We show a Springer type theorem for the variety of parabolic subgroups of type 1, 2, 6 for all groups of type E6. As far as we know this gives the first example for the validity of the Springer theorem for projective homogeneous varieties of type 2E6 different from varieties of Borel subgroups. The proof combines several topics, notably the Rost invariant, a Tits construction, Cartan’s symmetric spaces and indirectly the structure of the Chow motives of projective homogeneous varieties of exceptional type.