Toyota Confirms Unchanged 2026 Lineup After Bahrain 1-2

Toyota has confirmed it will contest the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship season with an unchanged driver roster across its two Hypercar entries in the wake of its 1-2 finish in Saturday’s season finale in Bahrain.

The Japanese manufacturer confirmed early Sunday morning that Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries and Mike Conway will continue to share the No. 7 car, with Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa staying together in the No. 8.

Toyota’s two crews finished in that order in Bahrain in what was the final outing for the current version of the GR010 Hybrid before a new iteration with significantly revised aerodynamics makes its debut at the start of 2026.

Despite having not finished on the podium all season prior to the finale, Toyota’s 1-2 result promoted the marque to second in the manufacturers’ standings behind Ferrari, beating a non-scoring Porsche by six points.

“It has been a very tough season, and we had to wait until the last round to enjoy a result like this, and an unexpected second place in the manufacturers’ world championship,” said Kobayashi, who also acts as team principal.

“It was not an easy race but a big effort from everyone in the team made this possible. We executed a clean race with no mistakes. We never gave up all season, and winning here is a great reward.

“Thanks to the whole team – engineers and pit crew here, plus everyone in Cologne and Higashi-Fuji – for their hard work. Thanks also to our Toyota colleagues in Bahrain and the local fans here who have really supported us here.”

Toyota has already begun track testing its 2026-spec Hypercar challenger — which does not officially have a name yet — last month at Paul Ricard, and is set to give the car further mileage in a collective test at Qatar in mid-December.

“To finish first and second is a fantastic result and I think everyone deserves to enjoy the moment because we have all worked so hard to get back to the front,” said Buemi.

“Considering the season we had up to now, finishing second in the world championship is a nice boost for everyone’s morale going into next season, when we hope to come back stronger and fight for the title.”