Cadillac lead WEC 6 Hours of Monza at halfway distance after a chaotic, incident-ridden three hours
The No.38 JOTA Cadillac squad led the first half of the WEC 2026 season finale at Monza, despite coming under pressure from Alpine and BMW in an action-packed and incident-ridden opening three hours of the race.
Meanwhile, the No.88 Proton Competition Ford squad led the way in LMGT3 following a chaotic opening half of the race which saw multiple Safety Car's deployed.
As it happened
It was an all Spanish front-row in Italy at the start of the race, with Miguel Molina in the No.50 Ferrari leading away Daniel Juncadella in the No.19 Genesis. In the title fight, it's between the two Toyota's, who start 14th (No.8) and 17th (No.7). If the No.7 was to win the championship, they need to win or finish second.
It was a good getaway from both cars on the front row of the grid, with Juncadella trying to take the lead around the outside. He was forced to cut the corner, and subsequently took the lead for Genesis. He was given a five-second penalty later on for the incident though.
Before that, Jack Aitken in the No.38 Cadillac managed to get ahead of Molina at the start, and soon set his eyes on Juncadella. When the Hypercars caught traffic for the first time, Aitken got a run out of Ascari and got alongside heading down to Parabolica.
Juncadella tried to box him in with traffic, but Aitken got his elbows out - giving the Genesis a little nudge - and getting the move done under braking. Juncadella tried to come back, but Aitken put a GT car in between the two to seal the move.
Molina soon caught back up to the Genesis as Aitken pulled away, and went for a move at turn 1, but similarly to Juncadella on lap 1, he cut the corner, but immediately gave the place back. That put him under pressure from Antonio Giovinazzi in the No.51 behind, but Molina fended the sister car off through traffic.
In LMGT3 it was Tom van Rompuy in the No.78 Lexus - the cars' last ever race - leading away Ben Keating in the No.33 TF Sport Corvette. The No.33 crew are in the drivers seat in the championship race, any finish inside the top six would do it for them, but their rivals in the No.92 Porsche and No.34 Corvette needed to win the race.
It was a good getaway for both on the front-row, with Keating cutting the corner the same way that Juncadella did. But this time he gave the place back immediately, but he accidentally let the No.77 Ford of Eric Powell through as well.
Keating was soon under pressure from Petru Umbraescu in the No.87 Lexus, with an aggressive move at turn 1.
The Fords looked very quick in the early parts of the race, with Powell getting van Rompuy for the lead after eight minutes, and Steffano Gattuso in the No.88 also moving past Keating into fourth.
Van Rompuy also lost out to teammate Umbraescu, before the No.88 also got by at turn 1. The pole sitting car was falling down the order early on.
The No.88 moved past the Lexus' and soon his teammate too, taking the lead of the race. But he was forced into the pits at the end of that lap, to serve a five-second stop-go penalty for 'total power', their first offence was a reprimand, but the penalty was for their second offence. That dropped them to last, and put the No.77 back in the lead.
Salih Yoluç was moving up in the No.34 Corvette too, up to fourth, dragging Anthony McIntosh in the No.69 BMW with him up the order.
Their progress was halted though, as Johannes Zelger in the No.79 Mercedes hit the back of the No.23 Aston Martin of Gray Newell, and sent him into the gravel. Newell was able to keep it moving, but Antares Au behind in the No.10 McLaren was caught out trying to avoid the incident, and he got stuck in the gravel. That brought out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC)
In Hypercar, there was drama for Ferrari under the VSC. Both the No.50 and No.83 were called into the pits by black and orange flags for tyre pressure. They both changed to a fresh set, and moved back on. However, race control still deemed to pressures to be incorrect, and handed them both 20 second time penalties.
With everyone pitting under the VSC, the Ferrari's dropped to the back, still with penalties to serve. The No.38 JOTA Cadillac of Aitken led the way at the restart, ahead of the No.19 Genesis and No.36 Alpine.
The No.77 Ford LMGT3 was given a drive-through penalty for track limits, with the No.33 TF Sport Corvette crucially also given a drive-through penalty. The pair of them dropped to 13th and 15th place in class, with the No.33 Corvette needing to finish in 9th place or better to secure the championship, they had their work cut out for them.
Suddenly, the No.58 Garage 59 McLaren smashed into the side of the No.32 WRT BMW at the first corner, with the McLaren seemingly braking far too late, with nowhere to go as the BMW turned into the first corner. The incident brought out the Safety Car.
The collision destroyed the BMW and sent them out of the race, with Darren Leung unable to drive the car back. However, on the contrary, Alexander West managed to drive the No.58 McLaren back to the pit lane, despite the car snapping and crabbing all over the circuit with a broken suspension and a front left puncture. West was able to keep control of the McLaren down the straights, but under braking, the car attempted to snap from underneath him.
The No.38 Cadillac led the way once again at the restart, however further through the field, the No.77 Ford LMGT3 nearly ran right into the back of the No.35 Alpine, with the Ford taking to the grass to avoid the Hypercar after the field bunched at the final corner. Moments later, the No.77 Ford picked up a second penalty for track limits.
Separated by just two seconds, the No.19 Genesis chased the No.38 JOTA Cadillac as they attempted to score their first points of the season. However, heartbreak would hit the Genesis squad as the No.19 car slowed to a halt. The team attempted to speak to Paul-Loup Chatin, but the radio appeared to be broken. Stopped at the exit of the Ascari chicane, the incident brought out the Virtual Safety Car.
Genesis' race continued to get worse, with the sister No.17 car picking up a penalty for exceeding the maximum power before the previous pit stop. At the restart, the No.36 Alpine hounded the No.38 Cadillac for the lead of the race, with the pair going side-by-side several times, and the Alpine attacking at multiple spots throughout the lap.
Eventually, the two cars went side-by-side into Turn 4, with the Alpine trying to get ahead and around the outside of the Cadillac. Victor Martins in the Alpine was sent across the chicane as the Cadillac maintained the lead of the race, the two separated by less than a second as the pressure continued to mount on the Cadillac.
The No.007 Aston Martin managed to overtake the No.35 Alpine at the VSC restart and then overtook the No.83 AF Corse Ferrari around the outside at Parabolica, the No.007 found themselves in 7th place.
However, disaster struck for the sister No.009 Aston Martin, as the car was sent into the barriers at Turn 1 after being caught out by traffic ahead braking early for the corner. Somehow, the No.009 Aston Martin managed to find a gap to drive into, avoiding a crash with any of the other cars around them.
The No.87 Lexus LMGT3 came to a complete stop coming into the final corner, bringing out another FCY as the field slowed down.
The No.38 JOTA Cadillac led the way at half distance, opening a small lead of two seconds to the No.20 BMW and No.36 Alpine behind. The No.93 and No.94 Peugeot's rounded out the Top 5, with the No.51 Ferrari and No.007 Aston Martin hot on their tail.
In LMGT3, the No.88 Proton Competition Ford led the way from the No.23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin and No.92 Manthey Porsche squad. The No.77 Ford somehow, despite all of their penalties and incidents, found themselves in fourth position as the No.34 Corvette rounded out the Top 5 in class. Crucially, the No.33 Corvette recovered to seventh place going into the second half of the race after falling to 15th earlier on.
Comments