MOTORSPORT – TOYOTA Racing’s number eight crew of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa secured the Hypercar drivers’ title as the curtain came down on the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season with the eighth and final round at the Six Hours of Monza in Italy.
Four wins, including the Le Mans 24 Hours and their home race at Fuji Speedway, helped Toyota secure the Hypercar manufacturers’ world championship last month, and they added the drivers’ crown despite Buemi, Hartley, and Hirakawa only in 11th place in their TR010 Hybrid.
After three wins this season, Buemi and Hartley secured their fifth world title, while Hirakawa took his third.
Le Mans winners Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Nyck de Vries in Toyota’s number seven TR010 needed to overcome a 17-point deficit to steal away the drivers’ championship, but they finished 12th in the season finale.
Toyota wrapped up their incredible campaign with four wins and seven podiums to go with their Hypercar title double. The team have now won eight manufacturers’ crowns and seven drivers’ championships since their return to the WEC in 2012.
The race at Monza proved to be a challenging event. The only running in dry conditions came in qualifying, providing relatively little data on which to base race set-ups and strategies. The number eight started in 14th, while the number seven lined up 17th.
In front of a 75,181-strong weekend crowd, Conway had the honour of taking the start in his last race before retirement after 12 seasons, which included two titles and 20 wins since joining Toyota in 2014.
Both cars pushed hard to move into the points and gained positions. The race featured four safety car periods but was incident-free for the TR010s until the final 90 minutes. The number seven suffered bodywork damage in contact with a Ford LMGT3. Kobayashi was then hit from behind by the number 17 Genesis a few laps later at the same corner. But both cars avoided further drama and took the chequered flag as the sun set over the ‘Temple of Speed’ behind Hypercar winners Cadillac Hertz Team Jota in their number 38 V-Series.R.
“Not winning Le Mans with car number eight was hard but winning the drivers’ world championship makes up for it,” said Buemi. “We made it and now I’m really enjoying the feeling as a five-time world champion. It’s a pleasure to share the car with my two teammates and to be part of this team.
“They really deserve a lot of credit for bringing the TR010 Hybrid and winning in our first season, in front of such strong competition. It’s a great feeling.”
Kobayashi, who is also Toyota’s team principal, added: “Big congratulations to the whole team and well done to the number eight crew for winning the drivers’ title.
“We won the big race at Le Mans, our home race at Fuji, and both world championships. The team did an amazing job.”
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