Monza’s season finale was less about one result than three very different journeys converging on the same six hours. Sébastien Bourdais finally turned Cadillac’s promise into victory in his last race with the team; Nick Cassidy left Peugeot with pride, frustration and a clear sense of unfinished business; and Tom Gamble came within three seconds — and two penalties — of Aston Martin’s first Hypercar podium.media.
Bourdais: the chapter closes
For Sébastien Bourdais, the Six Hours of Monza was always going to carry extra weight. After four seasons with Cadillac — two in IMSA, two in WEC — it was his final race with the brand and JOTA, and the 46-year-old arrived knowing that a win would be the only fitting way to close the chapter.
The #38 had been quick all season, but results had not always followed. Bourdais admitted the near-misses had been frustrating, with the team repeatedly showing pace but failing to convert it into a victory.
“It’s been a long time coming for the 38,” he said. “Over the last two seasons we’ve had plenty of pace in plenty of races. Unfortunately it never quite came together. Today was the day.”
That day came at Monza. Bourdais took over mid-race and held the lead against pressure from Victor Martins’ Alpine and Sheldon van der Linde’s BMW, before handing the car to Earl Bamber still in front. The #38 crossed the line 5.607 seconds clear, giving Bourdais his first WEC win in more than a decade — and his first with Cadillac.
“There’s no better way to end a chapter,” Bourdais said afterwards. “There’s all those years with GM and Cadillac, and winning on the biggest stage in endurance racing. It took two years, but it finally happened.”
He was quick to credit the team around him. “It was after a very well-executed day from everybody in the team,” he explained. “From top down, and all the drivers, it was played out on very thin margins. We saw the gap with the Alpine was never very big, so they never let us breathe. It’s even more satisfying when you put it together like that and come out on top.”
For a driver who has spent much of his career proving himself at the highest level, the timing could not have been better. “It’s even more meaningful,” Bourdais said. “I’m definitely going to savour that one.”
Cassidy: pride in the process
Nick Cassidy’s Monza was less about a fairytale ending and more about a team finding its footing at the right time. Peugeot brought both 9X8s into Hyperpole and converted that into points in the race, with the #94 finishing fifth and the #93 eighth after a penalty cost it a better result.
For Cassidy, sharing the #93 with Paul Di Resta and Alex Quinn, the race was a reminder of how competitive the Hypercar field has become and how little separates a strong result from a frustrating one.
“I think it was an awesome race for the World Endurance Championship in general, to be honest,” Cassidy said. “The safety cars and slow zones etc spiced it up in my opinion. Everyone’s close on performance, and strategy was not easy today — trying to keep track position, tyres at the right time.”
His own stint was steady rather than spectacular, but that suited the car and the team’s approach. “For me, it was a pretty quiet stint,” he said. “The car was really good, but unfortunately the penalty stopped us from finishing better than eighth. Before that, we were really in the fight.”
Cassidy was full of praise for his teammates. “Paul did a great job at the start and Alex finished the race really well,” he said. “I honestly think we deserved better, but that’s racing.”
Despite the frustration, he left Monza optimistic. “The whole team can be proud of this final round,” he said. “We got both cars into Hyperpole and then scored points with both. It was a great way to end the season, and I’m already looking forward to 2027.”
Gamble: the gamble that almost paid
Tom Gamble’s Monza was defined by a single, high-stakes decision. Running third in the closing stages, the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Gamble and Harry Tincknell needed every second it could find — and the team chose to stretch its fuel strategy to the limit.
The call nearly worked. With less than 15 minutes remaining, Gamble and Tincknell found a way past Antonio Giovinazzi’s Ferrari #51 at the Prima Variante, briefly putting the British car on the podium for the first time in Hypercar.
But the margin was razor-thin. The race-winning Cadillac crossed the line roughly three seconds too fast for Aston Martin’s strategy to hold, and a pair of post-race penalties — for tyre pressure and energy management — dropped the #007 from third to 12th.
Gamble was candid about how close it had been. “We were going to struggle to make it, really,” he said, explaining that the timing of the late incident involving the #12 Cadillac and the #94 Peugeot — and the decision not to deploy a full-course yellow — ultimately cost them the chance to save fuel and avoid the penalty.
“I’m glad to see first of all that Alex is okay after that, because I watched the replay back and it was a very heavy hit,” Gamble said. “I thought it would have gone to a full-course yellow for the incident, but they obviously left it. That decision meant we were not going to make it unless the leader was very tight to cross the line a lap before. If it had been a lap shorter, we would have been okay, but I think someone said he crossed the line with about three seconds left, so it was pretty tight. It’s obviously not their fault, but we were going to struggle to make it, really.”
For Gamble, the near-miss was another chapter in a longer wait. “I’m getting bored of waiting” for a first Valkyrie podium, he admitted afterwards — a sentiment that captures both the frustration and the growing belief that the breakthrough is close.
Three journeys, one lesson
Bourdais left Monza with the result he had been chasing for two years. Cassidy left with a team performance he believes deserved more. Gamble left with a podium that slipped away by seconds and a penalty sheet.
Yet all three shared the same underlying truth: in modern endurance racing, pace alone is not enough. Strategy, timing, teamwork and a little fortune decide who stands on the podium — and who is left wondering what might have been.
