With under two hours to go at a baking hot Monza, Kamui Kobyashi leads in the 37 Toyota, almost 40 seconds ahead of James Calado in the Le Mans-winning #51 Ferrari 499P.
His teammate Antonio Fuoco is third in the sister #50 Ferrari. Calado has just pitted but should back through to second.
The strategy race that was emerging in the first two hours was somewhat negated by the off-strategy cars needing to pit for emergency service under a safety car for a crash between LMP2 drivers Gabriel Aubry and Bent Viscaal.
This meant the #38 JOTA Porsche 963, currently with Yifei Ye at the wheel, the #6 Porsche of Andre Lotterer, and the #2 Cadillac V.Series-R needed to pit for five seconds of fuel, then pit again under green for full service, removing the strategy advantage they had by pitting early on under another safety car.
Dane Cameron follows the two Ferraris in the #5 Porsche 963. Paul Di Resta is 6.5 seconds back in the 393 Peugeot.
In LMP2, Giedo van der Garde leads in the #23 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson, with under a second to #31 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson’s Ferdinand Habsburg. Oliver Rasmussen is third in class in the #28 JOTA Oreca 07-Gibson.
Nico Varrone is also under a second ahead of P2 in GTE-Am. The #33 Corvette C8.R is ahead of Mikkel Pedersen in the 377 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19 by mere tenths, with Michelle Gatting in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19 third, a further 3 seconds back.
