WEC Barcelona: Toyota 1-2 seals the manufacturers’ title, Manthey Porsche wins LMGT3

Toyota sealed the 2026 Hypercar Manufacturers’ World Championship with a one-two at the inaugural 6 Hours of Barcelona, its eighth title in 14 seasons. The #8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa beat the sister #7 car by 0.583 seconds in a race that started wet and finished dry. In LMGT3, the #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R of Yasser Shahin, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz took a dominant win to keep the title fight alive heading into the Monza finale.

Hypercar

Rain at the start caught several drivers out. André Lotterer led away from pole in the #17 Genesis GMR-001, but Daniel Juncadella in the sister #19 car took the lead into Turn 1, passing both Lotterer and Buemi. Juncadella then ran wide through the gravel at Turn 5 and dropped to the back of the Hypercar field, which handed the lead to Buemi. From there, the #8 Toyota stayed in front for most of the race, and a five-second penalty for a start procedure infringement was the only blemish on an otherwise clean run.

The second Toyota, meanwhile, climbed from ninth on the grid. Nyck de Vries passed Miguel Molina’s #50 Ferrari 499P early in the second hour to complete the one-two, and the two TR010s pulled clear of the field. The #8 and #7 crossed the line together on Buemi’s 100th WEC start. “It shows that by working hard together, we can come back very strongly,” he said. As a result, only the two Toyota crews remain in the fight for the Drivers’ World Championship.

Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen brought the #50 Ferrari home in third from eighth on the grid, 39 seconds behind the winners. The #38 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Sébastien Bourdais made an offset strategy work to take fourth, with Aitken narrowly holding off the #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye. The second JOTA Cadillac, the #12, finished sixth.

For Toyota’s rivals, it was another weekend to forget. The #15 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 finished seventh, while the #20 car ran as high as second before a penalty for low tyre pressures dropped it out of the points for the third race in a row. That ended BMW’s hopes in the Drivers’ standings as Toyota wrapped up the Manufacturers’ crown. The reigning champions in the #51 Ferrari were also out of contention after a troubled race, including a speed limiter problem, left them 15th. Genesis, so strong on Saturday, failed to score, with the #19 in 11th and the #17 in 16th.

LMGT3

The #92 Manthey Porsche led from early in the race and won by 4.750 seconds. It was Porsche’s first LMGT3 victory since Le Mans last year and made the #92 crew the seventh different winners in seven races this season. Antares Au started from pole in the #10 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 and led initially, but he struggled in the wet and slipped back after the first Virtual Safety Car.

At one stage, the two TF-run Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs ran second and third. However, the title-leading #33 TF Sport car lost time in the pits when Ben Keating handed over to Jonny Edgar, who was then hit with a 10-second penalty. Dan Harper moved the #69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 into second in the fourth hour, but Tom Fleming and Marvin Kirchhoefer were closing in with the #10 McLaren despite a puncture earlier in the race. Kirchhoefer finally passed Harper into Turn 1 with 11 minutes to go to take second, leaving Harper, Anthony McIntosh and Parker Thompson to complete the podium.

The #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette of Salih Yoluc, Peter Dempsey and Charlie Eastwood finished fourth, ahead of the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 and the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3. The #33 Corvette dropped to seventh when Maxime Martin passed it on the final lap.

Monza season finale

Both remaining titles will be settled at Monza on 8 November. In Hypercar, the Drivers’ World Championship is now an in-house battle between the #7 and #8 Toyota crews. In LMGT3, Edgar takes an 18-point lead over the #92 Porsche crew into the finale, with the #34 Corvette a further four points back. After seven different winners in seven races, the class title remains anyone’s guess among the three contenders.