Toyota continues as the class of the hypercars.
MONZA, Italy—It might have taken three rounds to do it. Still, the Toyota Gazoo team of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jose Maria Lopez made their preparation for next month’s 24 Hours of Lemans by winning the Six Hours of Monza Sunday afternoon. They did it with a convincing 56-second victory over the Alpine Team of Andre Negrao, Nicholas Lapierre, and Matthieu Vaxivierre. Third overall went to the LMP 2 trio of the United Autosports unit with Phil Hanson, Fabio Scherer, and Phillipe Albuquerque. That team also won their class.
Conway’s team led right from the start with Toyota teammates Sebastian Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, and Brendon Hartley right next to them in second. However, with just under two hours into the race with Hartley at the controls, the #8 entry suffered electrical problems, which allowed the American Glickenhaus car 709, driven by Romain Dumas, Frank Malleux, and Richard Westbrook, to pass them and eventually take third in the hypercar class. Alpine lead into the final hour when the leading Toyota had to pit, bringing Conway back into the race.
However, a penalty levied when a crew member stepped over the white line too soon was finally warned by officials. That kept the car within striking distance of the French team, which had to surrender the lead when they, too, had to make their final pit stop. Conway kept the pace up and had no problem taking his and the crew’s first victory of the season.
United Autosports might have finished first with their group but took the lead early in the LMP2 division when the WRT team, led by Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Hapsburg-Lothringen, and Charles Mileisi, dropped back early and never challenged the American team. Racing Team Nederland, always a challenger in this division, took third with Frits Van Eard, Giedo Van De Garde, and Nyck de Vries driving.
The upper two classes might not have been overly exciting, but both the GTE Pro and Amateur divisions certainly made the race more enjoyable. The Porsche 92 entry, driven by Kevin Estre and Neel Jani, led from the start. Both Ferraris and the AF Corse of Alessandro Pier Guidi challenged the Porsche right up to the final 15 minutes of the race before Pier Guidi had to break it off because he was too low on fuel to take the lead away from Estre, That gave the Frenchman and his Porsche the victory. It made it even sweeter for the Stuttgart group, as the second Porsche, driven by Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz, finished third, ruining any chance for the Scuderia to take the podium on their home circuit.
But disappointment was short-lived. The AF Corse Ferrari, driven by Francois Perrodo, Nicklas Nielsen, and Alessio Rovera, took a rather impressive victory in the AM class. But while the Italian-backed team was winning, the battle for second was the best of the day. Newcomers D’station Racing, driven by Japanese Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonubu Fujii, and Briton Andrew Watson, battled with the privately-owned Aston Martin, piloted by Paul Della Lana, Augusto Farfus, and Marcos Gomes all the way to the finish. The two Aston Martins took each other, side to side, right to the final lap, when at the first chicane, the Aston Martin finally passed the D’ Station and cruised onward to second place.
All the entries now have a month-and-a-half to get ready for the 24 Hours of Lemans, which will be run on August 21-22nd at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France. More than twenty entries might participate, but not everyone who raced at Monza will be there.
