Brendon Hartley secured an outright victory at the 6 Hours of Barcelona, triumphing alongside his Toyota teammates Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa. The Japanese manufacturer stamped their absolute dominance on the race by sealing a stellar one-two finish at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which successfully locked up the WEC manufacturers' championship with one round to spare.
The race instantly delivered high drama as the lights went out on a damp track surface. The Toyota Hypercar immediately established itself as the car to beat within the opening hour of the event. The pole-sitting Genesis entry driven by Andre Lotterer got away slowly off the line, handing an early lead to the sister car piloted by Daniel Juncadella. However, Buemi wasted no time and seized top spot on the opening lap after Daniel Juncadella went off track at Turn 5, dropping down to the tail of the Hypercar pack.
Meanwhile, Nyck de Vries made a remarkable charge from ninth up to second place inside the opening hour. Toyota controlled the contest from the very outset. Not even a five-second penalty for a start procedure infringement could strip the lead away from Buemi during the pit stop sequence.
Hartley subsequently took over the reins for the second stint, returning to the track with a comfortable 10-second advantage over Kamui Kobayashi. Hirakawa ultimately brought the leading Toyota home to take the chequered flag just half a second clear of the sister car shared by Mike Conway, Kobayashi, and Nyck de Vries.
“It’s a fantastic day for the team with a one-two and the manufacturers’ title,” Hartley stated after the race. “I enjoyed the whole weekend. Actually, we hadn’t tested here, and we didn’t expect to be so strong, but our crew worked very well, and we had a great car in the race. Today I’m not thinking about the drivers’ championship, it’s all about celebrating the title with the team.”
In the LMGT3 class, victory went the way of Sam Shahin alongside his Porsche teammates Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz. Shahin, starting from second on the grid, claimed the race lead inside the first half-hour following a decisive pass on the pole-sitting Garage 59 McLaren. Shahin’s stellar effort in the opening stanza earned him the fan-voted Goodyear Wingfoot Award for the most outstanding drive in LMGT3.
“We had a fantastic start to the season with two podium finishes before Le Mans turned into a major disappointment,” said Shahin. “We had genuine opportunities there and strong pace, but unfortunately things didn’t work out. Even after that result and the setbacks in Austin and Fuji, nobody in this team ever stopped believing.”
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