2026 WEC 6 Hours of Monza preview: what to expect from today's race

Ferrari has the best starting position for the 2026 WEC 6 Hours of Monza, but the first sustained run on slicks could change the order. Antonio Fuoco put the #50 Ferrari on pole by 0.096 seconds over Mathieu Jaminet’s #19 Genesis after three rain-affected practice sessions. The two Toyotas fighting for the drivers’ title start 15th and 16th, and the #33 Corvette starts its LMGT3 title bid from the front row of its class.

The season finale is scheduled to start at 11:00 CET (10:00 GMT) on Sunday, 8 November. The race-day outlook points to cool, mostly dry conditions, giving teams a different test from the one they faced through most of practice.

Ferrari has track position and limited dry running

Fuoco topped both phases of Hypercar qualifying, setting a 1:33.364 in Hyperpole. Jaminet joined him on the front row after Genesis also started on pole at Barcelona. Earl Bamber put the #38 Cadillac third and Antonio Giovinazzi put the #51 Ferrari fourth, 0.209 seconds off pole, after a brake-by-wire fault restricted that car to seven laps in FP3. Our Hypercar qualifying debrief explains how the track dried during the shootout.

Practice offered a wider spread of contenders. Charles Milesi led a wet, three-red-flag FP1 for the #35 Alpine. As the track dried in FP2, Robert Kubica put the #83 Ferrari first on a 1:38.143, around seven tenths clear of the #007 Aston Martin, with the #15 BMW third. In Saturday’s final practice, Nick Cassidy’s #93 Peugeot edged Victor Martins’ #36 Alpine by 0.040 seconds, with Kubica third again.

The #83 was near the front in each of those sessions, while the #19 Genesis and #38 Cadillac backed up strong qualifying positions with top-six times in FP2. That gives Ferrari several credible challengers. The changing grip and unknown fuel loads and tyre ages make those best laps a poor basis for predicting stint averages. If the race stays dry, the useful comparison will be how the leading cars hold their pace after the tyres have warmed up and the field starts catching LMGT3 traffic.

Michelin has brought soft and medium slicks for Hypercar. The soft could help a driver build grip on a cold out-lap, while the medium could pay off later in a stint if the soft loses performance. As Giovinazzi explained after qualifying, Ferrari still had to learn how its tyres would hold up with race fuel. That makes the lap times before and after the first stops more informative than the Hyperpole gap.

Toyota’s title rivals start together in traffic

Toyota clinched the manufacturers’ championship with a one-two at Barcelona. Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa arrive in the #8 with a 17-point lead over Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries in the #7. Neither car made Hyperpole, so they share the eighth row, with the #8 ahead.

With Ferrari taking the pole point, the #7 needs at least second to have a chance of overturning the deficit. That gives the two crews different reasons to take risks. The #7 needs to move towards the podium, while the #8 can protect its points advantage by keeping its sister car in reach. An early stop could give either crew clear track, or drop it back into a group of LMGT3 cars just as its new tyres are coming up to temperature. That makes the traffic each Toyota rejoins more important than the order in which they pit.

Lexus has pole while Corvette leads the title fight

Hadrien David put the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus on LMGT3 pole by just 0.014 seconds over Jonny Edgar in the #33 TF Sport Corvette. Edgar leads the drivers’ standings and TF Sport leads the teams’ standings, with the #92 Manthey Porsche crew 18 points back. The #34 Corvette and #69 BMW also remain in contention.

The class had three different practice leaders. Thomas Fleming led FP1 for the #10 Garage 59 McLaren, the Proton Ford Mustangs went one-two in FP2 with Seb Priaulx quickest, and Alessio Rovera led FP3 in the #21 Ferrari. David’s pole gives Lexus clean air at the start, but the race will also depend on how the Bronze drivers manage traffic and how much grip each crew has left at the end of a stint. The #33’s front-row start gives it a chance to control its own race while its title rivals have to make up ground.