A one-two secured the manufacturers’ championship, while a well-timed Porsche victory kept the LMGT3 title fight open.
There was less than a second between the two Toyotas at the end of six hours in Barcelona. It made for a tidy photograph, although it said little about the race behind them. Ferrari, the nearest challenger, was almost 40 seconds away. Toyota had brought its cars together for the finish after spending much of the afternoon demonstrating why the manufacturers’ championship was heading its way.media.toyota+1
Victory went to Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa in the #8, ahead of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries in the #7. An eighth manufacturers’ crown was the reward, secured with one round remaining. In changing conditions, Toyota had delivered the most convincing performance of the weekend.
An opportunity, briefly, for
Saturday had suggested a different story. Mathys Jaubert put Genesis on pole for the first time, with its second car qualifying third. For a manufacturer finding its place in Hypercar, it was a significant result — and an inviting starting position.
The invitation did not last long. Dani Juncadella briefly led in the #19 before a trip through the gravel at Turn 5, while Buemi established Toyota at the front. The two Genesis cars eventually finished 11th and 16th: qualifying promise converted into a difficult Sunday rather than a breakthrough.
De Vries, meanwhile, moved the #7 Toyota from ninth to second in the opening hour. It was an important piece of work, putting both cars where they needed to be before the race’s changing conditions complicated the strategy. Even a five-second starting-procedure penalty for Buemi failed to meaningfully disturb Toyota’s afternoon.
The switch towards slick tyres briefly brought the team-mates into competition. Hartley regained the lead from Conway after the #8 served its penalty, then began to build an advantage. Later safety-car periods offered the opposition another opening, but each restart produced much the same outcome: the Toyotas moved away again.
Ferrari takes what is available
Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen completed the podium in the #50 Ferrari. Third was a useful return, although the gap to Toyota left little room to argue that victory had been within reach
Behind them, there was a closer contest. Jack Aitken brought the #38 Cadillac home fourth, just over half a second ahead of Robert Kubica in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari.
BMW had a more frustrating afternoon. The #15 recovered from 16th on the grid to seventh, but the #20’s race was compromised by a tyre-pressure issue, an additional stop and a penalty. Any remaining manufacturers’ championship ambitions ended in Spain. Alpine also lost ground late on, a slow puncture sending the #36 to the pits with ten minutes remaining and leaving it eighth.
Shahin sets up Porsche’s afternoon
In LMGT3, Yasser Shahin provided the opening stint that The Bend Manthey needed. The Australian passed the pole-starting Garage 59 McLaren and established the #92 Porsche at the front before handing over to Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz. Together, they delivered Porsche’s first class victory of the season.
Garage 59 recovered from a puncture to take second, Marvin Kirchhöfer passing Daniel Harper’s WRT BMW with around 11 minutes remaining. The McLaren finished less than five seconds behind the Porsche, with the BMW completing the podium.
The result mattered beyond the race itself. A troubled run to seventh for Jonny Edgar’s #33 TF Sport Corvette allowed the Manthey crew to reduce its championship deficit to 18 points. Racing Team Turkey’s #34 Corvette remained in contention, another four points back
One title settled, two still open
Toyota leaves Barcelona with the manufacturers’ trophy secured and its drivers preparing for an internal title contest. Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa take a 17-point advantage over their team-mates into Monza on 8 November. LMGT3 will also be settled there.
Barcelona offered others moments of encouragement: a first pole for Genesis, a podium for Ferrari and a recovery for BMW. Toyota’s distinction was sustaining its performance across the whole afternoon. In a race repeatedly interrupted and reshaped by conditions, it was the team that needed the fewest excuses
