"It's a special day": Toyota wins its 100th WEC race

After a first year without any world titles since 2017, and with the arrival of a new car, Toyota They could legitimately have feared for the first race of the 2026 season. In the end, it was a resounding success for the Japanese team, with the victory going to the trio Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirawaka and Sébastien Buemi, and the third step of the podium for Nyck de Vries, Mike conway et Kamui Kobayashi.

The New Zealander, who started from the front row of the starting grid, alongside the Classic Ferrari for sale No. 51, was particularly delighted at the end of Toyota's hundredth race in WECwho also manages to secure a fiftieth victory, an impressive ratio of one win every two races.

“It’s so great to win the first race in the TR010! It started with Ryo’s front-row start in qualifying on Saturday. We weren’t expecting it; we were behind in all the qualifying simulations we’d done, and then he pulled that lap out of nowhere. That put us in a good position, and then we all did the job. The strategy was on point; we tripled our stints at the start of the race. We needed a Virtual Safety Car, which came through, but in any case, we managed the tires well.”

Hartley also praised the work of the crew of the No. 7 car, who gave a crucial boost at the end of the race to the No. 8 car, by slotting in between the leading car and the No. 51 Ferrari, which lost valuable seconds: "Towards the end of the race, there was a bit of teamwork; the sister car stayed on track, ended up in front of the Ferrari, and that gave us a bit of a gap. It's a special day, in Italy and in red, I couldn't be happier!"

Completing the work of the Japanese manufacturer, Sébastien Buemi was the one who crossed the finish line victorious. The Swiss driver, who has been part of the Toyota adventure since the program's inception in the WEC in 2012, was keen to pay tribute to his two teammates who put him in the best possible position to win. This was achieved despite persistent rain at the end of the race, which never actually forced the drivers to switch to wet tires.

“My teammates did a great job, Ryo had a great qualifying session, and he and Brendon managed the start of the race very well. Most of the work was done by the time I got behind the wheel, actually! The last few laps weren't so easy because you never know how hard you can push, but luckily there wasn't a real downpour, so that helped us a bit. We also went for the soft tires; we don't have much experience with them, especially the mediums, but it worked well. It's a very good start to the season, and I hope we'll be in a similar position for the next two races!”

If Toyota manages to stay on top in the next two races, it would be very good news for the Japanese manufacturer, given that after this Imola event, the focus will be on Spa-Francorchamps in three weeks and especially the... 24 Hours of Le Mans mid-June…

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