TOYOTA RACING faces yet another challenge in its bid for the WEC title, the World Endurance Championship, this weekend as the category returns to Europe for the 6 Hours of Barcelona, the penultimate round of the season. After the home victory at the 6 Hours of Fuji, the team heads to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain, leading the Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championships.
The result in Japan marked TOYOTA RACING’s third win of the year and widened the manufacturer’s lead in the Constructors’ World Championship to 23 points. In the Drivers’ World Championship, the two TR010 HYBRID cars are in first and second place. Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa have a ten-point advantage over Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries.
The Barcelona stage marks a milestone for Buemi, who will become the first driver in WEC history to reach 100 starts. The Swiss driver is the only active racer to have remained with the same team since his World Endurance Championship debut at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. In that span, Buemi has secured 28 victories, including four wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, along with four world titles in the WEC.
While Buemi approaches his hundredth WEC start, Conway prepares for the penultimate race of his motorsport career. The driver announced earlier this October that he will retire from full-time competition at the end of the 2026 season of the world’s premier endurance racing championship.
It will be the first edition of the 6 Hours of Barcelona, a race that, together with the Monza round in Italy in November, closes the 2026 season. The races were originally scheduled to be held in the Middle East. The Spanish circuit measures 4,657 meters and is located in Montmeló, 30 kilometers from Barcelona, and has been a constant presence on global motorsport calendars since its opening in 1991.
Although this will be the WEC’s first visit to Spain, it will not be the championship’s first stop at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The venue hosted the Prologue, a preseason joint test, in July 2019, an event that included Conway, Kobayashi, Buemi and Hartley for TOYOTA RACING. Hirakawa has recent experience, having tested and participated in Formula 1 practice sessions.
Open practice will be available this Friday, while Saturday is reserved for one more test session and for qualifying. The 6 Hours of Barcelona will start on Sunday at 7:00 a.m., broadcast on BandSports and YouTube.
