Whereas Sebastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley celebrated their title achievement, Cadillac toasted its first victory of the season as Jack Aitken, Sebastien Bourdais and Earl Bamber swept to a tremendous win within the #38 Cadillac Hertz Group Jota Hypercar
Cadillac Hertz Group JOTA triumphed within the ultimate spherical of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship at Monza in Italy in the present day (8 November), as Toyota’s Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa clinched the Drivers’ crown.
The #38 Cadillac V-Sequence.R Hypercar was a contender from the outset on race day on the ‘Temple of Velocity’. Having began third on the grid, Jack Aitken demoted pole-sitter Miguel Molina (#50 Ferrari) on the opening tour and bought by Genesis’ Daniel Juncadella for the lead on the finish of lap six.
The reigning IMSA champion remained in entrance all through his two-hour stint behind the wheel, earlier than vacating the cockpit and catching a aircraft again residence, the place he’s anticipating the beginning of his first youngster. Sébastien Bourdais took up the mantle and maintained his team-mate’s momentum, drawing upon all of his expertise to fend off threats from compatriot Victor Martins (Alpine) and Sheldon van der Linde (BMW) earlier than he handed the baton to stablemate Earl Bamber nonetheless in first place.
The New Zealander initially elevated his benefit over the pursuing Martins, and whereas the rising French star lowered the hole between the pair to barely a second-and-a-half within the closing moments, Bamber was in a position to re-establish a buffer and finally take the chequered flag 5.607 seconds forward of the #36 Alpine.
The consequence marked the #38 trio’s maiden victory collectively in FIA WEC and made them the highest-scoring line-up over the second half of the season. It additionally represented Bourdais’ first journey to the highest step of the rostrum in additional than a decade – in his ultimate race for the Anglo/American alliance – and the twelfth consecutive marketing campaign during which JOTA has received a race within the championship.
“I’m over-the-moon!” enthused Bamber, who himself had gone greater than 9 years since his earlier win. “Everyone at JOTA and Cadillac Racing has put a number of effort in and labored so arduous, and the automotive was faultless. Jack did an incredible job and Seb executed the whole lot completely. We’ve bought an ideal mixture of components to stay up for in 2027 – I feel we will likely be an actual power to be reckoned with!”
On its swansong within the collection, Alpine tallied its third rostrum results of the yr as Martins and countryman Jules Gounon sealed the runner-up spoils in Italy, though the sister A424 Hypercar piloted by Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi failed to complete when the Frenchman made heavy contact with the Parabolica boundaries halfway by means of the fourth hour.
The #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie pushed by Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble took the chequered flag third, however a post-race penalty because of a tyre stress infringement dropped the British duo behind the #51 Ferrari 499P, denying Aston Martin its first Hypercar podium however thrilling the 75,181 on-site tifosi.
There was a dramatic conclusion to the six-hour bout for the #12 Cadillac and #94 Peugeot 9X8, which clashed on a number of events over the closing laps earlier than extra vital contact between Alex Lynn and Malthe Jakobsen fired the previous into the boundaries and left the observe affected by particles.
Solely the #8 Toyota managed to attain a single level at Monza on a tough weekend for the Japanese automotive big – probably the most profitable marque in FIA WEC historical past – however that mattered little provided that the Producers’ title had already been secured. Hirakawa, Buemi and Hartley duly did sufficient to elevate the Drivers’ trophy – within the case of the latter pair, for a rare fifth time.
“We didn’t have the tempo for a win in the present day, however what an incredible season for everybody!” mirrored the New Zealander. “We didn’t get Le Mans, however we had our goal to combat again for the Drivers’ championship and I’m actually glad we’ve achieved that!”
Corvette topped as Manthey wins once more
The Bend Manthey made it two wins in as many races within the production-based LMGT3 class, however a second victory and fifth podium end of the marketing campaign was not fairly sufficient to forestall TF Sport and Corvette from taking the season’s largest prize, as a third-place end for Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar and Nicky Catsburg proved enough to safe the Groups’ trophy in addition to Drivers’ glory for the younger British racer.
Following an early drive-through penalty for Yasser Shahin for a pit-lane rushing infraction, residence hero Riccardo Pera climbed the order in mid-phase of the race within the #92 Porsche, subsequently benefitting from the fortuitous timing of a security automotive interval to achieve a ‘free’ pit-stop and vault to the entrance of the 18-car subject.
In his a centesimal FIA WEC look, Richard Lietz then accomplished the job, staving off a late problem from Coronary heart of Racing Group’s Eduardo Barrichello (Aston Martin) to take the chequered flag forward, with Catsburg crossing the road third to finish Porsche’s unbroken run of LMGT3 titles and cement TF Sport and Edgar’s success.
