Sébastien Buemi described Toyota Racing’s dramatic 2026 WEC 6 Hours of Fuji victory as “one of our best wins in a long time” after a bold late strategy call transformed a race in which the No. 8 crew had rarely looked capable of reaching the podium.
Buemi, Brendon Hartley and home favourite Ryō Hirakawa started eighth and lacked the outright pace of Alpine throughout much of the six-hour contest. However, Toyota capitalised on a late Safety Car by short-fuelling Hirakawa and keeping him on used tyres, jumping the No. 8 TR010 Hybrid from sixth into the lead. Hirakawa then resisted a charging Victor Martins on fresher Michelin tyres to win by only 0.591s.
The result secured Toyota’s first victory at Fuji since 2023 and continued the TR010 Hybrid’s successful first season at its home circuit. More importantly, it moved Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa into the lead of the Hypercar Drivers’ Championship with two rounds remaining.
Buemi praises ‘amazing strategic move’
The No. 8 crew had gradually worked its way forward after starting from eighth, with Buemi advancing to sixth before Hartley climbed to fourth. Their progress suffered a setback during the fifth hour when Harry Tincknell spun Hartley at Turn 1, leaving Toyota with significant ground to recover.
The late Safety Car created a final opportunity. While several rivals changed tyres and took more fuel, Toyota gambled on track position by leaving Hirakawa on his existing tyres and reducing the time required for refuelling. The decision moved him into first before the restart, but the Japanese driver still had to defend against Martins as conditions became increasingly difficult.
“One of out best wins in a long time”
Buemi admitted that Toyota had not expected to be fighting for victory before that final strategic call.
“This is one of our best wins in a long time,” Buemi reflected. “I’m really proud of this one, especially because it was completely unexpected. Lately, races seem to have come down to crucial calls, and the team made a great one at the last pit-stop. We anticipated it would take a long time to repair the guardrail, so we fuelled a bit less and passed everybody in the pits – it was an amazing strategic move.
“With the amount of fuel we put in, if the race had gone ‘green’ straightaway, we wouldn’t have got to the end [without pitting again] – and even after taking the lead, Ryō still had to stay ahead, but he didn’t make any mistakes in difficult conditions.
“We definitely didn’t have the pace – we were just the eighth-fastest car on the track – but we managed to win on strategy, which was a massive achievement. You couldn’t dream of anything better!”
Toyota’s strategy relied heavily on the Safety Car period lasting long enough for the reduced fuel load to reach the finish. Once racing resumed with around 20 minutes remaining, Hirakawa then had to make the track position count.
Hartley: Toyota ‘nailed it and outfoxed the rest of the field’
Martins rapidly moved through the cars between himself and Hirakawa after the restart. The Alpine driver eventually reached second and closed directly onto the Toyota, with his significantly fresher tyres providing an obvious advantage as the final laps approached.
Hirakawa nevertheless kept the A424 behind. Light rain added another complication, but the two-time World Champion positioned the Toyota carefully and prevented Martins from completing a pass before the chequered flag.
For Hartley, the victory provided an especially satisfying response after Toyota had experienced several missed opportunities earlier in the campaign.
“What an incredible race!” echoed Hartley. “Congratulations to the whole team, and I was so happy for Ryō to take the chequered flag in his home event. We had so much support over the weekend, and this is an amazing feeling that we’re going to enjoy for a while.
“We didn’t have the ultimate pace, but for the most part, we had a faultless race – thanks to good execution, no mistakes on-track and an incredible strategy call at the end, we came away with the win.
“We’ve been unlucky a couple of times this year, but this time, we nailed it and outfoxed the rest of the field. Now we need to take this confidence into the final two races and try to hold on to our championship lead.”
The Fuji victory became the crew’s second of the year after winning the season-opening 6 Hours of Imola. It also made Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa the first crew to win twice during the 2026 campaign.
Mixed fortunes for sister Toyota
The No. 7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Nyck de Vries and Kamui Kobayashi endured a more complicated home race despite entering Fuji among the leading Drivers’ Championship contenders.
De Vries suffered an early puncture before spinning following contact with Ferdinand Habsburg while fighting near the front. Kobayashi later received a drive-through penalty for speeding under Full Course Yellow conditions, leaving the crew needing to recover through the closing stages.
They ultimately finished eighth, keeping themselves in the championship fight but dropping 10 points behind their No. 8 teammates.
“For our car, it was a bit difficult and we didn’t have a clean enough race,” acknowledged Kobayashi, who doubles up as Team Principal. “We were a little bit off the pace generally, so we were always chasing and that defined our day, but congratulations to the whole team for the victory, and particularly the #8 crew who had such a strong race. Winning at Fuji is very important to us. Everybody worked so hard for this, and we all kept fighting until the very end.”
Toyota also strengthened its position in the Manufacturers’ Championship. The Japanese marque arrived at Fuji nine points ahead of BMW but left with a 23-point advantage after the No. 8 victory and BMW’s No. 15 entry finished third.
The result therefore delivered far more than another home success. Toyota turned a race in which it lacked the outright pace into victory through timing, execution and Hirakawa’s defence, while simultaneously taking firmer control of both championship battles with two rounds remaining.
