Toyota returns to winning ways by beating Ferrari in Monza Six Hours

After a disappointing loss at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Toyota got back to its winning ways and spoiled Ferrari’s homecoming at the Six Hours of Monza.

The number 7 Toyota GR010 of Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi scored its third win of the season – completing 198 laps and finishing 16.325 seconds ahead of the number 50 Ferrari 499P of Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen, and Antonio Fuoco.

After conceding the top spot shortly after the first Safety Car intervention, the number 7 Toyota made its way back to the lead and held it through much of the remaining two-thirds of the race.

Hours 1-2

Monza’s round of the World Endurance Championship began with a clash between the two teams who fought for victory at Le Mans one month ago. While the number seven Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid of Mike Conway held the lead without any trouble, the team’s sister car piloted by Sebastien Buemi hit and spun the number 51 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi at the Variante del Rettifilo, sending the Le Mans-winning car and crew tumbling down the order.

A quarter of an hour into the race, the Hypercar runners were negotiating slower traffic. Approaching Variante Ascari, a hasty Buemi pushed the number 777 D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage of Satoshi Hoshino off into the barrier to the right. Hoshino’s crashed car came to a rest in the gravel, and the Safety Car was deployed for 20 minutes to clean up debris. Thankfully, Hoshino was able to walk away unhurt.

After the Safety Car was withdrawn, Buemi was given a 60 second stop-and-go penalty on top of the 10-second time penalty that he was already due to serve for the collision with Giovinazzi. This took the number eight Toyota off the lead lap and out of contention for the overall lead.

At the restart Mikkel Jensen in the number 93 Peugeot 9X8 pulled off a surprise by passing Conway’s Toyota to take lead the race. The long-struggling French manufacturer stayed up front throughout the rest of the first hour. Miguel Molina drove past Conway to put the number 50 Ferrari into second place.

But the number 93 Peugeot missed its marks during the first pit stop and conceded its advantage. That marked a turning point in the team’s fortunes, after which the car slipped down the order.

Several cars pitted under the Safety Car and cycled to the front as the race passed the two-hour mark. The number six Penske Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre held the lead followed by the number 51 Ferrari of Giovinazzi, and the two privateer-run Porsches: The number 38 Team Jota Porsche of Antonio Felix da Costa ahead of the new number 99 Proton Competition Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni.

However the number seven Toyota holds the strongest position following its earlier pit stop, followed by the number 50 Ferrari. As the race entered its third house Jose Maria Lopez was at the wheel of the Toyota and Nicklas Nielsen was piloting the Ferrari.

Molina and Conway’s stints ended with a hair-raising moment. Molina’s defensive driving pushed Conway onto the grass – the number 50 was given a warning for forcing the number seven off track.

The number 94 Peugeot slipped down the order as Gustavo Menezes encountered difficulty getting into gear on his out lap. The number eight Toyota of Buemi fell to 12th place after its two penalties.

The LMP2 class has seen some spirited driving. After a change of drivers from David Heinemeier-Hansson to Oliver Rasmussen, the number 28 Jota Oreca 07/Gibson now leads in class, followed by Team WRT’s number 31 car and United Autosports’ number 23.

And at the one-third mark, the GTE Am class is led by pole-winner Sarah Bovy in the number 85 Porsche 911 RSR-19, followed by Lilou Wadoux in the number 83 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo.

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Hours 3-4

Toyota Gazoo Racing took a decisive advantage into the final two hours of the Six Hours of Monza.

The number number Toyota GR010 Hybrid was battling closely with the number 50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P before Jose Maria Lopez took over the leading Toyota. He steadily built a lead of over 40 seconds before the end of his double stint, and a change of drivers to team principal Kamui Kobayashi.

Antonio Fuoco replaced Nicklas Nielsen in the number 50 Ferrari which was running second place after four hours, 45 seconds behind Kobayashi.

The battle for third was between the number five Penske Porsche 963 of Dane Cameron, and the number 93 Peugeot 9X8 of Paul di Resta, on different pit sequences. Peugeot was effectively down to just one car after the 9X8’s lingering gearbox problems took the number 94 out of contention after two hours.

The third hour started with an incident in the LMP2 class. Bent Viscaal in the number nine Prema Racing Oreca 07/Gibson made contact with the number 10 Vector Sport car of Gabriel Aubry in the second Curva Lesmo. Aubry’s car spun to the left and hit the barrier at corner exit, causing the second Safety Car appearance of the race. Vector Sport was the day’s second retirement, while the F2 and F3 alumnus Viscaal earned a 60-second stop-and-go penalty for avoidable contact.

During the Safety Car period, the number 38 Team Jota Porsche 963 stopped on track with suspected electrical problems after taking an ’emergency service’ pit stop for fuel. The number 6 Penske Porsche and the number 51 Ferrari 499P also had to take emergency service under the Safety Car.

The Lesmos were a trouble spot for a number of drivers in the lower categories. LMP2 driver Philip Hanson and GTE Am driver Luis Perez Companc spun after contact at the second right-hand curve.

Out of Lesmo one, the number 60 Iron Lynx Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Matteo Cressoni pushed the number 21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Simon Mann off into the gravel, resulting in the first Full Course Yellow of the race. This was the third AF Corse Ferrari GT to encounter trouble in quick succession – following Companc’s accident in the number 83, and the silver number 54 stopping on track for several seconds just as Thomas Flohr was leading the class.

The number 23 United Autosports Oreca was leading in LMP2. Giedo van der Garde took the baton from co-drivers Josh Pierson and Oliver Jarvis who ran before him.

But Team WRT’s number 31 and Jota’s number 28 weren’t far behind, with Ferdinand Habsburg in the 31 and Pietro Fittipaldi in the 28 both in Van der Garde’s rear view in a three-car train.

Over in GTE Am, Iron Dames and Corvette Racing have had to work through setbacks in this stage. Iron Dames’ number 85 Porsche had to take emergency service during the second Safety Car period and Michelle Gatting had to wait until the Safety Car queue passed them before she could exit pit lane. And the number 33 Corvette had to serve a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pits. Nico Varrone in the Corvette got past Gatting on track and then took the class lead before the top of the hour.

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Hours 5-6

Toyota’s advantage was dulled in the fifth hour due to a Full Course Yellow and subsequent Safety Car. The number 99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 was having a great debut race, until a mechanical issue forced Harry Tincknell to retire the car.

It set up a showdown between Kobayashi and Fuoco for the win of the race, with Kobayashi able to hold onto track position after his final pit stops and drive on to the win.

Behind them, Peugeot Sport achieved a well-deserved first podium for the Peugeot 9X8, one year on from its competitive debut. While the number 94 car fell out of contention due to the Peugeot’s long-standing gearbox reliability issues, the number 93 of Jean-Eric Vergne, Mikkel Jensen, and Paul di Resta did hold on for the full six hours to finish third.

The final minutes saw a mad scramble for fourth place between the number 5 Penske Porsche, number 8 Toyota, and the Le Mans-winning number 51 Ferrari.

After two uncharacteristically clumsy incidents from Sebastien Buemi at the start, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley picked their team mate up and overcame a one-lap deficit to finish fourth for Toyota and maintain their lead in the drivers’ championship, while Giovinazzi, who was turned around by Buemi on the first lap, capped off a recovery drive in the fifth-place Ferrari alongside Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado.

However, the number 51 Ferrari was later handed a 45-second converted drive-through penalty after the race for Giovinazzi overtaking the number 5 Porsche of Frederic Makowiecki beyond the white line to the right hand side of the pit straight. That dropped them down to sixth, behind that same Porsche

Jota took its second LMP2 class win of the season as a team. A generally flawless race from the number 28 Oreca of David Heinemeier-Hansson, Oliver Rasmussen and Pietro Fittipaldi was enough to give them the win, ten seconds ahead of the number 36 Alpine, while Louis Deletraz edged out Oliver Jarvis to give Team WRT’s number 41 the last podium position.

WRT was in the fight for the class win until the number 31 car suffered a terminal mechanical failure with just 20 minutes to go. Robin Frijns could not believe his terrible fortune as he climbed out of the cockpit. On the other side of the garage, the 41 crew of Deletraz, Robert Kubica, and Rui Andrade continues to lead the LMP2 championship.

GTE Am class honours in the race went to the number 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 driven by team owner Christian Ried, Mikkel Pedersen, and Julian Andlauer.

But a fourth place finish for the number 33 Corvette of Ben Keating, Nicolas Varrone, and Nicky Catsburg was enough for Corvette Racing to clinch the GTE Am championship with two rounds in hand – in the final season of GTE class racing. It’s Keating’s second consecutive class championship with two different teams and a first for Catsburg and Varrone. This is also the first WEC series title for Corvette Racing – which has won 15 teams’ championships and 14 drivers’ championships in the IMSA Sportscar Championship, and ten class wins at Le Mans.

The World Endurance Championship continues in two months with the Six Hours of Fuji on September 10th.

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