TOYOTA RACING faces another important milestone in its title challenge when the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) returns to Europe for the inaugural 6 Hours of Barcelona on 18 October.
After an exciting victory on home ground at Fuji Speedway in the previous race, the team travels to Spain for the penultimate round of the season at the top of both World Championships. Its third win of the season extended the gap in the manufacturers’ standings to 23 points, while in the drivers’ championship, the two TR010 HYBRID crews are first and second.
A second win of the season for the #8 TR010 HYBRID crew of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa elevated them to the top of the standings. The #7 TR010 HYBRID drivers, Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, are just 10 points behind.
“As drivers, I think we all know Barcelona pretty well from earlier in our careers, but as a team there’s a lot to learn about how our TR010 HYBRID works on this track,” commented Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8). “Barcelona was actually my first official appearance for TOYOTA, back at the Prologue in 2019. It’s nice to think back and consider how much we’ve experienced together since then. I hope we can add some more good memories this weekend. We’ll be doing our best.”
Barcelona represents a significant landmark for Sébastien, who will become the first driver to reach 100 WEC race starts. Sébastien is the only active driver to have been with the team since its first race, at Le Mans in 2012. In that time, he has won 28 times – including four times at Le Mans – on his way to four World Championship titles so far.
Meanwhile, Mike is preparing for the penultimate race in his illustrious racing career, having announced earlier this month that he will retire from full-time competition at the end of the WEC season.
The 6 Hours of Barcelona is a new addition to the WEC calendar, replacing – along with November’s race in Monza – the races originally scheduled in the Middle East. The 4.657km circuit, located around 30km north of Barcelona in the town of Montmeló, has been a regular feature on the calendar of many championships since it opened in 1991.
Although this will be WEC’s first race in Spain, it is not the series’ first visit to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. It hosted the pre-season Prologue test in July 2019, when Mike, Kamui, Sébastien and Brendon were among the team’s line-up at the wheel of the TS050 HYBRID. Ryō has the most recent experience of the track via his Formula 1 testing and free practice roles.
The TR010 HYBRIDs will complete their first laps in Barcelona during two free practice sessions on Friday 16 October. Saturday hosts final practice and qualifying (3.40pm CEST), before Sunday’s race, which begins at midday CEST.
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