Ferrari AF Corse will start its fourth consecutive home FIA World Endurance Championship race from pole position, after Antonio Fuoco claimed pole position in this afternoon’s qualifying session for the 6 Hours of Monza, which featured the first dry running of the season finale.
The 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans winner led the opening phase of qualifying aboard the #50 Ferrari 499P, before spending the majority of Hyperpole trading the top spot with the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R of Earl Bamber.
In the final minute, however, Mathieu Jaminet vaulted to the top of the timesheets aboard the #19 Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001 with a 1:33.460. Fuoco, however, crossed the line moments later to set a 1:33.364 and secure pole position.
It is Ferrari’s third pole position of 2026, but Fuoco’s first since the 2025 6 Hours of Spa.
“I think it’s a really emotional day,” Fuoco said in the post-Hyperpole press conference. “But we need to keep cool, keep calm, and think about tomorrow. We know it’s going to be a long race and there’s such a variety of challenges here at Monza in terms of the straights and the chicanes and the technical sections.
“I had really good feeling in general, a bit more during Qualifying. I was a bit more, I would say, under control and had a bit more confidence. While in Hyperpole, I slightly lost a bit of this confidence. And then on the last lap, I was really happy because I think we really put everything together and really maximised everything.”
Jaminet and Bamber qualified second and third respectively, ahead of the #51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi.
Peugeot TotalEnergies’ Theo Pourchaire was fifth in the #94 9X8, whilst the #36 Alpine A424 will start its final FIA WEC race from sixth on the grid.
The #12 Cadillac, #83 Ferrari, #93 Peugeot and #20 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8 rounded out the top 10.
The #35 Alpine Endurance Team A424 failed to progress to Hyperpole for the first time this season, meaning no Hypercar entries have participated in all eight of the top-10 shootouts for pole position. Charles Milesi qualified 11th, 0.074 seconds away from 10th.
The #7 Toyota Racing TR010 Hybrid crew of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries will face a monumental task if they are to win the Drivers’ Championship, after Kobayashi qualified a lowly 16th.
The trio requires a top-two finish to stand a mathematical chance of overhauling the #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley, which will start one place ahead of it tomorrow in 15th.
In LMGT3, the Lexus RC F LMGT3 will start its final FIA WEC race from pole position, after Hadrien David scored pole position aboard the #78 Akkodis ASP Team entry.
The Frenchman went, or stayed, at the top of the times at the completion of all five of his flying laps, with a 1:47.523 on his final lap, his best effort.
Eduardo Barrichello then briefly snatched pole position aboard the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3, setting a 1:47.065, only to lose this lap to a track limit offence in the middle sector.
David therefore earned his second pole of the season, following on from May’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
Drivers’ Championship leader Jonny Edgar qualified on the front row in the #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R, with the Briton coming up only 0.014 seconds short of David on his final lap.
The #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 Evo of Ben Tuck was third, ahead of Barrichello, the #87 Lexus and #23 Aston Martin.
The #88 Ford, #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3, #91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) LMGT3 and #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette, aboard which Peter Dempsey led the opening stage of Qualifying, completed the top 10.
It was a disappointing qualifying session for Team WRT, as neither of its BMW M4 LMGT3 Evos made Hyperpole. Darren Leung missed out on progressing for the first time this season, qualifying 12th in the #32 BMW, while the sister #69 entry finished 16th after Anthony McIntosh lost his best lap for a track-limit offence.
By missing out on the point for pole position, the #69 BMW of McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Dan Harper can no longer win the LMGT3 title.
The Barcelona-winning #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche, which sits second in the standings, will start from 11th after Yasser Shahin qualified 0.078 seconds behind James Cottingham’s #91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche, whilst the car which finished second in the Spanish round, the #10 Garage 59 McLaren LMGT3 Evo, qualified 17th.
The #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari will start from the back of the grid, after François Hériau crashed on his out lap in Qualifying. The Frenchman hit the wall at Ascari, heavily damaging the front of his 296 LMGT3 Evo and bringing out the Red Flags.
The 2026 6 Hours of Monza will take place at 11:00 CEST tomorrow.
Images courtesy of DPPI and JJ Media
