Ahead of the 6 Hours of Monza – the final round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign this weekend (6-8 November) – TOYOTA RACING Technical Director David Floury looks back on the Japanese marque’s extraordinary title-winning season.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans, a home triumph in the 6 Hours of Fuji, the Manufacturers’ crown and a top two lockout in the Hypercar Drivers’ championship: for David Floury, Toyota has pulled off ‘a clean sweep’ in FIA WEC this season. “I’m delighted for the whole team, because everyone worked relentlessly to put us in this position this year,” says the squad’s Technical Director, in an exclusive interview with fiawec.com. “After a more challenging 2025 campaign, we bounced back.”
While taking second in the Manufacturers’ standings remained a commendable result given the fierce competition in the headlining Hypercar category, Toyota generally fell short of expectations last year. Prior to tallying a one-two finish in the season-closing Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain, the Aichi-based automotive giant had uncharacteristically missed out on the podium altogether.
To reclaim the top spot and restore the consistency befitting its status, Toyota played a key trump card: the TR010 HYBRID. The new spearhead of the Japanese marque’s ambitions was designed to embody aesthetic evolution as much as sporting progress. “It was vital for the brand to evolve the Hypercar with a fresh look, more aligned with its modern design language,” highlights Floury. “The goal was also to make the car more user-friendly for the drivers, easier for the engineers to set up, and more consistent across all conditions.”
Did that translate into confidence heading into the 2026 campaign? Not for the French engineer, who still carries the painful memory of the #5 Toyota TS050 Hybrid retiring from the lead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016, just four minutes short of the chequered flag. “I rarely believe anything is finished until one crosses the finish line, and I’m not naturally over-confident. Over-confidence usually leads to errors.”
The curtain-raising 6 Hours of Imola immediately set the tone for Toyota’s 2026 season. Marking its 100th FIA WEC start, the most successful manufacturer in the world championship’s history edged out Ferrari in a thrilling duel to secure its 50th series triumph, relying heavily upon race intelligence and razor-sharp management: “We managed to win more on strategy and execution than on pure pace.”
The #7 and #8 TR010 HYBRIDs were not the fastest entries at Le Mans either, but it was the Japanese national anthem that rang out over the rostrum on 14 June after the most gruelling event of the year. “I’d say it was the toughest race,” Floury acknowledges. “Le Mans is a unique and inherently brutal race. We had to dig deep as a team to overcome the issues on both cars and keep them in contention right to the end.”
With 80 points collected at La Sarthe courtesy of victory for the #7 prototype and third place for the #8, Toyota established a solid 36-point cushion over BMW in the Hypercar Manufacturers’ standings. That margin, however, shrank to just nine points after a challenging American leg. In the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo, the points leaders struggled for pace (12th and 17th). “You end up being spectators, and that’s never a comfortable position to be in,” admits TOYOTA RACING’s Technical Director. “It was a frustrating race.”
In Austin, the scenario was different, but the outcome was probably even harder to swallow. The race-leading #7 TR010 HYBRID, driven by Nyck de Vries, broke down with a hydraulic failure in the closing minutes. “It was a big opportunity for us to score a lot of points, so obviously it was tough to take,” said Kamui Kobayashi, the unfortunate Dutch driver’s team-mate and Toyota’s Team Principal. “But this is endurance racing. We need to learn and improve.”
Floury backed up those words with immediate action, as the team implemented fixes to rectify the problem. The Vosges-born engineer also noted that the pit-lane speeding penalty handed to the #8 at COTA had been caused by a software glitch – unrelated to driver error – which has been resolved as well. “Retiring 12 minutes from the finish line might look like bad luck, but I see it differently,” opines Floury. “Reliability issues simply shouldn’t happen to us. We have to be better than that.”
The championship-winning outfit’s response was ruthless. At Fuji, Toyota returned to victory lane on home soil for the first time since 2023, leveraging flawless late-race tactics and decision-making. “We didn’t falter when it mattered most,” recalls the ESTACA graduate. “We didn’t have the speed to win on pure performance alone, which speaks volumes about the strength of this team.”
Finally, in Barcelona, Toyota produced a masterclass that caught everybody – including Floury – off-guard. Furthermore, unlike several of its rivals, the Japanese squad had done no recent testing at Montmeló. “During the race, we were surprised by how strong we were compared to the competition. Barcelona was the only race we won on outright performance. To-date, we’ve won four out of seven races in very different ways.”
The former ORECA Technical Director points out that the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya’s abrasive asphalt suits a Japanese Hypercar that is famously gentle on its tyres. “The closest surface to it is Bahrain, where we’ve won the last nine races. We manage tyre wear better than our competitors, and that’s a key strength for us.”
That should be less of a factor at a circuit like the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, host of the season finale. High speeds, a narrow track, tight run-off and cool temperatures promise an intense weekend. Fortunately, Toyota heads to Lombardy with the peace of mind of having already locked up both world titles. “It gives us a bit of breathing room and removes the pressure,” smiles Floury.
The second Italian round of the year will also offer the Japanese manufacturer a chance to celebrate Mike Conway’s final outing in style. The #7 car’s British driver has decided to hang up his helmet for good. “I was in Macau back in 2006 when he won the Grand Prix. Funnily enough, Kamui [Kobayashi] took pole position,” the French engineer recalls. The Bromley native was later scouted by Toyota following eye-catching performances behind the wheel of the #26 G-Drive ORECA 03 in FIA WEC's LMP2 category in 2013.
In 2014, he joined Toyota for a test session and has remained with the team ever since, picking up two outright Le Mans victories (2021, 2026) and two world titles (2019-20, 2021). Floury, who shared the podium celebrations with Conway for both his first win (the 6 Hours of Bahrain in 2014) and his latest (the 2026 edition of Le Mans), will remember him as a first-class driver and person: “He’s a true gentleman, a proper team player and someone who is always a pleasure to work with. It’s an immense pride to have shared this journey.”
Beyond the 6 Hours of Monza, a new journey will begin for TOYOTA RACING – one that promises to be even more demanding. In 2027, the Japanese marque will once again be the team to beat for an increasingly high-calibre grid. As he credits Toyota’s rivals this season – especially BMW M Team WRT, ‘a top-class team for which we hold tremendous respect’ – Floury fully grasps the magnitude of the challenge awaiting the new world champions.
“Defending our titles will be tough, but we’re eager to go again next year,” promises TOYOTA RACING’s Technical Director, who looks forward to competing in a Hypercar field expanded by legendary entrants McLaren and Ford. “Having at least nine manufacturers in Hypercar, including some of the greatest names in Le Mans history, is incredible. It’s a top-tier championship with elite competitors, but we’re here to fight for victory at Le Mans and the titles, and we will push as hard as we can to make that happen.”
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