Toyota Racing brought the curtain down on a spectacular FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season by reclaiming the driver’s title in the final round of the 2026 season on Sunday, the 6 Hours of Monza.
Four wins this season – including the Le Mans 24 Hours and their home race at Fuji Speedway – had already helped the team secure the manufacturers’ World Championship at the penultimate round in Barcelona, in their first year competing as Toyota Racing.
Going into the final round in Italy, the drivers’ title fight was a contest between the team’s two car crews, with Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa securing the crown in their No8 TR010 Hybrid with an 11th place finish.
After three wins this season, this was their third world title together, while for Buemi and Hartley, it is a fifth World Championship crown, and a third title for Hirakawa.
Le Mans winners Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries needed to overcome a 17-point deficit to claim the title in their No7 TR010 Hybrid. A difficult competitive situation for both cars at Monza made their task even harder and they finished 12th.
Toyota Racing therefore end the first season of competition for their TR010 Hybrid with four wins and seven podiums to their name. The team have now won eight manufacturers’ titles and seven drivers’ crowns since their return to WEC in 2012.
The race at Monza proved to be a challenging finale. The only running in dry conditions over the weekend came in qualifying, providing relatively little data on which to base race set-ups and strategies. The No8 started in 14th, while the No7 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, two titles and 20 wins with the team since joining 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 TR010 Hybrids until the final 90 minutes. The No7 suffered bodywork damage in contact with a Ford LMGT3 at the first chicane. Kobayashi was then hit from behind by the No17 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 to bring a successful 2026 season to a close.
Team quotes
Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car No7): “Big congratulations to the whole team and well done to the No8 crew for winning the drivers’ title. We won the big race at Le Mans, our home race at Fuji Speedway, and both World Championships. The team did an amazing job. Thanks for all the effort in Cologne and Higashi-Fuji, as well as the support from Japan, including Morizo-san and Nakajima-san who helped us create this Toyota Racing project. It has not always been easy. We didn’t change much internally but we started with a slightly different approach and now, at the end of the season, we can say it was really positive. I really appreciate all the effort that went into this season.”
Mike Conway (driver, car No7): “I’m really happy to be part of a manufacturers’ World Championship win and a one-two in the drivers’ standings. It’s hard to beat that. Huge congratulations to the team for this great season. It was the last race for me, and it’s a nice feeling, honestly. It’s been amazing working with the team for all these years and I’ll miss everybody. There were many magical moments, and I’ve got so many memories to look back on. It has been great to be a part of this team’s history for so long. I’ve really enjoyed it. Thank you to everyone for all those special moments.”
Nyck de Vries (driver, car No7): “It’s been a great year. I’m extremely happy and proud to be part of the team. Everyone has done an incredible job the whole year. It has been a challenging final weekend of the year, but we have to remember everything we have accomplished together. We should cherish and celebrate that. A special thank you to Mike after his last race. It was great to share car No7 with him and create memories which will last forever.”
Sébastien Buemi (driver, car No8): “Not winning Le Mans with car No8 was hard but winning the drivers’ World Championship makes up for it. Today we knew we just had to beat car No7 because we had a decent points lead, but you never know what can happen. 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 team-mates and to be part of this team. They really deserve a lot of credit for the TR010 Hybrid winning in its first season, in front of such strong competition. It’s a great feeling.”
Brendon Hartley (driver, car No8): “As a team we already celebrated clinching the manufacturers’ title in Barcelona, which felt incredible for everyone. After all the hard work that went into the TR010 Hybrid, we knew this season was an opportunity for us. Against such tough competition we had to improve in every area of the team, including as drivers, so it’s a great feeling now to finish the season as World Champions. All three of us in No8 had mixed emotions after Le Mans but I am really proud of how we fought back over the second half of the season, because we were really strong.”
Ryō Hirakawa (driver, car No8): “I am really happy, not only for everyone in car No8 but also for the whole team. For Toyota Racing to win Le Mans and both World Championships is a massive achievement, maybe this team’s biggest yet. This is all thanks to the team because everyone did a great job. We had a tough year in 2025, but we came back with the TR010 Hybrid and we won everything. We should be proud of that, but at the same time we want to continue to get stronger together.”
6 Hours of Monza results
1st 38 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota 191 laps
2nd 36 Alpine Endurance Team +5.607sec
3rd 51 Ferrari AF Corse +35.767sec
4th 007 Aston Martin THOR Team +53.585sec
5th 94 Peugeot TotalEnergies +54.890sec
6th 15 BMW M Team WRT +1min 03.128sec
11th 8 TOYOTA RACING +1 lap
12th 7 TOYOTA RACING +1 lap
