Toyota Racing won its home round of the FIA World Endurance Championship on September 27 with the No. 8 TR010 Hybrid. Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa took victory after a late strategy call lifted a car that had been outside podium contention into the lead. It was Toyota's tenth WEC win at Fuji and its first there in three years.
For most of the six-hour race, the two Alpine A424s appeared to have the advantage. The order changed after a late safety-car period triggered by a heavy accident for the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren in LMGT3. Driver Finn Gehrsitz emerged unhurt.
Toyota used the neutralisation to make an aggressive call. Hirakawa stayed on used tyres and the No. 8 car was short-fuelled for the remaining distance. Before the stop, the Toyota had been running sixth, after Hartley had earlier lost time when the car was spun approaching Turn 1. The strategy moved Hirakawa to the front for the restart, while the No. 36 Alpine of Victor Martins had fresh tyres.
Martins quickly moved through to second and closed on the Toyota in the final laps. Hirakawa resisted the pressure and crossed the line just 0.591 seconds ahead. FIA WEC described it as the closest top-class finish between cars from two different manufacturers in the championship's history. The No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8 completed the Hypercar podium.
The result also changed the championship picture. Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa moved into the lead of the drivers' standings with two races remaining, while Toyota extended its manufacturers' championship advantage to 23 points. The sister No. 7 TR010 Hybrid finished eighth.
The victory was therefore more than a home-race result. A decision to avoid a tyre change during the final safety-car period turned a difficult race into maximum points for the No. 8 crew and put Toyota in a stronger position for the closing rounds of the 2026 season.