How taking the smart approach won Toyota this year's WEC titles

It might not have always had the fastest car, but that didn't stop Toyota

Last weekend Toyota basked in the glory after winning both Hypercar titles in the World Endurance Championship.

It is the first time since 2023 that the team and its drivers have won both championships.

That in itself is a huge feat, especially since there was more competition for the team this year. It was no longer just about Ferrari, BMW were in the mix too.

But did Toyota win because it had the fastest car on the grid?

At times it certainly did have the fastest car. The penultimate race of the season at Barcelona is the biggest example of that.

In damp but drying conditions the two Toyotas rose to the front of the pack to claim a 1-2. Nobody could touch it that day.

But that is about the only time in 2026 where it really has been the dominant force and had the outright fastest car.

There is the possibility that Toyota could have won this year’s Lone Star Le Mans, and in that race the No.7 Toyota did look to be the fastest. That was until Nyck De Vries was forced to retire the car after it suffered a reliability failure.

But on the three other occasions that Toyota won in 2026, it simply didn’t have the quickest car. Instead, clever calls from the Toyota strategists helped vault the cars up the order.

At Imola, Ferrari would have won the race had Toyota not taken a gamble and decided not to change tyres on the No.8 car in the closing stages. That helped the car leapfrog the Scuderia to kick off the season with a 1-3.

At Le Mans, the Cadillacs were fastest, but short stinting early on to offset its pit strategy against the rest of the field helped the Toyotas climb up the order and steal the win at the end.

And at Fuji the Toyotas were nowhere until a strong call to stop as soon as the yellow flags came out for the McLaren’s crash at Turn 1, not put on new tyres and fuel to the end catapulted the No.8 car from the fringes of the top-10 into the lead.

Had it not been for these great calls on the pitwall, there is no way Toyota would have won as many races as it did in 2026.

Toyota was also helped by the fact that BMW’s performances went awry in the second half of the year. That definitely eased the pressure somewhat, especially with Ferrari’s poor form preventing it from getting in the mix too.

It was therefore a combination of all of these factors that helped Toyota win the championship. Not because it had the fastest car.

And that’s not a slight on Toyota. In fact, it is quite the opposite.

Being able to win both championships despite not having the fastest car for much of the season is a huge feat. The saying goes ‘you win as a team and lose as a team’. And Toyota proved how vital it is to work as one team in the WEC.

Had it not been for some great tactical thinking on the pitwall by the Toyota engineers, the championship wouldn’t have been in Toyota’s grasp. And yet, it was, and that is in large part thanks to them.

It goes to show that racing is not just about what’s taking place on the track. It’s not just down to the drivers.

The engineers, mechanics and strategists all play their part too. And it is utilising all of these aspects so well that makes Toyota such a force.

It proves the point that you don’t always need the fastest car to win. You just need to be the smartest team.

Toyota was that and more in 2026, and if it can turn its car into a regular frontrunner on pace alone next year, the rest of the WEC Hypercar field is going to be in for one hell of a fight.