The strategic error that cost Toyota a podium at Spa

After a poor showing in qualifying, in which the team could only manage 12th and 16th, the 2026 World Endurance Championship's 6 Hours of Spa was always going to be an exercise in damage limitation for Toyota.

That said, the team looked set for an unlikely podium with the No.8 car, only to lose out in the final hour of the race.

Here’s how Toyota threw away a podium at Spa.

Starting 16th with little to lose, the No.8 car of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa was put on an alternative strategy and was the first of the Hypercars to pit on lap 15.

This meant the crew were on an offset strategy relative to the rest of the field. That was until the No.20 BMW short-fuelled at its first stop on lap 26. The No.8 Toyota then lost over 20 seconds to the BMW despite both cars running in relatively clear air.

Despite the lack of pace, the No.8’s offset strategy looked to be paying dividends, as it avoided much of the late race chaos and lay second as the final safety car was called on lap 130.

Buemi pitted a lap before anyone else, but when speaking to The Pit Stop Endurance, he later stated that “we did not refuel completely the car at one of the VSCs and we had to pit again”.

This forced the No.8 Toyota to return to the pits a lap later, which ended any hopes of a podium as it eventually came home tenth, five places and over 25 seconds behind the No.7 car.

Afterwards, Buemi did little to hide his disappointment, describing the strategic blunder as a “real mistake” he admitted that the team “could have put four laps more fuel” and avoided the issue entirely.

Toyota has now lost both championship leads to BMW, thanks in large part to their shock one-two finish at Spa. The now-classified BoP regulations are a likely factor in the dip in form, but so too is the updated GR010 Hybrid, which was able to contend with the likes of Ferrari at Imola but struggled for one-lap and race pace at Spa.

The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps is generally considered a flat-out dress rehearsal for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, given the circuit’s fast, flowing nature.

However, with Toyota having lacked pace all weekend, questions persist over how they will fare at Le Mans. At the season opener, team principal Kamui Kobayashi stated that improvements were needed at high-speed venues, while his team-mate Hirakawa praised the team’s progress and remained confident that their improvements would carry over to low-downforce circuits such as Le Mans.

With the calendar’s centrepiece now less than a month away, Toyota will have to act fast if they are to learn from their strategic misstep at Spa and rectify the issues that currently restrain the GR010 Hybrid.

The 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans will start on the 13th of June.