Toyota take WEC win on Ferrari home turf at 6 Hours of Imola
19th April 2026Toyota has secured the victory at the 6 Hours of Imola, pipping Ferrari at home turf, to take the first win of the 2026 World Endurance Championship.
Feature image credit: CC
Toyota has taken victory, with Ryo Hirakawa, Brendon Hartley and Sebastien Buemi at the helm as their #8 car took the Japanese marquee’s 50th victory in the WEC, in their 100th start.
The #8 Toyota started alongside the defending world champions in the Ferrari #51 499P, separating the teams’ two cars. However, they immediately lost ground at the start, dropping to third as the #51 and #50 Ferraris took a provisional 1-2.
However, by the halfway point of the six-hour race, the Toyota crew found themselves leading the race overall, not just in the hypercar class.
Despite a late sprinkling of rain, it was not enough to hamper the track conditions to force a jump to the wet weather tyres. As such, the pack all remained on the dry-running tyres for the entirety of the race as the weather passed. However, it did return after the chequered flag fell with lightning and thundery showers.
Ferrari’s #51 tried to jump back at the leading Toyota, but the defending champions couldn’t find a way past the eventual race winner. Toyota went on to secure a one-three overall, with the #7 car rounding out the podium in third, and the #51 sandwiched in between.
Further down the field, in the LMGT3 class, Team WRT took their second win in Italy in three years after the BMW squad benefitted from Garage 59’s heartbreak late on in the race.
Garage 59 stood in pole position for the lower class, but were forced to see out the race in the garage – in the final hour – after they suffered mechanical problems with their McLaren.
Team WRT won for the LMGT3 classification ahead of TF Sport’s #33 and The Bend Manthey’s #92 Porsche, who had recovered to third after a spin early in the race.
Next up on the FIA World Endurance Championship will be the six hours of Spa-Francorchamps, which will get underway on May 7 to May 9.
Read more World Endurance Championship content here:
- Toyota leads ahead of Ferrari at WEC 6 Hours of Imola
- Ferrari heads 6 Hours of Imola after opening hour
- 6 Hours of Imola: The latest weather forecast for WEC opener
- Schedule: WEC 2026 6 Hours of Imola
- 8 Hours of Bahrain: The schedule for the season finale
- 8 Hours of Bahrain: The latest weather report for season finale
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
