Monza Thursday Notebook

***The fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship season at Monza started with stormy conditions on Thursday morning, but the rain soon gave way to sunshine and hot weather that is expected to stick around for Sunday’s six-hour race.

***The heat is projected to bring temperatures of around 93 degrees F (34 degrees C) on Sunday. “Tire management might get more important as the weekend goes on, because degradation will be worse when it’s hotter,” Toyota driver Sebastien Buemi told Sportscar365. “I would say that so far in the season, we’ve been quite competitive when it’s hot.”

***Several WEC cars and drivers headed to Monza town center for a fan event that included the presentaiton of a special award to Ferrari for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans last month. Porsche, Cadillac, Peugeot and Prema were among the other competitors to bring their cars downtown, while drivers were available for autographs and interviews on the stage.

***Multiple cars in have carried over their liveries from Le Mans. The pair of Toyota GR010 Hybrids still feature the added cherry blossoms seen in France, while the No. 25 ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage AMR has kept the predominantly orange design as opposed to the blue scheme used in the opening three races.

***Peugeot’s retro-inspired Le Mans livery, meanwhile, will remain on the cars for the rest of the season. “I think most of the team have been quite positive in response to it,” Paul Di Resta told Sportscar365. “It stands out in pictures, it gives it more identity.”

***Sportscar365 understands that Inter Europol Competition has received all but one part back from the FIA amid an ongoing post-race investigation after Le Mans. It is believed that the No. 34 Oreca 07 Gibson’s wiring loom is still in the FIA’s possession, although findings from the inquiry are yet to be published.

***There is no set timeline on when the findings might be revealed and, therefore, when the Le Mans results will be finalized.

***A special photoshoot was held on Monza’s start-finish straight, featuring a Ferrari 499P alongside a Ferrari 250LM. Thursday marked exactly one year since the 499P was first shaken down at Fiorano.

***Isotta Fraschini last week completed a three-day test with the Tipo 6 LMH Competizione at Aragon. The hybrid-powered LMH prototype completed 1,400 km with Jean-Karl Vernay behind the wheel.

***Vernay said: “We’ve improved a lot of consistency and performance, and we understood all the important parts of the car, like the hybrid system, the electric engine, and the brakes.”

***Isotta Fraschini also fielded its track day Hypercar, the Tipo 6 Pista, during the test at Aragon. Both models are in the paddock at Monza, while Isotta is planning demonstration runs for Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning before the race.

***Another track day hypercar with racing technology will be present at Monza, as the Dallara-engineered, Gibson V8-powered 777 Hypercar makes its public debut in an unveiling on Friday. The 777 will be sold in seven units and is designed to motorsport standards including an FIA-homologated Dallara monocoque. However, is it not destined for competition.

***BMW M Team WRT completed more than 2,000 km during its first test with the BMW M Hybrid V8 at Aragon, according to the German manufacturer’s motorsport director Andreas Roos.

***Roos reckons that the start of WRT’s testing work, alongside Team RLL’s race program in the U.S., will be good for the LMDh project: “It helps us as we’re still running the IMSA championship with the two cars, we have some tests in the U.S. planned,” he said during last weekend’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. “We have tests for the WEC championship so this also should help us to increase the learning curve.”

***Ferrari AF Corse did two days of testing with one car at Fiorano between its Le Mans victory and this weekend, with Alessandro Pier Guidi driving. The Italian manufacturer also tested at Monza in the spring alongside Porsche Penske Motorsport and Floyd Vanwall Racing Team.

***Porsche Penske Motorsport senior staff are split between Monza and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this weekend. Porsche’s global factory LMDh director Urs Kuratle is on-site in Italy, while its Vice President of motorsport Thomas Laudenbach is also expected at Monza after attending the DTM event at the Norisring.

***PPM managing director Jonathan Diuguid is at CTMP, while Roger Penske is at Monza after also attending the 6 Hours of Portimao the last time WEC and IMSA overlapped.

***The Proton Competition Hypercar crew largely comes from the team’s European Le Mans Series LMP2 program but with some GT-focused personnel mixed in, according to team principal Christian Ried.

***Although details are to be finalized, Ried expects Proton to air-freight the Porsche 963 that is racing at Monza over to the U.S. for next month’s WeatherTech Championship round at Road America. It is then set to fly the second chassis to Japan for the next WEC race at Fuji in September.

***Ried admitted that Proton is tight for spare parts this weekend, having only received the LMDh car last week. The handover of its No. 99 Porsche ended up being slightly “later than expected” which prevented any private testing from being done beforehand.

***On the GTE-Am side, Proton has two new Porsche 911 RSR-19 chassis to replace ones that were damaged in accidents at Le Mans. One is the No. 77 car at Monza and the other will be used for next week’s ELMS race at Paul Ricard. A third replacement tub is awaiting delivery to the team.

***Team Project 1 is hoping to secure one of Porsche’s places on the LMGT3 grid next season, according to team principal Axel Funke. The German squad also runs BMW M4 GT3s in the DTM but those places are expected to go to Team WRT. GR Racing has also thrown its hat into the ring for a Porsche LMGT3 berth.

***Project 1 is racing at Monza with a new all-red livery for its No. 56 Porsche, featuring team sponsor BTR Logistics. The car will return to ‘Rexy’ form at Fuji and Bahrain, Funke confirmed, because PJ Hyett and Gunnar Jeannette will be back for those rounds.

***The WEC and Bosch recently entered a new branding partnership that will see the German engineering company undertake increased promotion and activation at races. Bosch supplies the spec electric motor to LMDh cars racing in Hypercar.

***Lamborghini today confirmed that its LMDh car will be unveiled at the Goodwood Festival of Speed next Thursday. Lamborghini Chairman and CEO Stephan Winkelmann, Chief Technical Officer Rouven Mohr and Head of Motorsport Giorgio Sanna, alongside members of partner team Iron Lynx, will be on-hand to reveal the car which has been developed with Ligier Automotive.

John Dagys and Davey Euwema contributed to this report