Fresh from his 24 Hours of Le Mans win, Brendon Hartley is ready to tackle the next round of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) at the 6 Hours of Monza on July 10.
Hartley will be back behind the wheel of the Toyota Gazoo Racing team’s GR010 Hybrid Hypercar to begin the concluding half of the 2022 WEC season.
Victory at Le Mans for Hartley, Sébastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa, in their #8 GR010 Hybrid, rocketed the trio back into the World Championship fight and they travel to Monza just three points behind the leading Alpine drivers.
Reigning World Champions Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López, who share the #7 GR010 Hybrid, finished a close second at Le Mans and are also still in title contention. They need a strong second half of the season, however, to overhaul a 20-point deficit in the championship race.
As well as an exciting title contest, the final races of the 2022 season see a new Hypercar contender enter the fray.
Starting in Monza, Peugeot will compete with two cars to make it a fight between four manufacturers for top-class honours.
Toyota and Peugeot have regularly competed against each other in endurance racing, dating back to Toyota’s first Le Mans in 1985 when a Toyota TOM’S 85C car finished 12th, five places ahead of the highest-placed WM Peugeot.
Fans have the first chance to see all Hypercars in action on Friday afternoon when practice begins with a 90-minute session.
A busy Saturday sees two further practice sessions before the starting grid is decided during 10 minutes of qualifying in the evening.
A 38-car field will take the green flag for the 6 Hours of Monza at 10PM New Zealand time on Sunday.