Ferrari aims to challenge Toyota’s hegemony at the 6 Hours of Monza

He FIA World Endurance Championship will visit the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza this weekend on the occasion of 6 Hours of WEC Monza (July 7-9), as the battle heats up for titles in three categories.

to the success of Ferrari AF Corse In the fourth round of the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship (WEC), at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Hypercars battle intensified as Ferrari closed in on category leader Toyota, now leading him by just 18 points in general classification. However, the fight for the LMP2 title is much closer as only four points separate the WRT team from the recent Le Mans winner, Inter Europol Competitiona Spanish-led group Albert Costa.

36 cars will cover 5,793 kilometers of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza or “temple of speed”, famous for its long high-speed straight where the Hypercars reach speeds of around 318 km/h and almost 60% of the lap is covered by wide the throttle is open. During each lap around the circuit, the Hypercar drivers will change gears 36 times.

This is his first time Ferrari 499P Hypercar He competes in Monza, which, together with his resounding victory in the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans, will cause “tifosi” to flock to the emblematic transalpine track this weekend. In addition, 12 of the 108 drivers competing in Monza will be Italian and there are six Ferraris on the entry list (two Ferrari 499P Hypercars and four Ferrari 488 GTE Evos).

Additional Hypercar entry with Proton Competition

The Hypercar line-up at Monza will match the number of entries from Spa-Francorchamps, with a total of 13 cars. The additional Cadillac of Spa will be replaced by a new participant: a Proton Competition Porsche 963 privately managed.

Proton Competition’s number 99 will bring the total number of Porsche 963s to four, as it joins two works from Penske Motorsport (numbers 5 and 6), as well as the Hertz JOTA team Porsche. At the wheel of the new Proton Porsche is the local driver, Gianmaria Bruni, born in Rome and two-time LMGTE Pro world champion. Bruni will join the FIA ​​WEC 201 world champion, Neel Janiand double Le Mans class winner Harry Tincknell. The team will travel to Monza without testing the car, so it will take advantage of the Italian round of the WEC to familiarize itself with the new machinery.

There will be three other Italian drivers in the Hypercar category for the home fans, and they will all race for Ferrari AF Corse. Antonio Fuocowho has taken pole twice this season, will race in the #50 Ferrari 499P Hypercar, where he will share a seat with the Catalan Miguel Molina. your countrymen Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi they will drive sister car no 51, the same engine that achieved their memorable victory at Le Mans with the Briton James Calado last month.

Toyota Gazoo Racing and its two Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercars have already won three of the four WEC races this season, but after a narrow defeat at Le Mans, the Japanese squad will be eager to put their 2023 title fight on hold. on track with another win. Among the pilots, it is the crew of Toyota GR010 Hybrid No. 8 (Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa) with a slight advantage of 15 points over the Ferrari nº 51.

Behind Toyota and Ferrari, Cadillac has confirmed its position as the third force in the Hypercar field. The reliability of the V-Series.R has enabled the brand to score two WEC podium finishes this season. In the drivers’ standings, the #2 car driven by Alex Lynn, Earl Bamber and Richard Westbrook is currently third, 12 points behind Ferrari.

Following a strong showing at Le Mans last month, where the French manufacturer led the race at one point, Peugeot TotalEnergies is in Italy with two of its 9X8 Hypercars. The team is fifth in the standings, 19 points behind Porsche, which is in fourth place.

Glickenhaus careerFlagging the US, he will attempt to repeat his strong performance last year at Monza with the #708 Glickenhaus 007 Hypercar, driven by Romain Dumas, Olivier Pla and Nathanael Berthon. Completing the Hypercar entry list is Floyd Vanwall Racing, with Tristan Vautier replacing Tom Dillmann in the Vanwall Vandervell 680.

The battle in LMP2 is intense

In LMP2, local support will be strong for Italian flag team Prema Racing and its resident driver Andrea Caldarelli, who was hired to replace Mirko Bortolotti in this race. Other LMP2 changes include Giedo Van der Garde and Ben Hanley as replacements for United Autosport regulars Filipe Albuquerque and Tom Blomqvist, who are working in an IMSA race.

Just four points separate the two LMP2 leaders at Monza, with the WRT team leading the Inter Europol Competition in second position. United Autosports was third, 20 points behind category leader WRT.

For its part, Corvette Racing is the LMGTE Am leader, with 133 points so far (thanks to three wins and a second place). The battle for second and third place, however, was much closer as only three points separated second-place finisher ORT of TF from the female Iron Dames crew in third.

The most noticeable change in LMGTE Am They are joined by Efrin Castro and Guilherme Moura de Oliveira in Project 1 – AO and Julien Piguet in AF Corse No. 21. Meanwhile, in the #57 Kessel Racing car, Daniel Serra will be replaced by Japan’s Kei Cozzolino. Finally, Northwest AMR will not participate in this race, but has announced its intention to return for the WEC 6 Hours of Fuji in early September. There are seven Italian drivers competing in GTE Am (Francesco Castellacci; Davide Rigon; Matteo Cairoli; Claudio Schiavoni; Matteo Cressoni; Alessio Rovera and Riccardo Pera).

Action on the track will begin on Friday, July 7 and qualifying will take place on Saturday afternoon. The 6 Hour flag was waved at 12.30pm on Sunday by the event’s official Grand Marshal, Dindo Capello.