A crown sealed without the podium
The #8 crew of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa entered the 6 Hours of Monza 17 points clear of their sister #7 Toyota, and that margin proved unshakeable. Toyota had already secured the manufacturers’ title at Barcelona, but team orders were ruled out for the finale, leaving both cars to race freely for the drivers’ prize.
Neither Toyota troubled the front-runners. Toyota scored a single point at Monza, and the 17-point gap held.
A race decided at the sharper end
Jack Aitken seized the lead for the #38 JOTA Cadillac from Daniel Juncadella’s Genesis at the Parabolica on lap six. He later handed the car to Sébastien Bourdais, who held off Victor Martins and Sheldon van der Linde through the middle hours.
The race convulsed behind him. Paul-Loup Chatin’s Genesis stopped at Ascari with a technical problem early in the third hour, the #35 Alpine crashed heavily at the Parabolica bringing out a safety car, and late contact between Alex Lynn and Malthe Jakobsen scattered debris across the circuit. On the restart, Martins passed van der Linde at the first chicane to reclaim second and closed to within a second and a half of leader Earl Bamber.
Bamber nursed the Cadillac home through the chaos, saving fuel before he reasserted control and won by 5.607 seconds. Post-race penalties shuffled the order, lifting the #51 Ferrari 499P onto the final podium step in front of 75,181 tifosi at the Temple of Speed.
Five titles for two men, three for one
The 2026 crown marks a fifth WEC drivers’ title for both Buemi and New Zealander Brendon Hartley, and a third for Hirakawa, who added it to a season that also included his Formula 1 debut. Toyota remains the most successful marque in FIA WEC history.
“We didn’t have the pace for a win today, but what an amazing season for everyone,” Hartley said. The WEC paddock now turns toward the Qatar 1812km on 23 March 2027.
