Toyota has won the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship manufacturers’ title with one race to spare. At the first 6 Hours of Barcelona, held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in front of more than 55,000 spectators, the Japanese brand took a one-two finish that put the Hypercar crown out of reach of its rivals.
It is Toyota’s eighth manufacturers’ title in the WEC, and its fifth in six seasons since the Hypercar class was introduced. The brand now leads the standings by 58 points.
The #8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa won by just 0.583 seconds from the sister #7 car of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries. It was the #8 crew’s second win in a row, three weeks after their home victory at the 6 Hours of Fuji.
A wet and chaotic start
The race began at midday on a wet track, with poor visibility and little grip on a circuit new to the championship. The opening laps were chaotic. Ferdinand Habsburg’s Alpine spun at the start after contact with Will Stevens’ Cadillac, which earned the British driver a ten-second penalty, while Daniel Juncadella’s Genesis ran wide at turn 5.
Buemi took the lead in the #8, with the #7 Toyota close behind. As the track dried, the Hypercars switched to slicks at their second stops. A five-second penalty for Buemi briefly handed the lead to Conway in the #7, before Hartley reclaimed it for the #8. A late safety car brought the #50 Ferrari, with Antonio Fuoco at the wheel, to within five seconds of the lead, but the two Toyotas kept up a relentless pace to the finish.
A Danish podium for Ferrari
The #50 Ferrari 499P of Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Denmark’s Nicklas Nielsen finished third, the best result of the day for a team outside Toyota. Nielsen spent much of the middle part of the race running alone in third place, after the field had sorted itself out following the wet start.
A well-timed late pit stop for Jack Aitken‘s #38 Cadillac lifted it to fourth, ahead of the #83 Ferrari of Robert Kubica.
Porsche back on top in LMGT3
In LMGT3, the #92 Porsche 911 of The Bend Manthey, driven by Yasser Shahin, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz, bounced back from a difficult race in Fuji to win ahead of the #10 McLaren and the #69 BMW. It was Porsche’s first LMGT3 win in the WEC since the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2025, and The Bend Manthey became the seventh different winning team in the class this season.
Six manufacturers, Porsche, McLaren, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari and Mercedes, filled the top six places. The #33 TF Sport Corvette still leads the LMGT3 teams’ standings, now by 18 points from the #92 Porsche.
Showdown in Monza
The manufacturers’ title may be settled, but the drivers’ championship is not. It will be decided between the two Toyota crews, the #8 and the #7, at the season finale, the 6 Hours of Monza, from 6 to 8 November.
