It’s been a couple weeks since the Lexus LFAs competed in the Nürburgring 24h race, but I wanted to mention this great article from Hans Greimel of Automotive News, who spent the entire weekend with the Toyota crew.

The entire piece tells an interesting story, but I really enjoyed reading about Toyota President Akio Toyoda’s reaction to the #50 LFA winning the SP8 class:

With 15 minutes left in the race, the crews of all teams crowd the outer pit wall to cheer on their drivers. In front of the Gazoo Racing pit, shutterbug Akio is standing on the roof of the team’s signaling booth, snapping photos and waving his support.

A jubilant President Toyoda leads his team to the infield — breaking into sprints at times — and begins passing out Warsteiner beers and posing for team pictures. Then it’s back to the pits, where the entire team proceeds to shower one another with more champagne and beer. In a year of observing and chronicling Toyoda, I’ve never seen the president laugh, let alone smile, so much.

“We started from nothing just four years ago, and here we are today,” Toyoda said before being drenched in beer. “Our people are stronger; our cars are stronger. Our team really did a great job.”

This reminds me — I wanted to share this Akio Toyoda & the Gazoo Racing mascot desktop wallpaper:

Love this image — I’ve been using it as my desktop wallpaper ever since the race ended.

[Source:Automotive News]