest at a late-race overtake from the No. 41 Team WRT Oreca on its No. 23 Oreca in the battle for third. The protest was rejected by the stewards because it was not filed within 30 minutes of the provisional results being published.

***After their third-place finish the WRT trio of Rui Andrade, Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz stretched their points advantage over the Inter Europol Competition crew to 10 points.

***Vector Sport’s hopes of repeating its podium finish from last year’s Monza race were dashed early on when its No. 10 Oreca 07 Gibson received hits from both Prema LMP2 cars. First, Matthias Kaiser was spun around by Doriane Pin before a touch from Bent Viscaal sent Gabriel Aubry off track at Lesmo 2, triggering the race’s second safety car.

***Vector team boss Gary Holland said: “We had a strong weekend to that point but on two occasions today we have been hit by Prema cars and the penalty to us was far greater than what was handed out to them. We need to rebound from this but it’s about time our luck changed as it’s getting a bit tiresome.”

***Viscaal went over to the Vector Sport garage after the race to personally apologize. The contact caused damage to the gearbox casing, according to a team spokesperson.

***Nicky Catsburg revealed that a decision to take tires at the final stop cost the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R a potential podium finish, as the car lost ground to the GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19.

***The Dutchman recalled: “I’m ahead of Ben Barker. I’m keeping him at bay. I feel like if we knew it was just me and him, we would have also not taken tires last season. I feel like I could have kept him behind then, but I was completely unaware of the other two cars being able to jump us like that. So I thought I was fighting for the lead.”

***Catsburg and co-drivers Nico Varrone and Ben Keating presented the entire Corvette Racing crew with Louis Chevrolet watches as a gift for last month’s class victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. “It was a group idea, drivers, and we all paid together,” said Catsburg.

***GR Racing claimed its second consecutive podium, after also finishing third at Le Mans. The British team, whose drivers are now fifth in the GTE-Am standings, has scored 45 of its 54 total points in the last two races.

***Iron Dames and ORT by TF congratulated Corvette on sealing the GTE-Am title with two rounds to spare.

***Rahel Frey, driver of the Iron Dames Porsche, told Sportscar365: “They had an amazing season. With all the ballast weight, they were still the strongest car on track.”

***TF Sport team principal Tom Ferrier, whose team will run the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R next season, added: “Strongest line-up, fastest car.  They’ve never made a mistake as a team, so well done to them. Also, this year with not being able to box under the Full Course Yellow, it’s all about pace now.”

***Strategy calls prevented Iron Dames from challenging for the podium, Frey reckoned. “We wanted to [pit under safety car], but then we missed it, so we were pitting when it was green again. We always missed a chance, and we had to start from the back again.”

***Frey was one of multiple competitors to be surprised at race control’s decision to issue a safety car when the race was under Full Course Yellow conditions for the Proton Porsche 963’s stoppage.

***Responding to the safety car call, Toyota technical director Vasselon told Sportscar365: “It looks like things are down to make our life a bit difficult! I cannot comment, but I can only say I’m surprised because it didn’t look like it needed a safety car.”

***The No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo dropped out of a promising early position when it became stuck in sixth gear through Parabolica, according to Thomas Flohr who was behind the wheel at the time.

***A frustrated Flohr told Sportscar365: “I couldn’t downshift and missed Turn 1. I tried to reset but it didn’t work and I was rolling in Curva Grande. We had the pace today; we had everything.”

***By finishing second, Alpine returned to the LMP2 podium for the first time since finishing third at the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans. “Our car keeps improving since the start of the year, which shows that all the hard work put in by the team is paying off,” said Charles Milesi.

***Alpine has promoted Bruno Famin to the overarching role of VP, Alpine Motorsports and member of Alpine Management Committee, putting him in charge of all racing activities for the Renault brand. Famin, who remains the head of Alpine’s motorsport factory at Viry-Chatillon, headed up the technical team that developed the Alpine A424_Beta LMDh car.

***Alessio Picariello said “fortune turned in our favor” for the No. 60 Iron Lynx Porsche when the Belgian pitted shortly before the third and final safety car, allowing him to assume second. “That put us back in a good position,” said Picariello.

***The 6 Hours of Monza had an official weekend attendance figure of 65,000 spectators. Ferrari’s ardent Tifosi formed a large part of the crowd as the 499P returned to WEC action following its Le Mans win.

***Three-time Le Mans winner Dindo Capello served as grand marshal. The Italian was joined on the grid by seven-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner and three-time Le Mans participant Rene Arnoux, who attended as a guest of the FIA and ACO.

Davey Euwema contributed to this report