Preview: FIA World Endurance Championship – 6 Hours of Monza

A month after the grid was racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the FIA World Endurance Championship is at Monza for the fourth round of the championship. After their win at Le Mans, the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing crew go in as championship favourites, but all eyes will be on Peugeot Sport who are making their racing debut with their Hypercar this weekend.

The driver line-ups for the two Peugeot entries have been revealed, with Paul di Resta, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne sharing the #93 whilst Loïc Duval, Gustavo Menezes and James Rossiter will be on board the #94. The addition of the two French cars brings the Hypercar class up to six entries, with the two Toyotas and the sole Glickenhaus Racing and Alpine Team cars.

The LMP2 entry list is the only other that sees a chance ahead of this weekend’s race. It was predicted that the #5 Team Penske entry would race until Le Mans and then withdraw from the championship which is what it looks like has happened. Dropping the class down to 14 cars, this is the first race that the Team Penske car will not be featured on the grid.

After the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the GTE Pro class returns to its five championship entries with two drivers each. The swing of the championship has gone towards the #91 Porsche GT Team after their Le Mans class win, so team orders could be a more common feature between the German manufactured cars if Corvette Racing remains to be a threat in the final three races.

AF Corse will be hoping that the Balance of Performance falls in their direction after their lack of pace at Le Mans, looking for their home race to be the turning point in their season.

Now with a strong lead in the Am championship, TF Sport will be ones to watch this weekend, but the Porsche runners have been strong all year and it’s not likely they won’t repeat that feat this weekend.