Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Jose Maria Lopez have won the 2023 6 Hours of Monza in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, just 15 seconds ahead of the #50 Ferrari 499P crew.
Conway started the car from pole alongside Miguel Molina in the #50 Ferrari, and retained this early on through a safety car period as the Sebastien Buemi, in the sister #8 Toyota, collided with the #777 D’Station Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Satoshi Hoshino.
However, for the first half of the race it looked like a strategy race was emerging. Multiple Hypercars down the order in the 13-car class pitted, including Antonio Felix da Costa in the #38 JOTA Porsche 963, Alex Lynn in the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R, and Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche, pitted off strategy in an attempt to not need to stop for a fuel splash at the end.
This caused them to sacrifice track position, but it meant they could take the lead later when the leading cars pitted on a regular strategy.
Back on track and Mikkel Jensen in the #93 Peugeot 9X8, who’d taken second from Molina just before the safety car period, took the lead from Conway at the restart at the first chicane.
Jensen was able to begin extending this lead, up to three and half seconds over Molina, who also overtook Conway as the Brit struggled to get his tyres up to temperature in the early laps after the restart.
However, the top three soon pitted, putting Da Costa into the lead in the gold-and-red JOTA Porsche into the lead, with Vanthoor second, Lynn third and Antonio Giovinazzi in the sister #51 Ferrari fourth.
Giovinazzi was on somewhat of a recovery drive after being tipped into a spin by Buemi at the first corner of the race. He received a 10 second penalty for this, then shortly after received another penalty for his role in the incident with Hoshino — but this time a 1
minute stop/go, putting them a lap down.
The off-strategy cars pitted, handing the lead back to Molina, with Michael Christensen in the #5 Porsche second and Conway third, who handed over shortly after to teammate Lopez.
However, the Porsche was lacking pace compared to the Toyota, Ferrari, and Porsches, and soon faded from challenging for the podium. Going into the second half of the race, this left those three teams battling it out for a podium.
In a great show of pace, the #93 Peugeot, with Paul di Resta at the wheel, was able to overhaul James Calado in the #51 Ferrari, putting di Resta into third.
However, with the track cooling off after a baking hot day and track temperatures of over 50°C, the #7 Toyota and #50 Ferrari were able to stretch their legs, with Lopez and Calado building a gap to Di Resta in the Peugeot.
Lopez and Calado handed over to each team’s respective ringers, Kobayashi in the Toyota and Antonio Fuoco in the Ferrari, with a five second gap between the two when the pitted, with an hour and a half left.
However, while the Toyota did not take tyres, the Ferrari did, extending the gap back out to just over 20 seconds, but giving Fuoco the advantage of fresh rubber.
Fuoco then set about catching the Japanese driver, halving the gap by the time they pitted again for their final stops with an hour remaining. The Toyota took four new tyres, while Ferrari only changed the left hand side, putting the gap down to a smidge over eight seconds.
For a little while it looked as if Fuoco might be able to catch Kobayashi, with the gap down to under six seconds at one point with well under an hour remaining.
It wasn’t to be, however. The Italian got caught in lapped Hypercar traffic — the two factory Porsches — and slipped back, finishing 16.520 seconds adrift from the victorious Kobayashi.
So with Kobayashi, Conway, and Lopex winning and Fuoco, Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen second, third fell to the #93 Peugeot of Jean-Eric Vergne, Mikkel Jensen, and Paul dfi Resta, in Peugeot’s first podium since the French manufacturer’s return to top flight sportscars at this race last year.
In fourth, a lap down, was the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa, recovering after the two separate incidents for Buemi – both his fault — in the first hour.
Fifth was Fred Makowiecki, Michael Christensen and Dane Cameron in the #5 Porsche, lacking ultimate pace today, 13 seconds off Hartley in the Toyota ahead. At one point it looked as though Makowiecki may have been able to challenge for a podium in the final couple of hours, but it wasn’t to be.
Giovinazzi, Calado, and Alessandro Pier Guidi were sixth in the #51 Ferrari, with Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer seventh in the sister #6 Porsche. In an excellent eighth was the #708 Glickenhaus 007 of Romain Dumas, Ryan Briscoe, and Olivier Pla.
In LMP2, the #28 JOTA Oreca 07-Gibson of David Heinemier Hansson, Oliver Rasmussen and Pietro Fittipaldi took the honours, after late race drama for the then-leading #31 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson.
The two cars, along with the #36 Alpine Oreca 07-Gibson of Charles Milesi, Matthieu Vaviviere, and Julien canal, had battled for much of the race.
The early leaders were the two United Autosports cars, taking the lead at the start in a 1-2 fashion as the pole-sitting #41 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson dropped down the order.
But as the race progressed the British-American cars faded from view, eventually finishing fourth and sixth.
With just over half an hour to go, the #31 WRT, with Robin Frijns at the wheel had over a minute lead from Milesi. He then pitted, off schedule, and the team wheeled the car back into the pits, with an unspecified technical issue causing them to retire the car in a heartbreaking end to Frijns’, Ferdinand Hasburg’s, and Sean Galael’s race.
This gave Milesi the lead, but the Alpine also had to pit for a fuel splash, handing the lead and the win to an overjoyed Hansson, Rasmussen, and Fittipaldi.
Third was the #41 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson of Robert Kubica, Rui Andrade, and Louis Deletraz. They dropped down the order at the start but were able to climb back through and, with their teammates’ woes in the other car, take a podium.
Julien Andlauer, Christian Reid and Mikkel Pedersen won the race in GTE-Am in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19, but the bigger story is a championship victory — with two races remaining — for the #3 Corvette C8.R crew.
Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg, and Nico Varrone finished the race fourth in the yellow Corvette, but won the championship as a result of finishing ahead of their title rivals.
They started the race sixth in class, and although they did lead at various points during the six hours, did not truly have the pace to win with the success ballast the car is carrying.
They battled all race long with their omnipresent rivals, the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Michelle Gatting, Sarah Bovy, and Rahal Frey. Had the Corvette been beaten by the women in the pink Porsche, the former may not have won the title – but in the end Catsburg was able to beat Frey by 23 seconds, handing the title to himself and his teammates in the last ever season of GTE in WEC.
Back to the race winners, who started third on the grid and were in the hunt all race long. As the Iron Dames crew, plus the €5 ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage AMR squad, dropped by the wayside or couldn’t keep up, the #77 Dempsey-Proton team were there to take the victory.
In second was the #60 Iron Lynx Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Alessio Picariello, Claudio Schiavoni, and Matteo Cressoni, with third going to another Porsche, the #86 GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Michael Wainwright, Riccardo Pera, and Benjamin Barker.
