The Cadillac has concluded its participation in the 2026 World Endurance Championship with a resounding victory at the 6 Hours of Monza. Despite not scoring points, the Toyota trio consisting of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi, and Ryo Hirakawa has managed to secure the drivers’ title.
The race was dominated by Jack Aitken, Sebastien Bourdais, and Earl Bamber, drivers of the Cadillac V-Series R from Jota, who led much of the competition after Aitken passed Ferrari driver, Miguel Molina, and Daniel Juncadella from Genesis in the early laps.
Although Bourdais faced pressure from the #36 Alpine A424 of Victor Martins during the second hour, the Cadillac trio remained essentially unchallenged, thus achieving their first victory of 2026.
Situation of the Toyota drivers
Although Toyota had secured the constructors’ title in Barcelona last month, they experienced one of their most challenging races of the season, with both TR010 Hybrid cars out of the points. However, an 11th place was enough for the trio of drivers to achieve their third Hypercar title.
The Toyota #7 drivers, Nyck de Vries, Mike Conway, and Kamui Kobayashi, needed to finish at least second to have a chance of overcoming a 17-point deficit. With both vehicles from the Japanese brand failing, the title was automatically awarded to Hartley, Buemi, and Hirakawa with the Toyota #8.
Key moments of the race
The start was marked by an incident between Daniel Juncadella and Molina’s Ferrari, allowing Juncadella to seize the lead. However, he received a five-second penalty for not respecting the race director’s instructions in the early corners.
The Cadillac continued to lead, with the nearest competition coming from the #36 Alpine. Gounon passed several rivals, but Bourdais managed to maintain the lead until the end. Bamber crossed the finish line with a 5.6-second advantage, achieving Cadillac’s first victory in the Hypercar category.
The battle for final positions presented several penalties during the race. The Aston Martin of Tom Gamble and Harry Tincknell chose to read the race intelligently to finish third, but a tire pressure infringement ultimately saw them surpassed by Giovinazzi’s Ferrari 499P, which finished third after justly receiving the penalty.
The race officials had to manage several incidents throughout the day, with a total of four Safety Car appearances and three neutralizations. Qualification, incidents, and penalties significantly influenced the outcome of the race, thus concluding a season filled with excitement and surprises until the last moment.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
