Toyota Wins 6H Monza, Corvette Seals GTE-Am Title

Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway denied Ferrari victory on home soil by winning the 6 Hours of Monza, while Corvette Racing locked up the GTE-Am title two races early.

The No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid took victory by a margin of 16.520 seconds over the No. 50 Ferrari 499P piloted by Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina.

The Japanese crew started the race from pole position, but lost ground in the opening phase as Peugeot led the race by the end of the first hour when Conway was overtaken by Mikkel Jensen.

It regained ground after that and was back in the lead by the halfway mark, extending its lead until a safety car in the fifth hour when the No. 99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 broke down on track.

The neutralization brought the No. 50 Ferrari back within striking distance of the Toyota, only for the Japanese manufacturer to respond with a fuel-only penultimate stop.

A rapid Fuoco then chipped away at the gap, but Kobayashi managed to keep Fuoco’s No. 50 Ferrari at bay, setting the fastest lap of the race en route to victory.

It marks the third win of the season for the No. 7 crew after Sebring and Spa, bouncing back from their retirement at last month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 driven by Jean-Eric Vergne, Paul di Resta and Mikkel Jensen finished third, scoring the first podium finish for the French manufacturer’s LMH program.

The No. 8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa completed two late-race overtakes to finish fourth and recover from a troubled opening phase of the race.

Buemi became involved in two separate incidents early in the race, first tagging Giovinazzi’s No. 51 Ferrari into a spin on the opening lap.

The Swiss driver then made contact with the No. 777 D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR that pitched Bronze-rated driver Satoshi Hoshino hard into the wall at Variante Ascari.

The second incident proved most costly, as the Swiss driver was then ordered to serve a one minute stop-and-hold penalty, which dropped the car far down the order.

A race of recovery for the No. 8 crew saw Hartley fight his way past both the No. 51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi as well as the No. 5 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry piloted by Fred Makowiecki.

Giovinazzi also pulled off a late overtake on the Frenchman, resulting in fourth place for the Le Mans-winning 499P that the Italian shared with James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi.

Makowiecki, Dane Cameron and Michael Christensen led the No. 6 sister Porsche home in sixth and seventh, while Glickenhaus completed the overall top eight.

The top ten was rounded out by Hertz Team JOTA’s No. 38 Porsche and the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R.

Only one Hypercar class entry failed to finish: the No. 99 Proton Competition Porsche retired from its debut outing.

Corvette Racing Secures GTE-Am Title with Two Races to Spare

Corvette Racing clinched the world championship in GTE-Am by finishing fourth in class, while Dempsey-Proton Racing took the class victory.

Although Ben Keating, Nico Varrone and Nicky Catsburg failed to score a podium for the first time this season, the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R now sits at 174 points.

The resulting points lead can no longer be overhauled by the rest of the GTE-Am field in the two remaining races in Fuji and Bahrain.

Keating retained his GTE-Am title from last year in the process, while Varrone and Catsburg both wozn their first WEC crowns.

The American squad ran near the front in the opening phase of the race, but dropped back due to a drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

The No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R then fought back with Varrone at the wheel, even taking the lead by passing the No. 86 GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Riccardo Pera round the outside at Variante Ascari.

Corvette then dropped behind the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche of Christian Ried, Mikkel Pedersen and Julien Andlauer, which went on to win the race, and the No. 60 Iron Lynx entry when Catsburg took the car over in the penultimate hour.

The Dutchman eventually also conceded third place to the GR Racing squad, which completed the podium with Pera, Ben Barker and Mike Wainwright at the wheel of the No. 86 Porsche.

In LMP2, JOTA took class victory as Team WRT experienced late dramas that cost them a potential victory.

The No. 28 Oreca 07 Gibson of David Heinemeier Hansson, Oliver Rasmussen and Pietro Fittipaldi won by a margin of 36.220 seconds over the No. 36 Alpine Elf Team trio of Charles Milesi, Julien Canal and Matthieu Vaxiviere.

The No. 41 Team WRT crew of Rui Andrade, Louis Deletraz and Robert Kubica finished third, completing the podium after its sister car experienced late dramas.

Sean Gelael, Robin Frijns and Ferdinand Habsburg led the class going into the final hour aboard the No. 31 car.

They then dropped behind JOTA with roughly half an hour remaining before Frijns brought the car into the pits, after which it was pushed into the garage.

United Autosports’ No. 23 Oreca driven by Josh Pierson, Giedo van der Garde and Oliver Jarvis finished fourth. Inter Europol Competition completed the top five.