Toyota Gazoo Racing’s No. 7 GR010 HYBRID of Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway emerged victorious in a thrilling FIA WEC 6 Hours of Monza Sunday afternoon in front of a huge crowd.
The trio ran a clean race from pole position, beating the No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P to victory after a final-hour showdown, successfully bouncing back from their retirement at Le Mans last month.
In the second half of the race, following a second safety car called for an incident involving the No. 9 Prema and No. 10 Vector Sport LMP2 ORECAs, Lopez took control up front, building a healthy lead of over 40s.
The third and final safety car of the race in the fifth hour (called due to mechanical woes at the first chicane for the No. 99 Proton Porsche) didn’t cost the No. 7 crew the lead, but it did reduce the gap and created a fight between them and the No. 50.
In the final two stints, Antonio Fuoco, with fresher tires, was tasked with reeling in the Toyota, which was double stinting its set before the final stops. Fuoco closed in and got to within 10s of Kobayashi, much to the delight of the hordes of Tifosi in the stands, before Toyota brought the No. 7 in for a final full-service stop to get it to the flag.
After both contending cars had pitted for a final time, the No. 7 was still leading, but the gap was down to 8.5s. Kobayashi, however, delivered the goods under immense pressure, setting his fastest lap of the race and pulling away, crossing the line 16.5s ahead of Fuoco.
Completing the top three was the No. 93 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8. Paul Di Resta, Jean-Eric Vergne and Mikkel Jensen, a year on from the 9X8’s race debut at the same circuit, fought hard and were rewarded with the program’s first podium.
The 9X8s, building on their surprise showing at Le Mans, were quick all weekend. Despite losing time at an early pit stop and suffering gear selection issues, the No. 93 came home as the third and final car on the lead lap. The result will mean the world for the Peugeot team, which appears to be turning a corner.
The victory, the third of the season for the No. 7 crew, has tightened the title race, as the sister No. 8 GR010 and Le Mans-winning No. 51 499P that sat first and second in the points before the race both had tough afternoons in the sweltering conditions trackside.
Toyota’s No. 8 crew still leads the title race (by 23 points) with a sixth-place finish after a late-race recovery that ended with Brendon Hartley battling past the No. 51 and No. 5 Porsche Penske 963. The tussling included a brave move from Hartley on Antonio Giovanazzi around the outside at Curva Grande to put the No. 8 ahead of the No. 51.
It is now the #5 Porsche that gets passed by the #8 Toyota for P4!#WEC #6HMonza pic.twitter.com/maZe4YI9mq
— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) July 9, 2023
It was a hard-fought result for the No. 8 crew, which was penalized twice early in the race for separate collisions involving Sebastien Buemi — first at the start when Buemi locked up and turned the No. 51 into a spin at Turn 1, then for wiping out the No. 777 D’Station Aston Martin later in the first hour.
There was a further 50 second penalty post-race for the No. 8 for excessive energy usage in the late stages of the race, the penalty dropping the car from fourth at the flag to sixth behind the No. 51 Ferrari.
The No. 51 ended up finishing fifth thanks to the Toyota penalty, behind the No. 5 Porsche that inherited fourth.
With the top two in the points finishing off the podium, No. 7 and No. 50 are now in the game. Both are within 34 points with two races remaining.
“After a tough Le Mans, it was important to bounce back,” Lopez said. “Unfortunately, car No. 8 had a tough race but recovered well. I am very proud of these guys, it feels nice.”
“With the split strategy, it was tense, but with a mega pit stop and a solid last stint from Kamui, it was nice to beat Ferrari on home ground,” added Conway.
Elsewhere in the top class, it was a messy race, with multiple teams in contention for podium honors hitting trouble.
The two privateer Porsches were on track for strong finishes, but both had dramas. The Hertz Team JOTA 963 mirrored its performance at Le Mans, fighting for the lead of the race before an issue for the electronics on the steering wheel saw Antonio Felix da Costa end up speeding in the pit lane under an emergency service.
The crew was unable to fix the issue as nothing more than five seconds of fuel was allowed. The car then stopped at pit out, requiring a power recycle. It came home ninth.
Proton Competition, meanwhile, also briefly led with its new 963, but late in the race stopped at the first chicane shortly after Harry Tincknell got in for his first race stint in the car. A throttle sensor issue was the root cause of the loss of power, which resulted in the car being retired by the Briton after briefly getting going again.
It wasn’t a much better race for the factory 963s either, as neither Penske prototype had the outright pace. The No. 5 ended up fifth, while the No. 6 ended up seventh after having to take an emergency service stop under the second safety car, forcing the team to pit twice in quick succession.
The fifth and final LMDh runner in the field, the No. 2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, finished a disappointing 10th. Richard Westbrook, Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn were in the mix for a strong finish after the field was split in half at the first safety car due to varying strategies, but later faded.
“We were fighting at the front and on a different strategy to half the cars, so it was good, classic sports car racing with different strategies playing out. And it was working for us,” said Westbrook. “Unfortunately, the timing of the safety car was bad for us — we had to pit for emergency fuel and once that happens you’re pretty much out of the game. It’s a real shame. When stuff like the timing of the safety car happens, you’re in the lap of the gods and it didn’t quite work out for us today. But in the future it will.”
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In LMP2, it was heartbreak for the No. 31 WRT ORECA, which retired from the lead with an engine issue with under 20 minutes remaining. This promoted the No. 28 JOTA ORECA, which had been fast all day, to the lead in the run to the line. For Oliver Rasmussen, David Heinemeier Hansson and Pietro Fittipaldi, it was their first win and first podium of the season.
“It was amazing, we had an incredible start, then it was up in the air. I thought a podium would have been great, but to be number one, incredible,” said Heinemeier Hansson.
“We fought back, kept it clean, we were so close at Spa, to get the win was amazing,” added Fittipaldi.
Behind, the No. 36 Alpine also secured its best finish of the season with second, coming home ahead of the LMP2 pole-sitting No. 41 WRT ORECA.
The No. 41 snatched the final podium spot off the No. 23 United ORECA on the final lap of the race, completing a recovery drive after losing time in the pits in the first half of the race.
For Josh Pierson, Giedo van der Garde and Oliver Jarvis in the No. 23 United Autosports car, fourth will come as a disappointment, especially after van der Garde put in a trademark opening stint, fighting to third from 11th on the grid. The sister No. 22 ended up sixth behind the Le Mans-winning Inter Europol example that crossed the line fifth.
GTE Am, meanwhile, was won by the No. 77 Dempsey Proton Porsche of Julien Andlauer, Christian Ried and Mikkel Pedersen. All three were faultless and played their strategy cards right on a day in which the category delivered an enthralling, unpredictable contest.
“We had no idea where we would finish, it was so close, but we made the right calls and were out front in the closing hours. We had to manage a gap and maintain it at the end,” Andlauer said.
The No. 60 Iron Lynx and No. 86 GR Racing Porsche made it a 1-2-3 for the German brand.
The main headline here was Corvette Racing’s No. 33 C8.R of Ben Keating, Nico Varrone and Nicky Catsburg claiming the class title with a fourth-place finish.
The #33 Corvette becomes 2023 LMGTE Am Champion with a strong 4th place finish 🏆👏#WEC #6HMonza pic.twitter.com/yyAamzmTqj
— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) July 9, 2023
It wasn’t an easy race for the trio, who were carrying 40kg of success ballast, as they had to serve a drive-through for speeding in the pit lane and were forced to take an extra emergency stop for fuel. However, by finishing ahead of the Iron Dames Porsche and ORT by TF Aston Martin, they sealed the championship.
This was the first time all year the Corvette had finished off the podium, in what has been a fairy tale season which had seen the team score three wins and a second place prior to this weekend.
“I’ve said it over and over, but in this championship and in each one of the five races we’ve had, it has been a true team performance overall,” said Keating. “You win as a team and you lose as a team, but we’ve also been lucky in quite a lot of places. “It’s just been a magical season. I’m really proud of everyone on the Corvette Racing team.”
Iron Dames and ORT by TF had hugely disappointing races with the titles on the line. The all-female-crewed No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche finished fifth, while the TF Aston could only muster seventh.