Toyota is world champion again. The #8 TR010 HYBRID of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa won the first 6 Hours of Barcelona on 18 October 2026, and the sister #7 car crossed the line just 0.6 seconds behind.
That 1-2 gave Toyota the 2026 Hypercar manufacturers’ title with one race still to go. It is the team’s eighth manufacturers’ crown in 14 WEC seasons.
Quick facts
- 6 Hours of Barcelona, round 7 of 8 in the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship, at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday 18 October
- Won by the #8 Toyota TR010 HYBRID of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa
- The #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries second, 0.6 seconds back
- The #50 Ferrari 499P of Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen third, more than half a minute behind the winner
- Toyota’s fourth win in seven races this season, and its eighth manufacturers’ title in 14 seasons
- The #8 crew now lead the #7 crew by 17 points in the drivers’ standings
- The drivers’ title will be decided at the 6 Hours of Monza on 8 November
A wet start and a first pole for Genesis
Barcelona was new to the WEC this year. After two dry days, the race started on a wet track, and the whole field began on wet tyres.
Genesis had taken its first ever WEC pole with André Lotterer on Saturday, but the lead did not last. A Genesis car went through the Turn 5 gravel early on, and Buemi moved to the front. Both Genesis cars finished outside the points.
Buemi had to carry a five-second penalty for a start procedure infringement. Toyota served it at the first pit stop, when Hartley took over, and the penalty did not cost the #8 the win.
De Vries makes it a Toyota 1-2
The #7 car had more work to do. Nyck de Vries climbed from ninth to fourth at the first restart, then passed Molina’s Ferrari to put both Toyotas at the front.
The fight between the two Toyotas was settled at the halfway pit stops. According to Autosport, Hartley undercut Conway and got back ahead, and that stint gave the #8 a decisive advantage. At the flag the gap was still only 0.6 seconds.
The #51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi had a bad day. It finished 15th, three laps down, and that ended their defence of the drivers’ title.
From GR010 to TR010, and back on top
2025 was a hard year for Toyota. The old GR010 HYBRID won only one race, the Bahrain finale. For 2026 the team changed its name from TOYOTA GAZOO Racing to TOYOTA RACING, renamed the car TR010 HYBRID and painted it red, a look that recalls the GT-One style retro livery the #7 ran at Le Mans in 2025.
The change paid off. The #8 crew won at Imola, Fuji and now Barcelona, and the #7 crew won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Car Watch counts that as Toyota’s sixth Le Mans win. Barcelona was also Buemi’s 100th WEC start, and he called the team’s comeback after a very difficult 2025 amazing.
Japanese fans have a driver to cheer in both cars. Ryo Hirakawa drives the #8, and Kamui Kobayashi races the #7 while also running the team as team principal. This title comes in the same season as Toyota’s WRC success, where Elfyn Evans won the drivers’ title in the GR Yaris Rally1.
Monza decides the drivers’ title
Only the two Toyota crews can still win the drivers’ championship. The #8 trio go to Monza 17 points ahead, and the final race is on 8 November.
Kobayashi says there will be no team orders, so the two red cars will be free to race each other. Mike Conway retires from full-time racing at the end of this season, so Monza is his last race as a full-time driver.
Our take
This is our opinion. After a bad 2025, Toyota went back to work on the car and the team, and four wins from seven races is the result. Winning 1-2 on a new track that started wet is not luck.
The weak side: Genesis beat Toyota to pole on Saturday, so the TR010 is not the fastest car over one lap everywhere. And a title fight between two cars from the same garage can turn ugly with one wrong move. If “no team orders” really holds, Monza could be the best race of the year.
Your turn
Who takes the drivers’ title at Monza: Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa in the #8, or Kobayashi, Conway and de Vries in the #7? Tell us in the comments.
Sources: FIA WEC (Barcelona race report), Autosport (Barcelona race report), Car Watch (Toyota wins the WEC manufacturers’ title), TOYOTA RACING (Barcelona preview), FIA WEC (Toyota’s new name and look for 2026), Autosport (Genesis pole).
Photos: T GOUREAU (CC BY-SA 4.0) and MarcelX42 (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons. The photos show the TR010 HYBRID at the 2026 Le Mans test day and the 2026 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, not at Barcelona.
