Strategic Imola Win Shows Toyota “Back on Track”

Toyota’s back-to-back FIA World Endurance Championship wins show the Japanese marque is “back on track” with its race execution believes technical director David Floury, after its victory over Ferrari in Sunday’s 6 Hours of Imola.

The triumph for the No. 8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi marked the Cologne-based organization’s 50th WEC win in 100 starts, also giving the upgraded TR010 a win on its debut.

It followed a belated first win of the 2025 season with the previous GR010 Hybrid in the season finale at Bahrain with the sister No. 7 car of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries that finished third at Imola behind the No. 51 Ferrari 499P.

Floury said the win was especially satisfying after a difficult 2025 campaign that he feels included sub-par performances at both the Circuit of The Americas and on home turf at Fuji Speedway.

“We didn’t start the week where we ended it,” said Floury, “The whole team did a great job to learn a lot during the week and make constant progress, including the drivers, engineers and mechanics.

“In the end we had reasonable pace in the race. I don’t believe we were the fastest but we had the better execution than others that enabled us to win. It was not won on pure pace, just on making no mistakes and executing to a high level.

“It’s good because last year at Austin and Fuji we didn’t do our best races. It’s good that now with Bahrain and here we have the team back on track and executing like we normally do.”

Floury said that putting the No. 8 Toyota on a triple stint to start the race in a bid to gain track position was “part of the strategy”, with a virtual safety car allowing Hirakawa to pit and change all four tires without falling behind the Ferrari.

Similar thinking informed the late decision to keep Kobayashi’s No. 7 car on old tires to jump ahead of the No. 51 car, which allowed Buemi to extend the gap over the chasing Ferrari before the finish.

“We know on this track it’s almost impossible to overtake, so it’s all about strategy,” said Floury.

“We knew [this] from last year, when Sebastien managed to keep the No. 50 Ferrari behind for more than one stint despite being significantly slower. So when we saw the No. 51 change tires we decided to go aggressive with Kamui to get this car in between No. 8 and No. 51.

“It was a good team effort. Kamui got his elbows out and did the job.”

Hartley hailed Hirakawa’s qualifying effort, as the Japanese driver put the No. 8 Toyota second on the grid behind Antonio Giovinazzi’s No. 51 Ferrari in a tight Hyperpole battle as one the keys to the outcome.

“The crucial thing happened [on Saturday] with Ryo putting it on the front row, which came out of nowhere,” said Hartley. “We weren’t expecting that but it really gave us a tail wind before the race started.

“I lost a place to the No. 50 at Turn 1, he was starting on Softs so I knew it would be a challenge to keep him behind potentially. But we kept our heads down, looked after the tires.

“I think the team played the strategy to perfection today, going on the triple and gaining track position. Maybe we were a little lucky with the VSC to change the tires, but at the end we had the big team effort of Kamui staying out to jump the No. 51.

“It felt nice to have a team effort and to have such a race play out with no mistakes or faults from anyone.”

A lot of effort has gone into this new car and to get the first victory here feels really special.

For his part, Hirakawa said the win came as a surprise given Toyota’s lack of preparation at Imola in comparison to Ferrari, and said it gives him confidence heading to round two of the WEC at Spa next month.

“I felt really confident in the car, especially the second stint,” said Hirakawa. “The car was really nice to drive.

“I feel like Imola is our weak track. It’s bumpy and we haven’t tested here. This win really comes as a surprise.

“Spa is a very different track with more high speed, more demanding for downforce so I am looking forward to it.”