F1 debutant Hirakawa wins world title, De Vries beaten

Heading into the season finale at Monza, De Vries, Conway and Kobayashi needed to finish at least second in the No. 7 Toyota to stand any chance of taking the title. They also needed the sister car to leave a significant number of points on the table.

Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa therefore had the title entirely in their own hands and did not necessarily need to go for the win. Even if the No. 8 Toyota failed to score any points, the sister car still had to finish at least second to take the championship.

Hirakawa, Hartley and Buemi finished outside the points in 12th, but the No. 7 crew could only manage 13th, handing the title to their teammate.

The six-hour race at Monza began with a strong opening stint from Genesis, which took the lead with Dani Juncadella at the wheel. It did not last long, as Jack Aitken took the lead in the No. 38 Cadillac on lap eight. The Briton then managed to hold on to the lead, although his rivals remained close behind.

Incidents led to several interruptions, while Ferrari lost valuable time after receiving penalties for running below the minimum tyre pressures. Genesis suffered a further setback when its No. 19 car stopped with technical problems around two hours into the race.

Meanwhile, a battle for the lead developed between Cadillac, Alpine and BMW. Sebastien Bourdais took over from Aitken and had to fend off attacks from the likes of Victor Martins and Sheldon van der Linde. In the end, the No. 38 Cadillac, shared by Aitken, Bourdais and Earl Bamber, came out on top.

The No. 36 Alpine of Martins and Jules Gounon finished second, followed by the No. 20 BMW of Robin Frijns, René Rast and Van der Linde. Cadillac thus ended the WEC season with a victory at Monza.