That wet and cool morning at the legendary Autodromo Nazionale Monza served up a wild final practice session before qualifying for the 6 Hours of Monza, with Nick Cassidy and Alessio Rovera taking top honors in their respective classes.
Hypercar times shuffled constantly during the opening half of the session as the track conditions caught drivers out. Malthe Jakobsen initially set the pace in the #94 Peugeot 9X8 before the sister #93 machine snatched the spotlight. New Zealander Nick Cassidy put the #93 Peugeot at the head of the timesheets for the very first time by uncorking a late 1m42.706s lap, though the car immediately faced a post-session investigation into its tyre pressures.
Cassidy's effort edged out the Alpine A424 of Victor Martins by a razor-thin 0.040s margin. The young Frenchman clocked a 1m42.746s to maintain his stunning rookie form in what is the car's final FIA WEC race. Right behind them, Robert Kubica whipped the tifosi into a frenzy by steering the distinctive yellow #83 AF Corse Ferrari to the third-fastest time. Sheldon van der Linde grabbed fourth for BMW in the #20 M Hybrid V8 with another late flyer as the surface dried slightly, ahead of the #50 Ferrari shared by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen in fifth, and the #19 Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001 rounding out the top six.
It was a chaotic session marked by plenty of excursions. Early on at the Parabolica, Kubica's #83 Ferrari and the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie driven by Tom Gamble collided, sending both spinning safely away; Gamble was handed a 10-second stop/go penalty for causing the tangle. The championship-leading #8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid skated across the gravel at the Ascari Chicane, while the #36 Alpine went off at the Parabolica after Martins narrowly avoided the #33 TF Sport Corvette. Other visitors to the escape roads included the #17 Genesis GMR-001 with 'Pipo' Derani at the Rettifilio Chicane, and Sébastien Bourdais, who took the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R across the gravel at the same corner. Meanwhile, last year's title-winning #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P spent most of the morning locked in the garage due to a brake-by-wire issue that limited it to just seven laps.
Over in the production-based LMGT3 category, Alessio Rovera delivered prime joy for the home crowd. The Italian wheeled the #21 VISTA AF Corse 296 Evo—shared alongside François Heriau and Simon Mann—to the class summit with a 1m56.069s lap.
Maxime Martin gave chase in the drying final minutes, putting the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG second with a 1m56.351s after teammate Martin Berry had previously survived a wild gravel ride exiting the Ascari Chicane. The sister #79 Mercedes locked down third courtesy of Matteo Cressoni's 1m56.442s. Title contenders TF Sport took fourth with Jonny Edgar, Ben Keating and Nicky Catsburg, followed by Team WRT's #32 BMW M4 Evo in fifth and the #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F in sixth. Peter Dempsey also caused a brief yellow when he spun the #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette and temporarily stalled at Ascari before restarting to pit.
