Cassidy puts Peugeot on top in final Monza practice

Peugeot factory driver Nick Cassidy topped the final free practice session of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship season as wet conditions continued at Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Italy.

Cassidy posted a 1m42.706s on his final flying lap aboard the No. 93 9X8, edging the No. 36 Alpine Endurance Team A424 of Victor Martins, who had improved his time moments earlier, by just 0.040s.

Overnight rain, which continued lightly into Saturday morning, left the track soaked for FP3. Conditions improved throughout the 60-minute session, with the pace eventually approaching the crossover point for slick tires, although only a couple of LMGT3 teams elected to venture out on dry rubber.

The progressively drying surface resulted in a steady increase in pace and a constantly changing leaderboard.

Behind Cassidy and Martins, Robert Kubica secured third in the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P. The Polish driver completed the entire session at the wheel of the privateer entry as he prepared for this afternoon’s Qualifying session.

Kubica was involved in the most significant incident of FP3 when contact with the No. 007 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie of Tom Gamble at Parabolica sent both cars into a spin. Gamble was subsequently handed a 10-second stop-and-go penalty after the stewards deemed him responsible for the incident.

Sheldon van der Linde placed fourth in the No. 20 BMW M Team WRT M Hybrid V8, ahead of Antonio Fuoco in the No. 50 Ferrari and Daniel Juncadella in the No. 19 Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001.

The No. 35 Alpine, No. 15 BMW, No. 17 Genesis and No. 7 Toyota Racing TR010 HYBRID completed the top 10. The Cadillacs and Aston Martins, which had featured near the front early in the session, slipped down the order in the closing stages.

It was a difficult session for the No. 51 Ferrari, which spent 47 minutes in the pits while a braking issue was addressed. AF Corse managed to repair the car in time for Alessandro Pier Guidi to complete a single lap before the checkered flag.

At the other end of the mileage charts, the No. 36 Alpine and No. 009 Aston Martin completed the most laps. Every Hypercar competitor apart from the No. 51 Ferrari managed at least 25 laps.

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In LMGT3, Alessio Rovera set the pace aboard the No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo, recording a best time of 1m56.089s.

At the time, Rovera's benchmark was more than a second clear of the rest of the class, although that advantage was subsequently reduced to 0.282 seconds.

Maxime Martin was second in the No. 61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3, ahead of the sister No. 79 entry of Lin Hodenius. Jonny Edgar placed fourth in the No. 33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R, with Parker Thompson completing the top five aboard the No. 69 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo.

The No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren LMGT3 Evo and No. 92 The Bend Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) led the class on mileage.

Several cars experienced off-track excursions in the challenging conditions, with the No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R of Peter Dempsey briefly stopping on track inside the final five minutes.

Dempsey spun at Ascari and ran wide, entering a rut that had developed on the inside of Turn 9 during the session. He appeared to spin again after catching the inside edge of the curb while rejoining the track.

The No. 78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 also had to serve a stop-and-go penalty at the start of FP3 after Esteban Masson was deemed responsible for an incident involving the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren during Friday afternoon’s Free Practice 2 session.

Similarly, the No. 19 Genesis had served a drive-through penalty in FP2 after Mathieu Jaminet was held responsible for the incident that sent the No. 91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche off track in FP1, bringing out the final red flag of the opening running of the weekend.

Qualifying for the final round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship season is scheduled for 2:20 p.m. CEST this afternoon, although the track conditions for the session remain uncertain.

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