Antonio Fuoco delivered Ferrari the perfect home qualifying result at Monza, putting the #50 499P on pole for the World Endurance Championship finale with a 1m33.364s lap in Hyperpole. Mathieu Jaminet’s Genesis came within 0.096s, while Earl Bamber put the #38 Cadillac — shared with Sébastien Bourdais and Jack Aitken — third.
It was Ferrari’s first Monza pole with the 499P, secured in front of a partisan tifosi crowd and at the end of a season in which the Italian marque has often had the pace but not always the results to match.
Fuoco finds the limit
The decisive lap came in the final 10-minute Hyperpole session, as temperatures dropped and the Monza surface gradually offered more grip. Fuoco’s time was enough to hold off Jaminet’s #19 Genesis GMR-001, with Bamber’s Cadillac just a further 0.081s behind.
Ferrari’s strength was not confined to the pole-winning #50. Antonio Giovinazzi qualified the #51 factory car fourth, while the #83 AF Corse entry made it three 499Ps inside the Hyperpole top eight.
| Hypercar grid | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #50 Ferrari AF Corse — Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen | 1m33.364s | — |
| 2 | #19 Genesis Magma Racing — Jaminet/Chatin/Juncadella | 1m33.460s | +0.096s |
| 3 | #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA — Bamber/Bourdais/Aitken | 1m33.541s | +0.177s |
| 4 | #51 Ferrari AF Corse — Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi | 1m33.573s | +0.209s |
| 5 | #94 Peugeot TotalEnergies | 1m33.617s | +0.253s |
| 6 | #36 Alpine Endurance Team | 1m33.858s | +0.494s |
| 7 | #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA | 1m33.900s | +0.536s |
| 8 | #83 AF Corse Ferrari | 1m33.922s | +0.558s |
Cadillac’s quiet statement
For Bourdais, third on the grid is a strong platform for his final Cadillac/JOTA race. The #38 V-Series.R was only 0.177s off pole, and the sister #12 car also reached Hyperpole, qualifying seventh — evidence that Cadillac’s late-season form was not a one-off.
The result matters beyond the single lap. Cadillac has shown flashes of pace throughout the second half of the season, but Monza offers the team one final chance to convert that speed into a result before the 2026 campaign closes.
Bourdais will start from the outside of row two, with the #50 Ferrari directly ahead and the #19 Genesis alongside. In a six-hour race, grid position is only the opening line of the story — but it is a far better place from which to write it than the midfield.
Peugeot’s encouraging afternoon
Peugeot had reason to be satisfied too. The #94 9X8 qualified fifth, narrowly missing the front row but comfortably inside Hyperpole, while the French manufacturer also showed competitive pace in final practice.
For Alex Quinn, it was another useful data point in his early Hypercar education. The #94’s qualifying pace suggests Peugeot has a car capable of running at the front; the challenge now is to turn a strong Saturday afternoon into six clean, competitive hours on Sunday.
Title contenders stumble
The biggest qualifying surprise came from Toyota. Both title-contending GR010 HYBRIDs missed Hyperpole entirely: the #8 of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa qualified 15th, while the #7 of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries lined up 16th.
That is a significant setback for Toyota’s championship hopes. With the drivers’ title still live heading into the finale, starting from the middle of the field at a circuit where overtaking is possible but rarely straightforward gives both crews an immediate recovery job.
Aston Martin also endured a difficult session, with both Valkyries outside the top 10: the #007 qualified 14th, while the #009 failed to reach Hyperpole.
Lexus springs an LMGT3 surprise
In LMGT3, Akkodis ASP Team’s #78 Lexus took a surprise class pole, with Hadrien David setting a 1m47.523s lap to deny championship leader Jonny Edgar by just 0.014s. Edgar’s #33 TF Sport Corvette will start second, with the #77 Proton Competition Mustang third.
The margin could hardly have been tighter — and it carries championship significance. David’s pole denies Edgar the additional point that comes with LMGT3 pole position, tightening the title battle heading into the final race.
| LMGT3 grid | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus | 1m47.523s | — |
| 2 | #33 TF Sport Corvette | 1m47.537s | +0.014s |
| 3 | #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang | 1m47.595s | +0.072s |
| 4 | #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin | 1m47.701s | +0.178s |
What it means for Sunday
Ferrari has the outright pace, Genesis has momentum and Cadillac has both cars in the Hyperpole shootout. Peugeot is close enough to be dangerous, while Toyota must now recover from a qualifying session that did not go to plan.
Monza’s long straights, heavy braking zones and slipstream-heavy racecraft should keep the field close. But if the #50 Ferrari can convert its home pole into a clean start, the tifosi may finally have the result they have been waiting for.
