The #38 Jota Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken, Sébastien Bourdais and Earl Bamber controlled much of the race and finished 5.6 seconds clear of the #36 Alpine A424.
Toyota endured one of its most difficult races of the season, with both TR010 Hybrids finishing outside the points, but 11th place was enough for Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa to secure their third Hypercar drivers’ title after previous crowns in 2022 and 2023.
Cadillac Takes Control Early
The race changed almost immediately after the start.
Daniel Juncadella made contact with polesitter Miguel Molina in the #50 Ferrari at the opening chicane and rejoined in the lead after running off track.
Aitken reacted quickly.
He passed Molina at the second chicane, then closed onto Juncadella before taking the lead with a move into Parabolica.
Juncadella later received a five-second penalty for failing to follow race director instructions at Turns 1 and 2, although a Virtual Safety Car allowed the #19 Genesis to serve the penalty without losing second place.
Cadillac remained at the front through the opening phase, with Aitken handing over to Bourdais as the #38 car established itself as the benchmark in the Hypercar field.
Genesis Challenge Ends With Technical Failure
The #19 Genesis remained Cadillac’s closest rival into the third hour.
That challenge ended when Paul-Loup Chatin stopped on track with a technical problem, eliminating the Korean manufacturer from podium contention and triggering another Safety Car.
The retirement promoted the #36 Alpine into second.
Jules Gounon had already brought the car forward during the earlier neutralisation, moving from fifth to third before Victor Martins continued the pressure on the leading Cadillac.
Bourdais absorbed that challenge before Bamber took over for the final phase.
Cadillac never surrendered the lead.
Bamber Converts Control Into First Win of 2026
Bamber maintained the pace established by Aitken and Bourdais and brought the #38 Cadillac home 5.6 seconds ahead of Alpine.
The result gave Cadillac its first Hypercar victory of the 2026 season.
Gounon and Martins finished second in the #36 Alpine A424, delivering a strong result in the car’s final race.
The final podium position initially went to the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Tom Gamble and Harry Tincknell.
Tincknell climbed from eighth during the final hour and passed Antonio Giovinazzi’s #51 Ferrari 499P to move into third.
That position changed after the finish.
Aston Martin received a 20-second penalty for a tyre-pressure infringement, dropping the Valkyrie off the podium and promoting Ferrari.
Ferrari Recovers After Early Tyre Problems
The #51 Ferrari of Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado was the only factory Ferrari to complete a relatively clean race.
It inherited third after Aston Martin’s penalty.
The #50 and #83 Ferrari 499Ps both ran into tyre-pressure problems during the opening hour and were shown the black-and-orange flag.
Both cars were forced into unscheduled stops for tyre changes and later served 20-second penalties for the same infringement.
Despite those setbacks, the #50 Ferrari of Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen recovered to seventh.
The #83 AF Corse entry of Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson finished eighth despite also requiring an additional stop because of a loose wheel.
Peugeot Claims Best Result of the Season
Peugeot finished fifth with the #94 9X8 shared by Loïc Duval, Théo Pourchaire and Malthe Jakobsen.
Its final position came after a late incident involving Jakobsen and the #12 Jota Cadillac of Alex Lynn.
The two cars made contact with two minutes remaining, sending Lynn into the barriers and out of the race.
That retirement promoted the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello and Kevin Magnussen to sixth.
The #20 BMW of Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijns and René Rast finished ninth after electrical problems disrupted what had initially been a stronger run.
The #93 Peugeot of Alex Quinn, Nick Cassidy and Paul di Resta completed the Hypercar top 10.
Toyota Secures Drivers’ Championship Despite Difficult Finale
Toyota arrived at Monza with the championship already heavily in its favour after securing victory in Barcelona.
The Italian round proved considerably more difficult.
Neither TR010 Hybrid finished inside the points, but 11th place was enough for Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa to confirm the 2026 Hypercar drivers’ title.
It is the third championship for the trio, following their previous successes in 2022 and 2023.
Toyota therefore ended a difficult race with the most important result already secured.
Manthey Wins LMGT3 as Edgar Takes Championship
The #92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 of Richard Lietz, Riccardo Pera and Yasser Shahin won the LMGT3 class for the second consecutive race.
The decisive phase came during the fourth-hour Safety Car, when the #92 Porsche and #33 TF Sport Corvette stopped under neutralisation and moved into the leading positions.
The #88 Proton Ford Mustang LMGT3 and #23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 had already stopped under green-flag conditions and dropped behind.
Lietz, making his 100th WEC start, held off the late challenge and crossed the line just 0.270 seconds clear.
The #33 Corvette Z06 GT3 of Jonny Edgar, Ben Keating and Nicky Catsburg finished third after recovering from as low as 10th earlier in the race.
That result was enough for Edgar to secure the LMGT3 drivers’ title.
Because Keating and Catsburg had missed earlier rounds, Edgar became the first standalone WEC drivers’ champion since Lietz achieved the same distinction in 2015.
The surviving #46 BMW M4 GT3 finished fourth, while the pole-starting #78 ASP Lexus RC F GT3 recovered to fifth after serving two drive-through penalties in the first half of the race.
Monza delivered two different championship stories.
Cadillac finally converted its pace into a first Hypercar win of 2026, while Toyota left without points but with another drivers’ title.
In LMGT3, Manthey won the race and Edgar secured the championship.
The season finale ultimately belonged as much to the titles settled off the podium as to the cars that stood on it.
Watch the 2026 World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Monza race highlights here.
