Toyota’s WEC Imola test times
Toyota ran its GR010 HYBRID cars at the WEC Imola Prologue with the No. 7 car 11th after 98 laps and the No. 8 car 13th after 101 laps in the session’s timing sheets (x.com). The team posted session totals and lap counts as part of prologue coverage ahead of the WEC season (x.com).
Toyota’s two World Endurance Championship Hypercars spent the Imola Prologue in the lower half of the session order, with the No. 7 car listed 11th after 98 laps and the No. 8 car 13th after 101 laps. (x.com) Those numbers came from Toyota’s own pre-season update during the two-day Prologue at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, the Italian circuit that hosts the 2026 season opener on April 19. (x.com) (fiawec.com) The Prologue is the World Endurance Championship’s official pre-season test, a dress rehearsal where teams run long programs, check reliability and gather setup data rather than chase pole-position laps. For 2026, that test moved to Imola after the championship postponed the Qatar 1812km and reshuffled the start of the calendar. (fiawec.com) (motorsport.com) That makes Toyota’s placing on the timing sheets only a partial read on form. The more revealing number in a Prologue session is often mileage, and Toyota logged 199 laps across its two cars in the update it published. (x.com) Toyota arrives at Imola with more than a routine shakedown on its hands. The race will be the company’s 100th World Endurance Championship start with hybrid power, and it is also the competitive debut of the revised TR010 HYBRID under the new TOYOTA RACING branding. (newsroom.toyota.eu) The revised car keeps Toyota’s hybrid layout: a 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 engine paired with a front-axle hybrid motor and inverter. Toyota said the update includes aerodynamic changes tied to the new bodywork, while Michelin’s 2026 tyres are designed to reach operating temperature faster without reducing durability. (newsroom.toyota.eu) Toyota is not starting from scratch on personnel. The No. 8 crew remains Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa, and Toyota said its driver line-up carries over from 2025. (fiawec.com) (newsroom.toyota.eu) Imola is also a place where Toyota has recent proof that a test ranking does not settle a race weekend. The No. 7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Nyck de Vries and Kamui Kobayashi won the 2024 6 Hours of Imola, Toyota’s only victory for that car in the 2025 campaign, according to team preview material. (racingsportscars.com) (newsroom.toyota.eu) The next useful comparison comes when official practice starts on April 17 and qualifying follows on April 18. Until then, Toyota’s Imola numbers say most clearly that both cars ran substantial mileage before the season begins on April 19. (fiawec.com)
