Toyota won the 6 Hours of Imola 2026 at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. The #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Toyota Gazoo Racing covered 213 laps over 6 hours, a race distance of 1,046 km. The winning crew: Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa. The margin to second place was 13.4 s, close enough to keep the result open late. The quickest manufacturer over one lap was Ferrari — but the win went to Toyota. Pace and result do not always match.
How the Lead Was Won
Across the race we counted 1 lead change among 2 different cars in the HYPERCAR class. At the closest point, first and second were only 1.3 s apart. For 6 of 6 measured hours the gap stayed under 30 seconds.
That is a real head-to-head fight, not a comfortable lead.
Figure 1 shows how that gap moved over the distance.
Manufacturer Pace
We rank pace by the average of each manufacturer’s fastest lap. That measures real speed over the distance instead of one lucky lap. The order at the top: Ferrari (191.5 km/h), Aston Martin (190.9 km/h), Toyota (190.9 km/h).
Between the fastest and the slowest manufacturer in the HYPERCAR class lie 2.0 km/h. That is a wide spread. At this track, the concept differences show clearly.
Figure 2 sets the pace order side by side.
Reliability by Class
4 of 35 cars did not make the finish — an overall retirement rate of 11%. The heaviest toll fell on LMGT3 with 22%, while HYPERCAR came through best at 0%.
Over this distance, reliability is a result in itself. A car that stops scores nothing, no matter how fast it was.
Figure 3 compares the classes directly.
Efficiency Over the Distance
Our efficiency score multiplies average lap speed by laps completed and compares that to the class average. It rewards cars that were fast and stayed out of trouble. A value of 1.000 is exactly class average.
The top score goes to #50 Ferrari with 1.017. The winner, #8, is not on top here. Track position and strategy turned into a result that raw efficiency alone does not explain.
Figure 4 ranks the cars by that score.
The Closing Phase
In the final hour, 74% of the field held position within ±1 place (n = 35). Most of the order was set, but a few fights ran to the end. The biggest single move came from #10 McLaren, 13 places back.
Figure 5 shows how settled the finish really was.
Fastest Lap and Class Gaps
The fastest single lap of the race belongs to #50 Ferrari (Ferrari AF Corse): 1:32.066 at 192.0 km/h. Crew: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen.
Between HYPERCAR and LMGT3 sits a pace gap of 10.4 s per lap. That number decides how much traffic the leaders have to work through.
Class winners — HYPERCAR: #8 Toyota (Toyota Gazoo Racing), LMGT3: #69 BMW (Team WRT).
Putting the Race in Context
The winner averaged 174.2 km/h across 1,046 km. On a 4.909 km lap, that is the pace the whole strategy had to sustain.
We calculate the same metrics for every race in the archive: pace order, reliability by class, lead changes, winning margin, closing stability and efficiency. That makes this race directly comparable with every other round of the 2026 season — and with the seasons before it.
All figures are derived from the full classification of every race hour and are recalculated with each build.
