Built in 1922, the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, known as the temple of speed, staged the FIA WEC Prologue in 2017, but this year marks the first time that the venue hosts the race of the world’s premier endurance racing series.

Some of the teams and drivers are familiar with the circuit, having competed here in the 4 Hours of Monza that has been a round of the European Le Mans Series since 2016.

A total of five cars will battle it out in the top-tier Hypercar category including two entries from Glickenhaus Racing. The American team is set to make its debut in Portimão next week with one of its Glickenhaus 007 LMH racers.

Glickenhaus is yet to confirm the six drivers who are set to race with the team at Monza but there’s no denying they will face stiff competition from reigning World Champions Toyota Gazoo Racing (No. 7 and No. 8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID) plus the Alpine A480 entry from Alpine Elf Matmut.

LMGTE Pro will see another Porsche v Ferrari battle as both manufacturers have two entries each. Both AF Corse Ferrari and the Porsche GT Team will be gaining valuable data ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans which takes place on its rescheduled date the following month (August 21- 22).

The LMP2 category features 12 entries. Joining the fray as preparation for Le Mans will be the No. 82 Risi Competizione entry with Felipe Nasr (Brazil), Ryan Cullen (UK) and Oliver Jarvis (UK) at the wheel of the Oreca 07 Gibson. The American-run Risi Competizione outfit has competed at Le Mans with 17 entries over the years from 1998-2020 and celebrated three victories and seven podiums.

Meanwhile, LMGTE Am sees a strong field of 17 cars that will take to the track. Joining the full-season entrants will be the No. 57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo with its trio of drivers Takeshi Kimura (Japan), Mikkel Jensen (Denmark) and David Fumanelli (Italy). The team will also contest next week’s race in Portimão.

The No. 71 Inception Racing entry will also be competing at Monza, with Brendan Iribe (USA), Ollie Millroy (UK) and Ben Barnicoat (UK) – the trio sharing driving duties in the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. Another Ferrari entry will be the No. 388 Rinaldi Racing which will be driven by Pierre Ehret (Germany), Christian Hook (Germany) and Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands). Finally, the No. 61 AF Corse will also compete at Monza – the AF Corse run Ferrari 488 GTE Evo driven by Christophe Ulrich (Switzerland), Simon Mann (USA) and other driver which is yet to be named.

There will be a total of 11 Ferraris competing on home soil – two in GTE Pro and nine in LMGTE Am.

The flowing, high-speed nature of the circuit, with tight and technical sections separated by the lengthy straights will offer a fascinating insight into the new-for-2021 Hypercars, as negotiating the slower GT traffic on the narrow stretches of road will be a real challenge for the drivers in the top category.

More information about 6 Hours of Monza, including a timetable, will follow soon.

• 2021 6 Hours of Monza entry list