Toyota Gazoo Racing arrives at Spa-Francorchamps this week looking to underline its early-season World Endurance Championship form, with Saturday's TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps doubling as a final dress rehearsal for the 24 Hours of Le Mans next month.
The Japanese manufacturer scored its 50th WEC victory and a one-two on the TR010 HYBRID's debut at Imola last month, leaving the #8 crew of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa atop the Hypercar standings heading into Round 2 on May 9. Eight wins in 14 Spa visits give Toyota plenty of belief, but Ferrari's #51 was on pole and led at Imola until strategy went Toyota's way, and the Italian outfit has already finished on the podium in all four of its post-2023 Spa appearances, including a one-two last year.
Buemi underlined the unique character of the 7.004-kilometre Belgian circuit ahead of the weekend.
"Spa is a really special circuit, great fun to drive and very challenging," the Swiss said. Hartley echoed the point: "For almost every driver, Spa is one of the most challenging and rewarding circuits."
Hirakawa, who shared the cockpit on the winning Imola run, added: "We couldn't have asked for a better start to the season and now we are hungry to win more races." The sister #7 of Mike Conway, Nyck de Vries and team principal Kamui Kobayashi will look to convert its Imola podium into a first 2026 win.
"I love racing at Spa, it's one of the highlights of the WEC season," Conway said. De Vries, whose Toyota debut at Imola brought a podium, called Spa effectively a Toyota home race: "I'm excited to race again at Spa, particularly because it's one of the home races for the team." Kobayashi, doubling as driver and team principal, was characteristically measured. "We made a great start to the season in Imola thanks to a big effort from the whole team," he said.
Ferrari's AF Corse 499P trio carries the strongest Hypercar response. The Italian manufacturer kept Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye together for 2026 and was the quickest car for much of the Imola weekend before Toyota's pit strategy took over. Cadillac, meanwhile, faces a reshuffle in the #12 Hertz Team JOTA entry, with Louis Deletraz stepping in for an absent Alex Lynn alongside Will Stevens and Norman Nato. Jack Aitken takes a permanent #38 seat alongside Sebastien Bourdais and Earl Bamber, the trio still chasing a maiden Hypercar podium after JOTA paid the price of yellow-flag penalties at Imola.
Stevens used a typically pragmatic line as the team prepared for back-to-back race weekends. "I'm looking forward to getting back on-track so soon after Imola. We can take a lot of positives from that first race, despite not getting the result we could have achieved," he said. Bourdais, a Spa veteran, knows the demands of the high-speed sweeps. "Spa is a great track to drive. It's challenging and has a mix of everything - high-speed corners, medium-speed corners and it's very technical," he said, while Aitken added that the British proximity makes the round a personal favourite. "Racing at Spa is a real treat. It's a fantastic and historic track, and being close to the UK, we always get a lot of friends and family making it over, too," he said. Deletraz said his integration into Hertz Team JOTA had been smooth: "Being part of the Cadillac family will make the adaptation easier. Adding to this, Will and Norman are good friends and have raced with each other for several years."
BMW Team WRT also makes a statement at Spa with Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde rejoining the M Hybrid V8 squad after 2026 LMDh duty elsewhere, while LMGT3 sees Eduardo 'Dudu' Barrichello return to the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin and #69 Team WRT BMW arrive as defending winners after inheriting Imola victory through Garage 59's late electrical drama.
Lights go green at 14:00 local time on Saturday. With Le Mans only five weeks away and three works manufacturers level on entry-list ambitions, Spa shapes up as the clearest snapshot yet of where the Hypercar pecking order really sits.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/wec-6-hours-spa-2026-preview-toyota-ferrari-cadillac-buemi-hartley). Visit for full coverage.*