WEC Monza 2026 after 3 hours: Cadillac leads BMW at halfway

Sébastien Bourdais led the 2026 FIA WEC 6 Hours of Monza at halfway, with Sheldon van der Linde’s #20 BMW just 0.700 seconds behind the #38 Cadillac after 90 laps. The lead battle changed after the #19 Genesis stopped from second early in the third hour. In LMGT3, Giammarco Levorato put the #88 Proton Competition Ford in front before the #87 Lexus that had led at two hours stopped near Parabolica.

Aitken builds the lead before Genesis drops out

Daniel Juncadella took the lead from the front row at the start, but Jack Aitken used traffic to pass the #19 Genesis on the approach to Parabolica. As Cadillac led at the end of the opening hour, the pole-sitting #50 Ferrari and the #83 AF Corse 499P had both been called in for low tyre pressures and handed 20-second penalties. Antonio Giovinazzi took second on track in the #51 Ferrari before the first round of stops, when the race was neutralised following the LMGT3 incident at Ascari.

The field bunched up again in the second hour after Alexander West’s #58 McLaren hit Darren Leung’s #32 BMW at the first chicane. Both cars retired, and the Virtual Safety Car was followed by a Safety Car. James Calado stayed on his tyres during that round of stops and moved the #51 back into third. At two hours, Aitken led Paul-Loup Chatin’s Genesis by just over two seconds, with Calado roughly four seconds off the lead and Victor Martins fourth in the #36 Alpine.

Chatin pulled off near the exit of Ascari minutes into the third hour. The #19 had completed 62 laps and retired, ending a run that began with Mathieu Jaminet putting the car on the front row for the second race in succession. The stoppage brought another Virtual Safety Car and then a Safety Car. Cadillac used the neutralisation to hand the #38 from Aitken to Bourdais, who restarted ahead of Martins and van der Linde.

BMW gets past Alpine and closes on Cadillac

Martins drew alongside Bourdais after the restart, but the Cadillac stayed ahead. Two Full Course Yellows followed, first for the stopped #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari near the first chicane and then for the #87 Lexus. Van der Linde passed Martins as racing resumed after the second stoppage and was within a second of Bourdais by halfway.

Martins held third, just over two seconds off the lead. Paul di Resta and Théo Pourchaire put the #93 and #94 Peugeots fourth and fifth, with Alessandro Pier Guidi sixth in the #51 Ferrari. Less than five seconds covered those first six cars. Nicklas Nielsen was 11th in the pole-sitting Ferrari after five stops, while Yifei Ye was 14th in the #83.

The two Toyotas had started 14th and 17th on a difficult grid for the title contenders. Brendon Hartley was 10th in the #8 at halfway, with Nyck de Vries 12th in the #7 and Nielsen’s Ferrari between them. The #8 crew had brought a 17-point advantage into the finale.

Levorato leads as Lexus loses ground

Petru Umbrărescu led LMGT3 at the two-hour mark in the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus, ahead of Salih Yoluç’s #34 Corvette and Anthony McIntosh’s #69 BMW. Clemens Schmid took over the Lexus, but Levorato passed him for the lead during the third hour. Schmid was running second when he stopped and triggered the Full Course Yellow. He rejoined and was 15th in class at halfway. The sister #78 Lexus, which Hadrien David had put on pole, was 12th.

Levorato led Eduardo Barrichello’s #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin by less than two seconds at the three-hour mark. Riccardo Pera had brought the #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche from ninth in class at two hours to third. Ben Tuck was fourth in the sister #77 Ford, with Peter Dempsey fifth in the #34 Corvette and Parker Thompson sixth in the #69 BMW. Jonny Edgar, who arrived at Monza 18 points clear of Pera in the LMGT3 drivers’ standings, was seventh in the #33 TF Sport Corvette.