Toyota Secures 1-2 in Barcelona to Seal WEC Manufacturers' Title

Toyota secured a commanding 1-2 victory on the World Endurance Championship's debut visit to Barcelona, sealing the Hypercar manufacturers' championship with their fourth win from seven races.

The No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid crew of Brendon Hartley, Sébastien Buemi, and Ryo Hirakawa controlled proceedings for the majority of a rain-affected six-hour encounter. The trio crossed the finish line ahead of the sister No. 7 machine driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries, and Mike Conway.

It marked the third victory of the season for the No. 8 crew, handing them a 17-point cushion over their teammates heading into next month's season finale at Monza. With the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid failing to score points for a third consecutive race due to early tyre-pressure issues, the drivers' crown has become an exclusive fight between the two Toyota crews.

Heavy rain earlier in the day meant the race got underway on a wet track, with the entire field starting on wet-weather tyres following an extra formation lap behind the safety car. When the green flag dropped, Daniel Juncadella made a flying start from third in the No. 19 Genesis GMR-001 to take the lead, only to spin off at Turn 5 and drop to the tail of the field. That promoted Buemi into the lead after he had already dispatched pole-sitter André Lotterer in the No. 17 Genesis.

An early caution was triggered on the opening lap following separate incidents involving the No. 35 Alpine A424 and the No. 78 Lexus GT3. Shortly after the restart, the safety car was called out again when Harry Tincknell beached the No. 007 Aston Martin Valkyrie in the gravel at Turn 5. Nearly the entire top-class field capitalised on the Virtual Safety Car period to pit for fuel as the rain intensified.

Racing resumed with nine minutes left in the opening hour, Buemi comfortably leading from René Rast in the BMW and Miguel Molina in the No. 50 Ferrari. Meanwhile, Nyck de Vries mounted a stunning charge in the No. 7 Toyota, carving his way from ninth to second by passing Molina to establish a Toyota 1-2 at the front.

As the track dried out past the mid-point of the second hour, drivers made the switch to slick tyres. Buemi was the first to pit, serving a five-second penalty for a starting infringement before handing over to Hartley. The New Zealander quickly erased the deficit, reclaiming the lead from Conway before opening up a commanding margin of over 14 seconds.

That advantage was wiped out with two hours to go when a safety car was deployed following an off for Zacharie Robichon at Turn 7. However, Ryo Hirakawa kept his cool behind the wheel of the No. 8 Toyota, holding off his hard-charging teammates all the way to the chequered flag to claim victory by just six-tenths of a second.

Ferrari proved to be the closest challenger to the Toyotas in Barcelona. Molina, Nicklas Nielsen, and Antonio Fuoco rounded out the podium in the No. 50 Ferrari 499P, finishing just over 30 seconds adrift of the winners. The satellite AF Corse entry of Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Phil Hanson also delivered a strong performance, but dropped behind the JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R driven by Sébastien Bourdais, Jack Aitken, and Earl Bamber during the final pit-stop cycle.

The closing stages in Barcelona delivered a thrilling scrap between Kubica and Aitken. The newly crowned IMSA GTP champion held his nerve to secure fourth place, crossing the line less than a second clear of his pursuer.

The second Cadillac, the No. 12 car shared by Will Stevens, Norman Nato, and Alex Lynn, finished sixth. The crew fought back admirably after serving a 10-second time penalty handed to Stevens for contact with Ferdinand von Habsburg's Alpine shortly after the start.

It was an afternoon of mixed fortunes for BMW in Catalunya. Following a difficult qualifying session that left them 14th and 16th on the grid, the No. 15 M Hybrid V8 displayed impressive race pace. Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello, and Kevin Magnussen worked their way up to seventh, despite Magnussen copping a 10-second penalty for a clash with Bourdais' Cadillac.

In contrast, the championship-contending No. 20 car endured a nightmare race. A tactical gamble not to pit during the second safety car backfired dramatically when René Rast was shown a black-and-orange flag for running excessively low tyre pressures. Rast was forced to pit under green conditions and was later handed an additional 20-second penalty, dropping him, Robin Frijns, and Sheldon van der Linde a full lap down. The result marked their third consecutive non-score of the season, mathematically ending their drivers' title hopes.

The sole surviving Aston Martin, the No. 009 entry shared by Marco Sørensen and Alex Riberas, came home eighth after a clean and trouble-free run.

French outfit Alpine rounded out the top ten in the Hypercar class. Victor Martins and Jules Gounon took ninth in their A424 despite an unscheduled pit stop for a suspected puncture with 20 minutes remaining, while teammates Charles Milesi and Ferdinand von Habsburg finished 10th in the No. 35 machine.

After a stellar qualifying performance, Genesis saw their race unravel in the opening hour. André Lotterer tumbled from first to eighth due to traction control issues, before a Full Course Yellow drive-through penalty eliminated any hope of points for him, Mathis Jaubert, and Pipo Derani.

Daniel Juncadella capitalised on the safety car interventions to recover from his opening-lap spin, but along with Paul-Loup Chatin and Mathieu Jaminet, fell just short of the points in 11th.

Peugeot showed encouraging pace in the wet during the opening two hours, with Paul di Resta carving his way through the pack from the back of the grid into sixth place. However, as the circuit dried out, the French 9X8s faded and crossed the line in 12th and 13th.

Porsche takes LMGT3 honours as Corvette edges closer to the crown

Manthey Porsche claimed their first LMGT3 victory of the 2026 season in Barcelona, courtesy of a flawless drive from Yasser Shahin, Riccardo Pera, and Richard Lietz in the No. 92 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

While the sister car was heavily damaged in the opening-lap melee, the class winners ran a faultless race and led almost the entire distance. Bronze-rated driver Shahin took the wheel for the opening stint and immediately bypassed pole-sitter Antares Au in the Garage 59 McLaren. By mid-distance, Pera had stretched the gap to 20 seconds, before seasoned factory ace Lietz comfortably brought the car home.

While the win was decided, the battle for second produced late-race drama. Marvin Kirchhöfer executed a decisive overtake on Dan Harper in the closing stages to secure the runner-up spot for the No. 10 McLaren he shared with Au and Tom Fleming.

Nevertheless, Harper, Anthony McIntosh, and Parker Thompson made substantial progress from 15th on the grid to put the Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 on the third step of the podium.

Championship leaders TF Sport—fielding Jonny Edgar, Nicky Catsburg, and Ben Keating in the No. 33 Corvette Z06 GT3.R—finished sixth. The result means Edgar and his crew will look to wrap up the title at the legendary Monza circuit next time out.