Hypercar, LMP2, LMGTE Pro and Am will be at the start of the second endurance race in a few days at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Also on the grid are the two Peugeot 9×8 Hypercars, rookies in an official competition.

38 cars from 27 different teams, for a total of 109 drivers competing. This is the parterre with which the World Endurance Championship , now in its tenth season, lands in Italy for the 6 Hours of Monza, a new appointment with an endurance race for the Temple of Speed in a back to back of two consecutive weeks with the European Le Mans Series.

Between Friday 8 and Sunday 10 July, Hypercar, LMP2 and LMGTE are ready to roar on the straights and between the curbs of the Brianza Circuit, to offer a great show to the public in the stands and to make the Autodrome once again the cradle of international endurance. , after the debut of the World Championship in Italy last year with the Monza race.

In the entry list of the race Toyota, Alpine, Glickenhaus and Peugeot stand out, fielding the very fast Hypercars on the track and competing for the absolute podium. Toyota arrives at the appointment as leader in the world championship classification of teams, after having conquered the first two positions in the 24 Hours of Le Mans that preceded the Italian round. The Conway-Kobayashi-Lopez trio of the Japanese brand also won last season’s 6 Hours of Monza.

The Japanese manufacturer is chased in the general classification, 22 points behind, by Alpine ELF Team which, despite the défaillance on the Circuito de la Sarthe, instead commands the drivers’ classification with the A480 – Gibson # 36 led by André Negrão, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviére, victorious in the 1000 Miglia of Sebring at the beginning of the season and second in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in May.

The two teams will have to contend with three other highly rated crews for the first place finish. Olivier Pla, Romain Dumas and Luis Felipe Derani will be driving the only car from Glickenhaus Racing, with a completely renewed light blue livery. There is great anticipation for the debut, just this weekend, of the two Peugeot 9×8 Hypercars from Peugeot TotalEnergies. One of the two will present at the wheel, together with the Danish Mikkel Jensen, the two former Formula 1 drivers Paul Di Resta and Jean-Eric Vergne, while the other will be shared by Loic Duval, Gustavo Menezes and James Rossiter.

Among the 14 LMP2 prototypes that will see the green flag fly on Sunday there will be a close fight between different teams, with a currently very short ranking and with Jota, United Autosports USA, Prema Orlen Team and WRT enclosed in just 24 points. Antonio Felix da Costa, Roberto Gonzalez and William Stevens (Jota), in first place among the drivers, will have to be good at managing an 11-point gap over Joshua Pierson and Olivier Jarvis (United Autosports USA), who will drive their Oreca 07 – Gibson along with Alexander Lynn.

For the class LMGTE Pro, 5 cars will compete for the category success on the track, of which 2 Porsche 911 RSR -19, a Chevrolet Corvette C8.R and two Prancing Horse cars, the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo driven respectively by the couples Alessandro Pier Guidi – James Calado and Miguel Molina – Antonio Fuoco. The Italian team races to Monza aware of having to recover 26 points on Porsche, which is currently at the top of the constructors’ classification with 165 points, against Ferrari’s 139.

Finally, 13 LMGTE Ams will also be part of the fray, including two Aston Martin Vantage AMRs who are fighting for the class title. Ben Keating and Marco Sorensen (TF Sport) will try to repeat the success obtained at Le Mans and extend the standings, well supported by the third driver present at the 6 Hours of Monza in car # 33, Henrique Chaves. Paul Dalla Lana, David Pittard and Nicki Thiim, currently 8 points from the top of the category ranking and lined up in Monza for the Northwest AMR team, will try to fight them.

It should be noted the large presence, especially among the LMGTE Pro and Am, of Italian drivers who will certainly be supported by the cheering of the public present in the stands. In addition to the aforementioned Pier Guidi and Fuoco, Gianmaria Bruni will take care of the Italian flag in a Porsche among the GTE Pros. At the start for the LMGTE Am, together with the all-tricolor crew of Iron Lynx Claudio Schiavoni – Matteo Cressoni – Giancarlo Fisichella in a Ferrari 488, there are Matteo Cairoli and Riccardo Pera at the wheel of the Porsche 911 and Francesco Castellacci always in a 488. Among the reds of the Cavallino, the presence of the female Iron Dames team, made up of Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy, should be highlighted.

The track program of the 6 Hours of Monza includes three free practice sessions, of which the first two of 90 minutes respectively at 15:30 on Friday and at 9 the following day. Also on Saturday there will also be the third one, of an exact hour, starting at 13:30. To decide the starting grid, two qualifying heats will be held, one dedicated to the LMGTEs at 17:30, and the other for the LMP2 and Hypercars immediately after, at 17:50.

The 6 Hours will be the main dish on Sunday, with the start at 12 which will be preceded by the opening of the pitlane for the public from 9.20 with an autograph session. The complete timetable and all other entertainment activities for the fans during the event are available on the dedicated page WEC – FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Monza where it is also possible to buy tickets for the event. (fm)