2026 Lone Star Le Mans: Free Practice - Action in Austin gets underway for TOYOTA RACING

The 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) got back on track following its summer break as TOYOTA RACING completed the opening practice sessions for the Lone Star Le Mans in Austin, Texas.

The team leads the manufacturers’ World Championship going into round five of the season, when it aims for its first victory at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA).

Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa ended the opening day 12th fastest in their #8 TR010 HYBRID, 1.091secs behind the pace-setting Aston Martin, although the final standings did not reflect the progress made during two encouraging practice sessions on Friday.

Le Mans winners Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, who are tied on points at the top of the drivers’ standings, were 15th in their #7 TR010 HYBRID.

First practice began late in the morning, with temperatures already hitting 30°C. The team built on the set-up work done during its July test at COTA by focusing on control settings and mechanical adjustments. The session, which was briefly interrupted by a full-course yellow, ended with both TR010 HYBRIDs in the top six. Nyck and Ryō set the fastest laps of the session for their respective cars.

Conditions were even hotter for second practice. However, action was delayed by a red flag in the opening moments before both cars could continue a programme of race preparation. This included further analysis of the Michelin tyres, which experience the highest energy levels of the season at COTA. A productive session saw Kamui and Ryō recorded the best laps for their cars.

With data from two busy sessions to analyse, the team’s engineers will work hard to find improvements for performance and balance before Saturday morning’s third practice, the final preparation before qualifying at 3.40pm local time (10.40pm CEST).

Visitors to the track can meet some of TOYOTA RACING’s drivers later in the day, during an autograph session at 5pm in the fan zone. Sunday’s six-hour race starts at 1pm (8pm CEST).

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “We’re happy to be back here in Austin, although it’s not long since we were here for our test. It’s quite hot in the car, as expected, but we are well prepared for this and ready for the challenge. After the first two free practice sessions, we need to work on a few things, but it’s been a decent start. Hopefully we can pull off a good qualifying tomorrow and prepare well for the race.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “It’s good to be back on track, particularly here in Austin. The car felt pretty good. We worked hard to prepare for the race with some long runs in both sessions. We’ll look at the set-up options to work out where we need to be. Hopefully we can get it right overnight and then we’ll be in strong shape tomorrow.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “We obviously benefited from a test here at the end of July, which definitely helped us get a head start and hit the ground running. We need to just focus on ourselves and preparing for qualifying and the race. Hopefully we can keep this momentum going and be competitive when it matters in the race.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “It’s been a good day overall. Our performance has clearly made a good step compared to Brazil. We spent a lot of time doing long runs and it looks like we have a decent base. It's going to be important to obviously do a good job and make no mistakes. All in all, I’m quite happy with how things went and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “It was a pretty smooth day and we’re all quite happy with the car. It looks like one lap pace is a bit tricky, but on the long runs we seem to be in the mix and more competitive than São Paulo. Now we're trying to find some extra performance overnight to ensure we're in a good position to fight at the front on Sunday.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “The track was cooler than when we tested so there were some new things to explore. Our focus was to prepare for the race, so we worked to assess the tyres and balance. So far, the car feels good. Qualifying is going to be a bit tight, but I think we have a good base for the race. I feel more positive about our race pace.”

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