Toyota delivered a peerless performance to claim a one-two finish in the inaugural 6 Hours of Barcelona presented by Visit Qatar today (18 October) – with the result securing the Japanese automotive giant the 2026 FIA Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship.
Following two completely dry days at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the penultimate round of the season began on a wet track surface – and the conditions immediately caught out a number of competitors.
Pole-sitter André Lotterer found himself overhauled by fast-starting Genesis Magma Racing stablemate Daniel Juncadella and TOYOTA RACING star Sébastien Buemi on the dash to Turn One, before the home hero ran through the Turn Five gravel trap.
That dropped the #19 Genesis from the lead to the tail-end of the Hypercar field – and promoted Buemi to first place. It was a position the #8 would occupy for the majority of the race, as – a five-second penalty for a start procedure infringement aside – the championship-leading crew enjoyed a flawless run.
Shortly into the second hour, a hard-charging Nyck de Vries sliced by Ferrari’s Miguel Molina to make it a Toyota one-two, and the pair of TR010 Hybrid prototypes proceeded to pull out a healthy margin over the chasing pack.
Following subsequent stints by Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa in the #8 entry and Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi in the sister #7 car, the Toyotas flashed past the chequered flag in a formation finish.
The dominant display earned FIA WEC’s most successful marque not only its first one-two result of the year, but with it, the Manufacturers/Teams’ laurels for the eighth time in 14 seasons – and fifth out of six in the current Hypercar era – as the TR010 Hybrid repeated the feat of its TS040 Hybrid and GR010 Hybrid predecessors by clinching the crown in its maiden campaign.
“It’s amazing that the team has managed to fight back after a very difficult 2025,” commented Buemi, who celebrated the success in his milestone 100th FIA WEC appearance. “It shows that by working hard together, we can come back very strongly. Thanks and congratulations to the whole team for this fantastic year, but there is one more race to go [in the Drivers’ battle] and the best crew will win.”
“I think we have made a huge step this year,” echoed Team Principal, Kobayashi. “We haven’t always had the best car, but we’ve been very strong and consistent in the races and that has meant we’ve scored a lot of points. A big thanks to the Toyota family for supporting our project. Now, we have to enjoy the last race, when we will have no team orders, so I think we can look forward to a big fight!”
The #50 Ferrari 499P piloted by Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen rounded out the rostrum in third place following a solid, trouble-free run, while the sister #51 trio of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi conceded their Drivers’ title defence after a succession of misfortunes left them a lowly 15th in the final classification, three laps down.
The #38 Cadillac made an offset strategy pay off as Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Sébastien Bourdais narrowly held off the #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye for fifth, with the #12 Cadillac completing the top six.
On another difficult day for erstwhile world championship leader BMW, seventh place for the #15 M Hybrid V8 and a third straight failure to score for the #20 car – which had temporarily climbed to second prior to picking up a penalty for a tyre pressure infraction – means only the two Toyota crews will now dispute the Drivers’ trophy in three weeks’ time in Italy.
Meanwhile, a weekend of two halves for Genesis saw the two Korean cars both finish outside of the points following a variety of issues and errors.
The 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship will conclude with the 6 Hours of Monza on 6-8 November.
Check out the full results from Barcelona.
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