Last weekend’s inaugural 6 Hours of Barcelona presented by Visit Qatar (16-18 October) marked a milestone for Sébastien Buemi, representing his record 100th appearance in the FIA World Endurance Championship. As the series’ most successful driver, it was fitting that he should win.
In truth, Toyota – the most decorated marque in FIA WEC history – dominated proceedings on race day in Spain as the Japanese automotive giant mastered changing conditions to claim its first one-two finish of the year. With that, the brand secured the Manufacturers/Teams’ title for an extraordinary eighth time in 14 seasons – and fifth from six in the current Hypercar era.
Buemi played a key part in the result, grabbing the lead on the opening tour and proceeding to build up a margin over his pursuers, with that momentum subsequently maintained by his team-mates in the #8 TOYOTA RACING TR010 Hybrid, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa.
The victory – the trio’s third of the 2026 campaign after Imola and Fuji – extended the Swiss star’s unrivalled tally to 29 wins from 100 outings at the pinnacle of international endurance racing, while putting him in the perfect position to conquer an unprecedented fifth Drivers’ crown in the forthcoming season finale at Monza (6-8 November).
“Having not done any laps in the wet in Barcelona until the race began, it was always going to be difficult to know if we would be fast or not,” Buemi reflected. “I then picked up a penalty straightaway for moving out before the start-line, which obviously wasn’t great and was my own mistake, but I managed to avoid the various first lap incidents – the two Genesis cars seemed very keen to brake late, so I was happy to stay on the track.
“After that, we had a lot of pace, but we didn’t know when the circuit would be ready to switch to slicks and the safety car interventions kept reducing the gap we had established. We also lost quite a bit of time during one of the Full Course Yellows, but Brendon put in an amazing couple of laps to get back ahead of the #7 car and Ryō did a similarly amazing job at the end.”
When pressed about what keeps him motivated as he nears the end of his 13th campaign of FIA WEC competition, he is unequivocal.
“It’s the passion,” Buemi instantly fires back. “I love what I do. I love going to the track, sharing the car with my team-mates and working with the team. I’ve only been with Toyota in endurance racing and I really enjoy it here. I’ve known everyone for a very long time, including people who have been here since 2012.
“I feel like together, we’ve grown as a very strong entity and I guess that stability has given us an advantage when it comes to fighting for wins. When you look at the performance we had in Japan last month, we were not fast but we won the race on strategy and making the right calls at the right time. I feel that only a team that has experience and continuity can achieve something like that.
“To be able to win in FIA WEC today is something special. The opportunity doesn’t come around very often, so when you do manage it, and you do it in style like we did at home at Fuji with a very good final few laps from Ryō to hold back the Alpine, it feels amazing.”
Still only 37 and arguably at the peak of his powers, Sébastien Buemi doesn’t look like stopping any time soon.
Find out which races he rates as his five favourite so far over on the FIA WEC Instagram channel.
And here’s to the next 100!
All of FIA WEC. All of endurance racing’s greatest battles. Watch live and on demand with FIAWEC+ – the official streaming platform of the FIA World Endurance Championship, wherever you are, whenever you want, including the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. Stream FIA WEC live with FIAWEC+.
