Both Toyota TR010 HYBRIDs will start the 6 Hours of Monza, the last round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship, from outside the top 10. The team missed Hyperpole after a qualifying session that ran on a drying track. The drivers’ title is still to be decided between Toyota’s two crews, so Sunday’s race will settle it from further back than the team expected.

Toyota’s 2026 World Endurance Championship campaign ends at Monza with both of its cars well back on the grid. A tricky qualifying session left the #8 TR010 HYBRID 14th and the #7 car 17th on the provisional starting grid, and neither car reached the top-10 Hyperpole shootout.

The result doesn’t affect the manufacturers’ championship. Toyota already won that title last month in Barcelona. The drivers’ World Championship is still open, though, and it will be decided between the team’s two crews.

A title fight inside one garage

Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa go into the finale in the #8 car with three wins this season. According to the team, a top-five finish on Sunday will give them the drivers’ title whatever happens elsewhere. They start from the seventh row.

In the #7 car, Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries are 17 points behind their team-mates. To overturn that gap they will have to make up ground from 17th.

Little data on a drying track

The team had a weak starting point. Qualifying was the first dry running of the weekend, and Toyota had never tested the TR010 HYBRID at Monza. That meant the crews went into the 12-minute session with little data on how Michelin’s slick tyres would behave around the 5.793 km (3.6-mile) circuit.

Rain had fallen in the morning, so the track and lap times kept improving as the session went on. Both Toyotas got quicker through qualifying but fell just short of the top 10, which meant neither car went through to Hyperpole.

The team says it will try to move up the order through race strategy once the six-hour race gets under way.

What the drivers said

Kobayashi, who is chasing the title in the #7 car, made no secret of his disappointment:

“It’s a very unfortunate result. We don’t have much experience here with our TR010 HYBRID and this was our first time on track with slick tyres. Obviously, it’s not where we expected to be. Hopefully it is dry tomorrow when we will do our best to score some points. We still have a drivers’ championship to decide so let’s enjoy the last race of 2026.”

Hirakawa, in the championship-leading #8 car, also pointed to the lack of preparation:

“That was quite tough. We had no dry running here until qualifying, so we tried our best to find the best balance. It was not easy without having tested here before, but we tried our best with what we had. We also learned a few things during the session which should help us in the race. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Grid penalties

The team describes both grid positions as provisional. The #8 car’s 14th place is the result of a penalty given to another competitor. The #7 car’s 17th place is listed as being “due to penalty”.

Facts: Toyota at the 6 Hours of Monza

  • Event: 6 Hours of Monza, final round of the 2026 FIA WEC
  • Car: Toyota TR010 HYBRID
  • #8 (Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa): 14th on the provisional grid. A top-five finish secures the drivers’ title
  • #7 (Conway/Kobayashi/de Vries): 17th on the provisional grid, 17 points behind
  • Circuit length: 5.793 km (3.6 miles)
  • Qualifying: 12 minutes. Neither car reached Hyperpole
  • Manufacturers’ title: already won by Toyota in Barcelona

The 6 Hours of Monza starts at 11am local time on Sunday.

Source: newsroom.toyota.eu