6 Hours of Fuji: Free Practice - Home heroes TOYOTA RACING get underway in Fuji

TOYOTA RACING made a productive start to its home race during the first practice sessions for the 6 Hours of Fuji, the sixth round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

The team aims to extend its lead in the World Championship by winning in front of its home supporters for the 10th time. To do so, it must overcome a 17-car Hypercar field and Friday’s two 90-minute free practice sessions showed the intensity of the competition. Less than a second separated the top 15 cars after a day of dry running on the foothills of Mount Fuji.

Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa were fastest in the opening session before ending the day eighth in their #8 TR010 HYBRID. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, who are tied on points at the top of the drivers’ standings were 13th fastest in their #7 TR010 HYBRID.

With its long straight and mix of high- and low-speed corners, Fuji Speedway is challenging for drivers and engineers alike. Both crews, therefore, had a comprehensive programme of mechanical and aerodynamic set-up comparisons, to optimise their cars for the demands of Sunday’s race.

The TR010 HYBRIDs hit the track for the first time in the morning, in warm and dry conditions. A trouble-free session allowed engineers and drivers to make progress on set-ups and strategies. Ryō set the fastest lap of the session in the opening minutes, while Nyck’s best time earned eighth place for the #7.

Despite an initial forecast of rain for the afternoon, the weather stayed dry for second practice. This allowed the team to analyse the soft and medium Michelin tyres whilst also adjusting set-ups to improve balance over long stints. Ryō again recorded the #8 car’s best lap, with Kamui doing so in the #7.

With rain forecast on Saturday, third practice will be an important chance to adjust the TR010 HYBRIDs before qualifying. Qualifying begins at 2.40pm local time (7.40am CEST) and fans can follow it – as well as the race – live via the onboard camera streams at www.toyota-racing.com/fuji-special-2026.

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “Of course, it's nice to be back in front of our Japanese fans and it’s always fun to drive here. In terms of the car set-up, we still need to work on some things for the race. We had dry conditions today but unfortunately, we expect some rain tomorrow, so we need to prepare for that as well. We will do our best whatever the weather.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “We spent the two sessions just trying to find a bit more pace in the car and I think we did okay. The lap times look pretty close, so every small improvement can have a big impact. Let’s see what the weather brings because that can change the picture. Either way, we’re trying to get most out of our car in all conditions.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “I think it was a decent day. It was nice to get some dry running in and get prepared in case we have a dry race. We don’t know exactly what the weather will do on Sunday, so it's good to have covered that today. We’re looking forward to welcoming all our Japanese friends and colleagues to the track this weekend. We'll do our best for them.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “We've been here since Sunday so it's nice to finally get to drive the car. These sessions could be the driest day of the weekend. Nevertheless, we tried to learn as much as we could. We drove both specifications of tyre, and I think we have a good picture now. We tested a few things, so we have a lot of data to analyse. Hopefully we’ll improve our overall package for the weekend.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “It was an okay day, and we’ve ended up with a balance that we're pretty happy with. After FP1 we made changes for FP2 which actually went in the wrong direction, but this is still important learning, and it helped us to understand where we are in dry conditions. There could be rain tomorrow, but who knows for the race, so it was important to go through our programme today.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “The main target today was to prepare for the race. But at the same time, knowing the risk of rain tomorrow, we also tried a qualifying simulation at the start of each session before focusing on race set-ups. It’s very close in Hypercar and we are in the mix, looking at the lap times. We just need to fine-tune and find a little bit more lap time.”

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