Ferrari Takes Hypercar Pole Position at Monza with Antonio Fuoco

The No. 50 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen will start first in the 6 Hours of Monza, the final round of the 2026 World Endurance Championship. In Hyperpole, the car finished ahead of the Genesis of Mathieu Jaminet by less than a tenth, which gave the No. 50 its fifth overall pole in the WEC.

Photo By Maxime Lantz

Monza closes the season with three championships still open, although Toyota already secured the manufacturers' title in Barcelona. In Hypercar, the drivers' championship is still between its two factory crews, who arrive with a 17-point gap. In LMGT3, the fight for the teams' and drivers' titles is more open than in any other class.

Ferrari arrives at its home race with the car to beat

For Ferrari, this is the second home race of 2026, and the 499P arrived in Italy as the car to watch since Imola. The three practice sessions were run in the rain, and the track only offered a few dry minutes at the end of the third session, so qualifying was the first opportunity to work on dry asphalt. Fuoco said that racing as an Italian at Monza gives him a special emotion.

In the first phase, Fuoco was clearly the fastest, but in Hyperpole he had to respond to several rivals before taking pole. The No. 19 Genesis, whose lap was set by Mathieu Jaminet, finished second, and the No. 38 Cadillac of Earl Bamber, Sébastien Bourdais, and Jack Aitken was third. The 499P now has eleven poles in the series and four in a row in Italy, with which the car confirms its strong performance at home.

Photo By Maxime Lantz

Toyota chases the drivers' title from the eighth row

The No. 8 of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryō Hirakawa has 114 points, compared to 97 for the No. 7 of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and Nyck de Vries. With 26 points at stake in the final round, the No. 8 becomes champion with a top-five finish, regardless of what its teammate does. Neither Toyota made it through the first phase of Hyperpole, so both will start from the eighth row.

Photo By Maxime Lantz

Kobayashi, who also runs the team, said Toyota will not issue team orders, so the two cars will be able to fight for the title with the same freedom. Conway announced his retirement at the end of the season, and Monza will be his last race with the Japanese squad. The No. 7 needs to win and hope for a stumble from the No. 8 to change the gap.

LMGT3 arrives with three teams in the fight

In LMGT3, the No. 78 Lexus RC F of Akkodis ASP Team will start first, with Tom Van Rompuy, Esteban Masson, and Hadrien David as the crew. The pole was decided by thousandths over the No. 33 Corvette of TF Sport. It is the last race for the RC F GT3 in the WEC, because in 2027 it will be replaced by the Toyota GR GT3, and the Alpine A424 also ends its Hypercar program.

Photo By Maxime Lantz

The No. 33 Corvette has 92 points in the teams' standings, with an 18-point lead over the No. 92 Porsche of The Bend Manthey, which won in Barcelona. Behind them are the No. 34 Corvette of Racing Team Turkey by TF and the No. 69 BMW of Team WRT. The latter did not make it through the first phase of Hyperpole, so it loses its mathematical chances at the teams' title by not scoring the pole point.

Photo By Maxime Lantz

What is at stake at Monza

In the manufacturers' championship, BMW has 154 points, Ferrari 130, and Cadillac 118. Ferrari is looking to close out its defense at home with a victory, and Cadillac, with the No. 38 of Hertz Team JOTA starting third, can close in on Ferrari if its car finishes ahead of the 499P.

The six-hour race starts on Sunday, November 8 at 11:00 local time. Ferrari has the advantage of starting first at its own circuit, but tire wear and traffic between Hypercar and LMGT3 can change the result at any moment. For Toyota, the challenge is to come back from the eighth row and settle its internal duel without team orders.

WEC 6 Hours of Monza Qualifying

Pos	p.class	Class	#	drivers	team	car	Gap
1	1	HYPERCAR	#50	Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari AF Corse	Ferrari 499P	-
2	2	HYPERCAR	#19	Mathieu Jaminet Paul-loup Chatin Daniel Juncadella	Genesis Magma Racing	Genesis GMR-001-Hypercar	+0.096
3	3	HYPERCAR	#38	Earl Bamber Sébastien Bourdais Jack Aitken	Cadillac Hertz Team Jota	Cadillac V-Series.R	+0.177
4	4	HYPERCAR	#51	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi	Ferrari AF Corse	Ferrari 499P	+0.209
5	5	HYPERCAR	#94	Loïc Duval Malthe Jakobsen Théo Pourchaire	Peugeot Totalenergies	Peugeot 9X8	+0.253
6	6	HYPERCAR	#36	Jules Gounon Victor Martins	Alpine Endurance Team	Alpine A424	+0.494
7	7	HYPERCAR	#12	Will Stevens Norman Nato Alex Lynn	Cadillac Hertz Team Jota	Cadillac V-Series.R	+0.536
8	8	HYPERCAR	#83	Yifei Ye Robert Kubica Philip Hanson	AF Corse	Ferrari 499P	+0.558
9	9	HYPERCAR	#93	Paul Di Resta Nick Cassidy Alex Quinn	Peugeot Totalenergies	Peugeot 9X8	+0.720
10	10	HYPERCAR	#20	Robin Frijns René Rast Sheldon Van Der Linde	BMW M Team WRT	BMW M Hybrid V8	+1.051
11	11	HYPERCAR	#35	Charles Milesi Ferdinand Habsburg	Alpine Endurance Team	Alpine A424	+1.074
12	12	HYPERCAR	#009	Alex Riberas Marco Sørensen	Aston Martin Thor Team	Aston Martin Valkyrie	+1.128
13	13	HYPERCAR	#17	André Lotterer Luis Felipe Derani Mathys Jaubert	Genesis Magma Racing	Genesis GMR-001-Hypercar	+1.203
14	14	HYPERCAR	#007	Harry Tincknell Tom Gamble	Aston Martin Thor Team	Aston Martin Valkyrie	+1.263
15	15	HYPERCAR	#8	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa	Toyota Racing	Toyota TR010 Hybrid	+1.370
16	16	HYPERCAR	#7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Nyck De Vries	Toyota Racing	Toyota TR010 Hybrid	+1.701
17	17	HYPERCAR	#15	Kevin Magnussen Raffaele Marciello Dries Vanthoor	BMW M Team WRT	BMW M Hybrid V8	+1.975
18	1	LMGT3	#78	Tom Van Rompuy Hadrien David Esteban Masson	Akkodis ASP Team	Lexus RC F LMGT3	-
19	2	LMGT3	#33	Ben Keating Jonny Edgar Nicky Catsburg	TF Sport	Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R	+0.014
20	3	LMGT3	#77	Eric Powell Ben Tuck Sebastian Priaulx	Proton Competition	Ford Mustang LMGT3	+0.072
21	4	LMGT3	#23	Gray Newell Eduardo Barrichello Jonny Adam	Heart of Racing Team	Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3	+0.178
22	5	LMGT3	#87	Petru Umbrärescu Clemens Schmid José María López	Akkodis ASP Team	Lexus RC F LMGT3	+0.210
23	6	LMGT3	#27	Ian James Zacharie Robichon Mattia Drudi	Heart of Racing Team	Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3	+0.237
24	7	LMGT3	#88	Stefano Gattuso Giammarco Levorato Logan Sargeant	Proton Competition	Ford Mustang LMGT3	+0.245
25	8	LMGT3	#61	Martin Berry Rui Andrade Maxime Martin	Iron Lynx	Mercedes-AMG LMGT3	+0.514
26	9	LMGT3	#91	James Cottingham Timur Boguslavskiy Ayhancan Güven	Manthey DK Engineering	Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3	+0.561
27	10	LMGT3	#34	Peter Dempsey Salih Yoluç Charlie Eastwood	Racing Team Turkey by TF	Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R	+1.840
28	11	LMGT3	#92	Yasser Shahin Riccardo Pera Richard Lietz	The Bend Manthey	Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3	+3.297
29	12	LMGT3	#32	Darren Leung Sean Gelael Augusto Farfus	Team WRT	BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo	+3.524
30	13	LMGT3	#79	Johannes Zelger Matteo Cressoni Lin Hodenius	Iron Lynx	Mercedes-AMG LMGT3	+3.667
31	14	LMGT3	#58	Alexander West Finn Gehrsitz Benjamin Goethe	Garage 59	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo	+3.762
32	15	LMGT3	#54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Davide Rigon	Vista AF Corse	Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo	+3.792
33	16	LMGT3	#69	Anthony Mcintosh Parker Thompson Daniel Harper	Team WRT	BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo	+3.809
34	17	LMGT3	#10	Antares Au Thomas Fleming Marvin Kirchhöfer	Garage 59	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo	-
35	18	LMGT3	#21	François Hériau Simon Mann Alessio Rovera	Vista AF Corse	Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo	-