Toyota win the 6 Hours of Imola for 50th WEC win
- Tarun Suresh
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
The 6 Hours of Imola was Toyota's hundredth race in the World Endurance Championship. In a race that saw them make bold strategy plays and well-planned teamwork, they achieved their 50th win in their series.
In LMGT3, it was the No.69 Team WRT BMW, driven by Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Daniel Harper, that was first.
This is a recap of the final three hours of the 6 Hours of Imola, the opening race of the 2026 World Endurance Championship. For the report of the first three hours, click here.
15 minutes past the three-hour mark, the LMGT3 leader, the No.10 McLaren, made a pit stop, and the driver who put the car on pole, Tom Fleming, entered the car. The second-placed No.69 BMW came in on the next lap.
Soon after, in the Hypercar class, the No.51 Ferrari pitted for fuel from second place after being stuck behind the No.8 Toyota in the battle for the lead. Similarly, the No.7 Toyota came in the next lap to try and undercut the No.35 Alpine in the battle for second place.
Two laps after the No.51 Ferrari, the leading No.8 entered the pit lane and exited ahead of their rival. Unlike the Ferrari, the No.7’s undercut attempt worked as they got third when the No.35 exited the pits, with the Alpine opting for a tyre change.
Further down in eleventh, the No.17 Genesis, driven by Mathys Jaubert, was defending from the No.50 Ferrari and staying in front; the only silver-rated driver in Hypercar in a brand-new car was defending from the 2024 Le Mans winner and staying in front.
Meanwhile, in LMGT3, the fight for the first was raging on; Fleming in the No.10 McLaren, battling it out with the race leader Jonny Edgar in the No.33 Corvette.
After almost twenty minutes of attacking, the No.50 finally found a way past the No.17 Genesis, taking the final points position.
Similarly, in LMGT3, the No.10 got past the No.33 after a good run through the Rivazzas gave Fleming the inside line down turn two. Six minutes later, the No.10 pit for fuel from the lead, and the third-placed No.69 BMW followed.
It was the other way round in Hypercar. The second-placed No.51 Ferrari pitted from second, Antonio Giovinazzi got in the car for the final two stints and fresh tyres were put on the car. In the following lap, the No.7 Toyota came in from third and team principal Kamui Kobayashi got in the driver’s seat and exited ahead of the No.51, not having changed tyres. Two laps after the Ferrari did, the No.8 Toyota came into the pits, and Sebastian Buemi got out ahead of the sister Toyota.
With an hour and thirty minutes to go, reports of rain hit the track, but it was too light and spread out to affect racing.
Outside the podium positions, the No.83 privateer Ferrari was struggling for pace, dropping from fourth to seventh in about thirty minutes.
In LMGT3, Nicky Catsburg, in the No.33 Corvette, was hunting down the No.69 BMW being driven by Dan Harper, but failed to get past.
The other Corvette, the No.34 Team Turkey car, came into the pits and was dragged into the garage after an issue with the car, with an hour and ten minutes to go. The car was back on track a few minutes later.
Heading into the final hour of racing, Sebastian Buemi in the No.8 Toyota leads the Hypercar class ahead of his team principal, Kamui Kobayashi in the No.7 Toyota, with the No.51 Ferrari right behind in third with the polesitter Antonio Giovinazzi behind the wheel.
In LMGT3, the No.10 McLaren, being driven by Tom Fleming, was well in the lead. A few seconds back were Dan Harper in the No.69 BMW and Nicky Catsburg in the No.33 still battling it out for second.
With 50 minutes left to go, the No.7 and the No.51 entered the pits together, but the Ferrari was the one who came out ahead this time around. A lap later, the No.8 came in from first and came out with a 16 second lead over the second-placed Ferrari.
It was drama in the pit lane in LMGT3, the No.33 Corvette had an issue in the pit lane during the stop and lost more than five seconds to the No.69 BMW they were battling with.
With 35 minutes remaining, the LMGT3 leader, the No.10, was going slowly on track due to a failed alternator and had to pull into the pits and stopped just past the pit lane entry. Garage 59 looked set to win on their WEC debut, but luck wouldn’t have it that way.
While the rest of the Hypercar competition was settling down, Antonio Fuoco in the No.50 Ferrari started battling it out with the fifth-placed No.20 BMW, with René Rast piloting the car. This battle was helping out the other BMW, the No.15 being driven by Raffaele Marciello, who was rapidly closing in on this battle, but nothing changed in terms of position at the end of the race.
When the clock struck zero, the No.8 Toyota crossed the line first with a lead of around 12 seconds. Toyota Racing, in their hundredth World Endurance Championship race, and the first for their new challenger, the TR010, grabbed their fiftieth win.
Around 15 seconds back was the No.51 Ferrari AF Corse, the reigning champions finishing second at home. The No.7 car finished third to grab a double podium for Toyota on race number 100.
In LMGT3, the No.69 Team WRT BMW was first, holding off the No.33 Corvette in second, with only 0.265 seconds separating the two.
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