Victory for Sébastien Buemi and TOYOTA GAZOO Racing in Brazil

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing won the 6 Hours of São Paulo, igniting their 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) title challenge on a dramatic day at Interlagos.

At the scene of Toyota’s first-ever hybrid-powered WEC victory in 2012, World Champions Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa earned their first win of the season in the #8 GR010 HYBRID in front of a passionate 73,205 Brazilian crowd.

This hard-earned second victory of the year, achieved through flawless driving, strong teamwork, and a superior tire strategy, earned maximum points for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing and reduced the gap to leaders Porsche to only four points in the manufacturers’ standings with three races remaining in the season.

For the first time since Bahrain last November, an all-Toyota front row led the field away at the start. The #8 car quickly established a lead, with careful tire management on the abrasive Interlagos track in hot conditions. Brendon Hartley settled into second place after recovering from running wide into the first turn.

Ryo Hirakawa took over the #8 car and soon moved to the front. By halfway, he had extended the lead to 30 seconds, implementing a strategic tire change to maintain performance and manage degradation. Ryo's impressive stint on his Interlagos debut helped build a lead of over 40 seconds before handing over to Sébastien Buemi for the final two hours.

Sébastien maintained the #8’s consistent speed, making a final fuel stop with an hour remaining and resuming with a clear lead. He protected this lead until the checkered flag, finishing 1 minute 8.811 seconds ahead of the #6 Porsche.

After a productive visit to South America, the team’s bid to retain their World Championship titles moves to North America. The next race will be the Lone Star Le Mans at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on September 1. The team is eager to continue their momentum and close the gap in the championship standings.

“It is an amazing day for us on car #8, winning a race for the first time this year. We had a great car. Tyre management was one of our strengths, particularly the fact we could use the medium compound throughout the race which really helped us have good pace. I’m so happy to finally have a weekend without any issues after a tricky start to the season. We had a strong qualifying with the one-two but car #7 was unlucky with their issue. They were very fast and deserved a much better result than that. We scored good points in the manufacturers’ World Championship, and we will go to the next race aiming to keep that going.” Sébastien Buemi