WEC Preview: 6 Hours of Monza
With seven rounds of the 2026 World Endurance Championship (WEC) season behind us, we now turn our eyes to the Temple of Speed for the final hurdle for the teams and drivers this season. Monza will host the 2026 season finale.
Championship picture
Hypercar
It's the No.8 Toyota in the drivers seat in the standings in the WEC's top class. Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastian Buemi sit at the top on 114 points, after back-to-back wins in Fuji and Barcelona.
The sister No.7 car of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck De Vries the only car giving chase that can actually win the title. To do so, they'll need to either win or finish in second place. So how can they steal the title from the sister TR010?
If the No.7 wins, with or without pole position:
The No.8 needs to finish outside of the top six
If the No.7 finishes in second place, with pole position:
The No.8 needs to finish 10th or lower.
If the No.7 finishes in second place, without pole position:
The No.8 must not score a point, so they need to finish 11th or lower.
If the No.7 finishes lower than third, or the No.8 inside the top 5:
The No.8 Toyota will be champions.
Behind them, the No.15 and No.20 BMWs are tied on 75 points for third and fourth, the latter of which have not scored in the last three races, despite being Toyota's biggest rivals for the title mid-season.
Then comes the No.50 Ferrari, six points back, with the sister No.51 a further 10 back on 59 points. They start a close gaggle of cars, with the No.12 Cadillac, No.35 Alpine and the No.38 Cadillac on 58, 57 and 56 points respectively.
A comfortable 1-2 finish for Toyota in Barcelona handed them the manufacturers title with a round to spare, but second place is still up for grabs.
BMW currently hold that spot, on 154 points, with Ferrari giving chase on 130. The Italian squad will need a good result from both cars if they want to overcome that deficit, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.
With a possible 44 points up for grabs, Cadillac are also in contention on 118 points, but will need to win, with the second car in the top four, to have a chance of coming up second.
LMGT3
The gap at the top of the GT class closed with the No.92 Porsche's victory in Barcelona, but Jonny Edgar and the No.33 TF Sport Corvette crew remain firm favourites for the title. They sit on 92 points, 18 ahead of the aforementioned Porsche.
The sister Corvette - No.34 - is also in title contention, just four points further back on 70, with the No.69 WRT BMW a real outside shot.
For the No.92 The Bend Manthey car to come out on top, they'll need to finish in first or second place to have a chance (first only if the No.33 secures pole).
If the No.92 wins, with or without pole:
The No.33 must finish seventh or lower, with or without pole.
If the No.92 finishes second, with pole:
The No.33 must finish 10th or lower.
The No.34 must not win the race.
If the No.92 finishes second, without pole:
The No.33 must finish 11th or lower.
The No.34 must not win the race.
If the No.34 wins, with or without pole:
The No.33 must finish ninth or lower, with or without pole.
If the No.69 wins, with pole:
The No.33 must finish 11th or lower.
To put it slightly more simply, if the No.33 finishes anywhere inside the top six positions on Sunday, regardless of the point for pole, they will be champions. However, if they do finish lower than sixth (which they have done in four races this season), the door opens for the other competitors.
It is also worth noting, that in seven races, there have been seven different winners in the LMGT3 class.
Schedule
The weekend kicks off on Friday morning with 90 minutes scheduled for FP1 at 10:30 local time (09:30 BST), with a second 90 minutes of practice getting underway later that afternoon at 14:30 (13:30 BST).
Saturday sees a final 60 minutes of practice at 10:30 (09:30 BST) before qualifying for the LMGT3s at 14:20 (13:20 BST), followed by the Hypercars at 15:00 (14:00 BST). The main event kicks off at 11:00 (10:00 BST) on Sunday morning, and will run for six hours until 17:00 (16:00 BST).
Fans at the track, and those watching along from home, will also enjoy action from the Legends of Le Mans series, which will feature LMP1, LMP2 and GTE cars of days gone by.
Weather
There is a slight chance on rain for Friday's Free Practice running, but that is not the case for Saturday and Sunday. However, there will be low temperatures this weekend. We'll see a range between nine and 12 degrees celsius this weekend.
We've seen drivers - specifically in the Hypercar class - struggle heavily with tyre warm-up, so these cooler conditions will be a hinderance, and may through quite a large spanner into the works for a lot of teams.
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