Cadillac JOTA ends its 2026 FIA WEC campaign with a long-awaited victory, while Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa secure the Drivers’ World Championship in a chaotic six-hour season finale.
Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA finally had its moment at Monza. The #38 Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken, Sébastien Bourdais and Earl Bamber converted a strong performance into its first victory of the season. Meanwhile, the #8 Toyota crew of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa secured the Drivers’ World Championship, despite finishing outside the points in 12th overall.
In a race punctuated by four Virtual Safety Cars and three Full Course Yellows, the #38 Cadillac established control early and never surrendered the net lead. Starting third, Aitken wasted little time making his intentions clear, passing the pole-sitting #50 Ferrari of Miguel Molina before forcing his way past Daniel Juncadella’s #19 Genesis at Parabolica.
Genesis had briefly led following a strong opening lap, but Aitken’s move on lap seven shifted the balance of the race. From there, Cadillac managed the interruptions, the tyre strategy and the pressure from its rivals, with Bourdais maintaining track position through the middle stages before Bamber took over during the fourth-hour Virtual Safety Car.
The closing stint became a strategic battle with Cadillac’s lead, which had stretched beyond ten seconds, coming under pressure as Alpine’s Victor Martins charged forward, capitalising on a different fuel strategy. Bamber was forced to balance pace with fuel conservation, allowing the #36 Alpine to close the gap before the Cadillac could finally settle into a controlled run to the finish.
“Yeah, I mean it was a really tough race. There’s a lot of strategy going on,” Bamber explained.
“We pulled away eight seconds, and then they came back to us three or four, but managed to get the number. Then we could free up, and I think they over-consumed in the middle.”
The final margin was just 5.607 seconds, but the significance stretched far beyond the result itself. The victory extended JOTA’s remarkable record of winning at least one ACO competition race every season for 15 consecutive years, while also giving Bourdais the perfect send-off in his final appearance with the team.
“It’s always bittersweet moments, but there’s definitely no better way to end,” Bourdais reflected.
“It’s been a long time coming for the #38.”
For Cadillac, the result offered a deserved reward after a season of strong potential, with the new aerodynamic package providing a competitive foundation that had not always translated into results. For Bourdais, it was the conclusion of a chapter on the highest possible note.
Alpine bids farewell with a podium
Alpine Endurance Team delivered a fitting farewell to the Hypercar category, securing second place with the #36 A424 of Victor Martins and Jules Gounon. Martins produced an exceptional individual performance, taking over towards the end of the second hour and remaining behind the wheel until the chequered flag.
The decision not to reinsert Gounon proved crucial to maintaining track position, particularly as Martins came under pressure from the Cadillac and BMW during the closing stages. His pace brought him within striking distance of Bamber, but the earlier gap and Cadillac’s eventual fuel management proved decisive.
“I tried everything. I pushed with the Cadillac in the end. I tried to come back,” Martins said.
“I did come back, but then I think I did not have good momentum with GT traffic. So then I lost a lot of time again.”
Despite missing out on victory, Alpine leaves the championship with a final podium, an impressive result that underlined the team’s ability to compete at the front even as its WEC programme reached its conclusion.
Aston Martin’s podium slips away
The fight for the final podium position produced one of the race’s biggest late developments. Tom Gamble charged through the field in the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie, passing the #51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi in the closing 15 minutes to seemingly secure a landmark result for The Heart of Racing.
However, post-race penalties dramatically changed the outcome. An initial 20-second sanction for tyre-pressure infringement was followed by a 145-second penalty for exceeding the permitted energy per stint. The Valkyrie consequently lost its podium position, handing third place to the #51 Ferrari of Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi.
For Ferrari, it was a difficult afternoon despite the podium. The outgoing Drivers’ Champions struggled to match the pace of the leading contenders, while the other two 499Ps also suffered early penalties for tyre-pressure infringements.
Peugeot, meanwhile, secured its strongest result of the season. The #94 9X8 of Loïc Duval, Théo Pourchaire and Malthe Jakobsen finished fifth, surviving a clutch issue and a fierce late battle with Alex Lynn’s #12 Cadillac.
That contest ended in contact at the Roggia chicane, sending Lynn into the barriers and bringing the fight to an abrupt conclusion. Lynn received a ten-second post-race penalty for the incident.
Toyota secures driver’s title
While Cadillac celebrated victory, Toyota had little to celebrate on outright race pace. Neither TR010 Hybrid featured among the frontrunners, leaving the #7 crew of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries unable to mount the challenge required to overturn the championship standings.
The #8 Toyota therefore secured the title in 12th overall, with the sister car finishing immediately behind.
It marks a record-extending fifth Drivers’ World Championship for Buemi and Hartley, and a third for Hirakawa. More significantly, the trio becomes the first crew in FIA WEC history to win three Drivers’ Championships together, adding the 2026 crown to their previous successes in 2022 and 2023.
It was not the dominant title-clinching performance Toyota might have wanted, but the championship was never seriously threatened. The #7’s lack of pace left the reigning champions with little need to take risks, allowing the #8 crew to secure another milestone in the history of the championship.
For Genesis, it was another weekend of struggle. Juncadella initially led the race after a strong opening move on Molina, giving the manufacturer its first laps at the front in a FIA WEC race.
However, a five-second penalty for cutting the inside of Turn 2, followed by an electrical shutdown that forced the #19 GMR-001 into retirement during the third hour, ended its challenge.
For Paul-Loup Chatin, who took the wheel from Juncadella just before the failure, the result was particularly frustrating given the team’s competitiveness throughout the weekend: “We are disappointed for Genesis, because it looks like the luck was not on our side this week, but even this season, but looking back we are super proud of what we achieved.”
The performance had nevertheless demonstrated the progress made by the programme, with Genesis immediately competitive despite the challenge of preparing for a dry race weekend with limited representative running.
“It shows again this weekend how well the team is working, being capable of setting up a car without any practice, dry practice, and to set up a car already fighting for pole yesterday with front row, and fighting at the top the first two laps of the race, with this kind of competition it’s amazing.”
The sister Alpine was less fortunate, with Charles Milesi crashing out at Parabolica while running fifth, following a strong performance that had included the fastest lap of the race.
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