With two victories in 2026 and as the only team present in the WEC since the championship’s inception in 2012, TOYOTA Racing is pursuing an unprecedented objective in its history in the category: a win at the Circuit of the Americas. The squad has accumulated seven podiums in six of the eight editions of the race held at the Austin circuit, which will host on September 6 the Lone Star Le Mans, the fifth round of the 2026 season.
Austin has hosted the WEC eight times, and TOYOTA Racing, even without a victory, has a positive track record. There are three runner-up finishes and four more third-place results, and in 2020 the team saw its two cars finish the race in the top three. The Toyota driver with the most podiums at the Circuit of the Americas is Sébastien Buemi, with four top-three finishes.
Considering the drivers who currently defend TOYOTA Racing, in addition to Buemi’s four podiums, the team also has three other top-three finishes with Kamui Kobayashi, two top-3 results with Mike Conway, and one podium each for Brendon Hartley and Nyck de Vries. Ryo Hirakawa is still aiming to finish in the top three in Austin for the first time.
“I am very excited to race in Austin again. The first half of the season has been a real roller-coaster for our car, and Interlagos was particularly challenging. But I know the team has worked hard to come back stronger, and the tests in Austin went well. We will give our all to fight for the top positions and, hopefully, climb onto the podium again,” Buemi says.
TOYOTA Racing leads the World Constructors’ Championship with 132 points, five more than the second-placed teams. In the Drivers’ Championship, Kobayashi, Conway, and De Vries sit as the joint runners-up, tied with the leaders on 75 points, while Hartley, Hirakawa, and Buemi occupy fifth with 56 points.
The Lone Star Le Mans schedule will open on Friday, with two free practice sessions. Saturday will feature one more rehearsal and qualifying. The American round of the WEC starts at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, with broadcasts on BandSports and YouTube.
