The 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship title fight arrives in Japan for Toyota’s home event this weekend (25-27 September), heading to a circuit the automotive giant literally owns and around which the title-chasing titan boasts an extraordinary track record of success. Preview the 6 Hours of Fuji and find out how to watch live.
Find all the key information about the event below:
| Date | Session | Japan Standard Time |
| Friday, 25 Sept | Free Practice 1 | 10:15 JST |
| Free Practice 2 | 14:30 JST | |
| Saturday, 26 Sept | Free Practice 3 | 09:30 JST |
| Qualifying – LMGT3 | 14:00 JST | |
| Hyperpole – LMGT3 | 14:20 JST | |
| Qualifying – Hypercar | 14:40 JST | |
| Hyperpole – Hypercar | 15:00 JST | |
| Sunday, 27 Sept | Race | 11:00 JST |
The 2026 campaign has already delivered more twists than most seasons manage across their entirety. After Toyota defeated Ferrari on the Prancing Horse’s home soil in the Imola curtain-raiser, BMW announced its arrival as a genuine Hypercar contender with a landmark one-two finish at Spa-Francorchamps, only for the Japanese giant to reclaim the initiative with a stellar performance in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The #7 TR010 Hybrid of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries charged from 14th on the grid to victory at La Sarthe – in so doing, securing Toyota’s sixth outright success in the legendary twice round-the-clock contest. At Interlagos, BMW then hit back to triumph again and tighten the championship gap to just five points.
At Austin’s Circuit of The Americas (COTA) earlier this month, Toyota looked set to extend its lead by finally cracking its Lone Star Le Mans curse, only for a hydraulic failure with just 11 minutes remaining to hand reigning world champion Ferrari its maiden victory of the 2026 campaign, with the #50 499P Hypercar piloted by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen taking the chequered flag first in Texas.
Toyota still leads the Manufacturers’ Championship heading into Fuji on 140 points, with BMW second on 131 and Ferrari third on 114. In the Drivers’ Championship, BMW’s René Rast and Robin Frijns remain level on 75 points with Toyota crew Conway, Kobayashi and de Vries, after neither line-up scored at COTA. The #8 Toyota of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa sits only 11 points further back on 64. The title fight is wide open, and Japan is the moment it could decisively shift.
The 2026 6 Hours of Fuji will be held from Friday, 25 to Sunday, 27 September 2026 at Fuji Speedway, with the race itself starting at 11:00 local time (GMT+9) on Sunday. Free Practice begins on Friday morning, with Qualifying and Hyperpole taking place on Saturday afternoon.
Fuji Speedway stands in the eastern foothills of Mount Fuji, in Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Toyota Motor Corporation has owned the circuit since 2000 – a detail that adds a layer of pride, and pressure, every time the manufacturer races here. The backdrop is incomparable in international motorsport – on a clear day, Japan’s highest mountain frames the pit straight in a way no other circuit can rival.
The layout is a contrasting one, as one of the longest straights in the sport at 1.475 kilometres feeds directly into Fuji’s tight first corner – the track’s primary overtaking opportunity and the scene of many a key moment in previous editions.
From there, the lap threads through a series of medium-speed sweepers, tighter infield sections and the committed 100R corner before returning to the main straight. The circuit measures 4.563 kilometres across 16 turns in total.
What’s more, the weather at Fuji in late September is notoriously unpredictable, adding genuine uncertainty for which no strategy call can fully account.
Fuji Speedway has hosted 12 FIA WEC races to date, nine of which have been won by Toyota. The only manufacturers to break that stranglehold are Alpine, who triumphed here in 2025, and Porsche, who won in 2015 and 2024. Every other Fuji victory in the modern FIA WEC era belongs to the home favourite.
The motivation that comes from racing in front of its own engineers, its own workforce and tens of thousands of Japanese fans who treat this weekend as their own Le Mans gives Toyota energy – but also pressure.
Every year, many team members from the carmaker’s Higashi-Fuji facility, as well as colleagues and team partners, visit Fuji Speedway to show their support. Kobayashi and Hirakawa are Japanese drivers racing at their home event – and that carries its own weight entirely.
Fortunately for Toyota, the cruel finish in Austin – hydraulic failure from a race-winning position with just 11 minutes left on the clock – dealt no lasting damage to its championship position. Despite the COTA retirement, the brand extended its advantage in the Manufacturers’ Championship from five points to nine, while the #7 crew remains tied at the top of the Drivers’ standings. At the circuit it owns, where it almost always wins, the timing could scarcely be better. Toyota is targeting a tenth FIA WEC victory at Fuji – and this team does not travel home to Japan to finish second.
Watch the 6 Hours of Fuji 2026 live on FIAWEC+, the official streaming home of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Every session of the weekend, from Free Practice 1 on Friday morning through Saturday Qualifying and Hyperpole to the full six-hour Race on Sunday, will be streamed live and on-demand, ad-free, so you never miss the moments that count.
With live on-board cameras across the Hypercar and LMGT3 fields, Live Timing Pro, real-time race data and full replays on-demand – all in one place, from lights-out to chequered flag and against the iconic backdrop of Mount Fuji – FIAWEC+ brings you closer to Fuji Speedway than any broadcast can.
For other viewing options and broadcasters, click here.
