A record weekend crowd of 101,606 fans witnessed an intense battle amongst a closely-matched Hypercar field. In the final race before the Le Mans 24 Hours, TOYOTA RACING used strategy and determined driving to recover from a difficult qualifying to fight at the front.
Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries finished fifth in their TR010 HYBRID, falling just short of the podium despite a late charge. The #8 TR010 HYBRID of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa ran second for much of the race before a podium slipped away in the closing stages.
The #7 TR010 HYBRID started the race from 12th and, despite the best efforts of Mike and Nyck, remained outside the top 10 during the opening stages. Incidents elsewhere and Kamui’s bold overtaking, moved the #7 into eighth. A safety car at the end of the fifth hour elevated the #7 into fourth and set up an exciting finale.
Starting 16th, the #8 TR010 HYBRID deployed an alternative strategy early in the race. A short early first stop helped Brendon move into second, a position both Ryō and Sébastien held for long periods. However, Sébastien lost out late in the last hour when an issue around a pit stop meant the #8 was not fully refuelled. That required an additional stop, dropping the #8 out of the top 10 before the final safety car.
When racing resumed with just over 20 minutes remaining, Kamui was part of a thrilling four-car battle for second place. An action-packed finale saw Kamui fight wheel-to-wheel with his rivals before ultimately crossing the line in fifth, just 6.015secs away from the race-winning BMW M Team WRT. Sébastien also had an eventful final few laps and earned a point for 10th.
TOYOTA RACING now accelerates its preparations for the highlight of the 2026 WEC season, the Le Mans 24 Hours on 13-14 June when it aims to challenge for a sixth victory at La Sarthe.
Quotes:
Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “To come away with fifth and 10th is quite decent considering our pace. We had some challenges today, but we did our best to get a good result and we managed to score points with both cars which is good for the World Championship. It was not an easy week, but we executed a strong team performance. Now we have some things to study and improve before Le Mans.”
Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “It was probably better than we expected, honestly. At one point it looked like car #8 would do well with their strategy, but then they were unlucky. We had two different strategies, and two different results. I am happy to come away with fifth. It was nearly fourth, but we just didn’t have the pace. We scored some decent points and now we move on to Le Mans.”
Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “I’ve got mixed feelings from that race. Car #8 had a good opportunity on their different strategy to fight for a great result, but they were unfortunate. We had a clean race, didn’t make mistakes and executed well, and then benefited from things happening in front of us. That brought us some good points, and we should be happy with that.”
Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “We made a great decision to offset our strategy, and it was going well. Unfortunately, we then lost all those positions. It will hurt for a bit but that’s racing. Car #7 salvaged some points which is positive for the team, but it could have been more. We will process everything and work to be stronger when it matters in Le Mans.”
Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “We ended up with one point, but I can’t help but feel disappointed because we were looking on for a podium. These things can happen; it’s all a team effort and we stand together. On the positive side, it was looking really good for us at one moment and it was an incredible race, full of excitement at the end. We all fought hard and showed good fighting spirit.”
Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “We had a chance to get on the podium and maybe we could even have fought for victory. To be honest, I am very disappointed at the moment. We need to review what happened and try to avoid it in the future. Even though it was a frustrating result for our car, Le Mans is next so we need to maximise everything for that and we will be working hard.”
6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps – Race
1st #20 BMW M Team WRT 151 laps
2nd #15 BMW M Team WRT +1.969secs
3rd #50 Ferrari AF Corse +2.622secs
4th #007 Aston Martin THOR Team +5.004secs
5th #7 TOYOTA RACING +6.015secs
6th #83 AF Corse +11.552secs
...
10th #8 TOYOTA RACING +32.165secs ...
