Overview
- Toyota’s No. 8 of Sebastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley won Sunday’s 6 Hours of Imola by 13.3 seconds to open the 2026 WEC season.
- The crew gained control by skipping a tyre change, then using a Virtual Safety Car from Nick Cassidy’s beached Peugeot to take fresh tyres without giving up track position.
- Team tactics placed the No. 7 Toyota between the leaders to give the No. 8 breathing room, while Ferrari’s No. 50 took a drive-through for a yellow-flag breach and finished sixth.
- Team WRT won LMGT3 with the No. 69 BMW after Garage 59’s leading McLaren lost power late, and Dan Harper held off Nicky Catsburg by 0.265 seconds at the flag.
- Toyota marked its 50th WEC win in its 100th start, Genesis completed a mixed debut with the No. 17 finishing 15th after top-10 pace and the No. 19 delayed by an early sensor fault, and the championship moves to Spa on May 9.