Toyota Racing began its new TR010 Hybrid era in perfect form this afternoon, with victory in the opening round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Imola.
The #8 Toyota of Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi triumphed in a race-long duel with the pole-sitting #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P, giving the Japanese marque its 50th FIA WEC victory in its 100th race.
The Toyota and Ferrari proved equal on pace, with superior strategy making the difference at a venue where overtaking is difficult.
Having fallen to third at the start, Hartley passed the #50 Ferrari at the first pit stop, before the decision not to change tyres at the second round of stops enabled Hirakawa to emerge in front of the #51 Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi, in which James Calado had commanded the opening stages.
Critically, a Virtual Safety Car was called just after the conclusion of this pit cycle, which offered the #8 Toyota a chance to pit for four new tyres without losing the race.
Pier Guidi then stalked Hirakawa throughout the middle phase of the race, before more strategic moves at the penultima teround of pit stops enabled Toyota to place the #7 TR010 Hybrid of Kamui Kobayashi between Buemi and Antonio Giovinazzi.
With Kobayashi triple-stinting a set of tyres, the Japanese driver couldn’t match the pace of Buemi, but proved capable of fending off Giovinazzi, which let the gap between the Ferrari and the leader grow beyond the 10-second mark.
When Kobayashi finally changed tyres at the final round of pit stops, Giovinazzi was released, but the damage was done, and the #51 Ferrari driver couldn’t make any inroads into Buemi, who comfortably brought the #8 Toyota as light rain threatened to create late drama.
The winning margin was 13.382 seconds, as the TR010 Hybrid joined the TS040-Hybrid and GR010 Hybrid as claiming victory on its FIA WEC debut.
“It feels so good to win on the TR010’s debut. It started yesterday with Ryo putting the car on the front row, we didn’t expect it. Strategy was then on point today, we managed the tyres well and the sister car got in front of the Ferrari to give us breathing room. Fantastic,” Hartley said.
“We got a new car, it’s our 100th race, and we made history!” Added Hirakawa.
Third went to the #7 Toyota of Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck De Vries, ahead of the #35 Alpine Endurance Team A424 and #20 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8.
The #50 Ferrari finished sixth, after its race was derailed by a drive-through penalty for a yellow flag infringement. Served immediately after the restart from the second and final Safety Car, the penalty dropped the car to the back of the Hypercar field, with sixth a strong salvage job considering the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota V-Series.R, which received an identical penalty, finished 13th.
The #15 BMW was seventh, with the #38 Cadillac, #007 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie and #83 AF Corse Ferrari completing the top 10.
Peugeot TotalEnergies’ qualifying pace didn’t translate to the race, with its #94 9X8 gradually dropping back from its fourth-place starting spot to an eventual 12th-place finish, whilst the #93 9X8 fell out of contention when new signing Nick Cassidy went off at Tamburello on his out lap.
Genesis Magma Racing, meanwhile, excelled all expectations with its #17 GMR-001, which ran in the top 10 in the second half of the race and held onto the lead lap as late as the penultimate hour on its way to 15th. The #19 entry finished 17th in Hypercar, after a sensor issue struck after just nine laps and brought the car into the garage.
In LMGT3, Team WRT claimed its second-ever victory, two years on from its first, with the #69 BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo of rookies Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Dan Harper.
The #69 BMW was a consistent presence near the front of the race, but required late misfortune for the pole-sitting #10 Garage 59 McLaren LMGT3 Evo in order to triumph.
The #10 McLaren made the seemingly decisive move for the lead at the start of the penultimate hour, when Tom Fleming passed TF Sport’s Jonny Edgar at Tamburello following a stint-long duel. Fleming’s co-driver Marvin Kirchhöfer was then leading, on fresher tyres, with 35 minutes to go, when the McLaren factory driver slowed with an electrical issue as Garage 59’s dream FIA WEC debut turned to agony.
This handed the lead to Harper, who had to fend off the closing #33 Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R of Nicky Catsburg, who had relieved Edgar at the penultimate round of pit stops.
The Dutchman quickly reduced what was a six-second gap at the start of the final stint down to two seconds, but was unable to launch a challenge, with Harper coming home just 0.265 seconds ahead after a final lap charge from the Corvette driver.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better debut!” Harper said post-race. “My teammates made it a lot easier for me, put the car in the right position. And WRT, their strategy is always a strength, so we’re very lucky to have them running the cars for us this year.
“My job as the Pro is to close the race out. It definitely wasn’t easy, but at certain points, I felt in control.”
The #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) LMGT3 of Yasser Shahin, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz finished third, ahead of the sister, DK Engineering-branded #91 Porsche, #32 BMW and #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo.
The #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 Evo, which led early on, finished seventh, after Logan Sergeant was passed by Alessio Rovera in the closing minutes.
Following a long stay in the garage, the #10 McLaren returned to the track for the final lap of the race, to finish 13th in LMGT3.
After qualifying second and third, it was a disastrous race for Akkodis ASP Team, as both cars were struck, seemingly with similar transmission issues, within minutes of one another following the opening round of pit stops. The #87 Lexus RC F LMGT3 retired out on the circuit, whilst the #78 Lexus returned to the track after a spell in the garage.
Images courtesy of Andrew Lofthouse