Toyota claimed victory in the 6 Hours of Fuji 2026, producing a dramatic late-race turnaround to defeat Alpine in front of its home crowd.
The #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Ryo Hirakawa, Brendon Hartley and Sébastien Buemi crossed the finish line just 0.591 seconds ahead of the Alpine #36 driven by Victor Martins.
The result gives Toyota an important home victory and puts the #8 crew at the top of the championship standings with two rounds remaining.
Alpine controls the opening stages
Alpine started the race from pole position after qualifying was cancelled because of poor weather conditions. The #36 Alpine A424 shared the front row with the sister #35 car.
The French manufacturer controlled much of the opening part of the race, with the two Alpine cars regularly occupying the leading positions.
Toyota initially struggled to match the pace of the Alpine cars. The #7 GR010 Hybrid of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries also lost ground after receiving a drive-through penalty for speeding during a Full Course Yellow period.
As the race progressed, however, Toyota remained within striking distance while several safety-car and neutralisation periods repeatedly changed the strategic picture.
Safety Car changes everything
The decisive moment came with around one hour remaining.
An accident involving Finn Gehrsitz’s McLaren 720S GT3 Evo and the Aston Martin of Mattia Drudi forced race control to deploy the Safety Car.
The neutralisation created an opportunity for the leading teams to alter their strategies.
Toyota made a crucial decision with the #8 car, opting for a partial energy refill rather than a full recharge. The strategy allowed Hirakawa to gain several positions when the race returned to green-flag conditions.
The BMW #15 adopted a similar approach, while the Alpine cars lost track position during the pit-stop sequence.
Martins launches a late charge
With around 20 minutes remaining, Victor Martins began a determined recovery in the Alpine #36.
The French driver quickly moved past the Aston Martin #009 and the sister Alpine #35 before attacking the BMW #15 of Dries Vanthoor.
Martins eventually completed the move and moved into second place, reducing the gap to Hirakawa at the front.
Toyota appeared vulnerable as the Alpine closed in, with traffic from the LMGT3 field further reducing the gap.
Toyota holds on
Martins eventually brought the Alpine to within less than a second of the Toyota.
Hirakawa, however, kept his composure and managed the final laps perfectly. The Japanese driver avoided mistakes and u