Toyota Gazoo Racing has regained the title fight for the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship after the Japanese manufacturer won the 6 Hours of Monza, the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, today.
With 65,000 fans in attendance over three days in sweltering heat, today’s race saw action from start to finish with three different manufacturers on the overall Hypercar podium: Toyota, Ferrari and Peugeot.
Monza race winners Mike Conway, Jose-Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi crossed the finish line in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid 16.250 seconds ahead of the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P Hypercar driven by Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina. It was the second win of the season for the #7 Toyota and sees Toyota extend its overall lead over Ferrari to 22 points.
Your Monza winners: Toyota #7 pic.twitter.com/nfKONXZDjS
— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) July 9, 2023
Peugeot TotalEnergies took the third step of today’s Hypercar podium, the #93 Peugeot 9X8 driven by Jean-Eric Vergne, Paul Di Resta and Mikkel Jensen, securing the French manufacturer’s first WEC podium since its Hypercar debut at Monza last year one year.
Porsche Penske Motorsport claimed fourth place with the No. 5 Porsche 963 driven by Dane Cameron, Michael Christensen and Frederic Makowiecki, the trio moving up to fourth after the No. 51 Ferrari received a late-race penalty after receiving a drive-through penalty. The infringement demoted Ferrari’s 24 Hours of Le Mans win to fifth place, 32.9 seconds behind Porsche.
The No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa finished the race in sixth place – the crew was eliminated from the podium after receiving two penalties for early on-track incidents, including contact with Ferrari number 51 and No. 777 D Station LMGTE Entrada Am. After the race, the team was also given a 50-second penalty for exceeding the maximum allocated power.
The #6 Porsche Penske was penalized with a drive-through penalty on the penultimate lap as the Porsche 963 driven by Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor finished the race seventh.
This is your 6 Hours of Monza Hypercar podium
🥇 #7 Toyota
🥈 #50 Ferrari
🥉 #93 Peugeot #WEC #6HMonza pic.twitter.com/m7lGB6cBkF
— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) July 9, 2023
American team Glickenhaus Racing finished a solid eighth after running as far as fourth in a race that involved several strategies. The Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 recovered from an electronic problem associated with the steering to finish ninth ahead of the #2 Cadillac Racing driven by Alex Lynn, Earl Bamber and Richard Westbrook; .
Eleventh place went to the #94 Peugeot TotalEnergies ahead of the Floyd Vanwall Racing Team after Peugeot passed the #4 Vanwall Vandervell 680 on the last lap.
The Porsche Proton Competition retired after stopping on the track in the fifth hour of the race. The new Porsche 963 made an impressive debut after briefly leading the Hypercar category on two occasions and can leave Italy with crucial seat time gained for the final two races of the season.
Next up on the 2023 FIA WEC calendar is the 6 Hours of Fuji as the World Championship prepares for its first trip to Asia this year for the Japanese classic taking place at the iconic Fuji Speedway (8-10 of September).
