2013 Nürburgring 24 Hour Race Updates


Toyota President Akio Toyoda will be one of the four drivers racing the Gazoo Racing Lexus LFA in the 41st annual Nürburgring 24 hour race this weekend in Germany, joining the team of Masahiko Kageyama, Hiroaki Ishiura, & Kazuya Oshima. The LFA will be racing in the SP8 class.

The race will be livestreamed on the Gazoo Racing website, the Lexus Europe team will be providing live race coverage on Twitter, and racing updates will also be posted here at Lexus Enthusiast throughout the weekend.

Update: The race is now finished.

May 20th, 2013


11:12am ET: The race is now over — the Gazoo Racing LFA finishes the race 37th overall, P2 in SP8 class.

10:43am ET: Entering the last 15 minute stretch, the LFA sits P2 in the SP8 class and 35th overall.

8:57am ET: The LFA is now 39th overall and P2 in the SP8 class:

Lexus LFA Moving Past Pits

5:04am ET: Toyoda-san is once again behind the wheel of the LFA, currently the team is P3 in the SP8 class and 40th overall:

Lexus LFA Morizo

2:00am ET: The race has finally resumed, here’s a photo of the LFA on the restart grid:

Lexus LFA Restart Rain

May 19th, 2013


8:32pm ET: The race remains on hold — if and when the race is restarted, all teams will have ninety minutes to get the cars ready and out on the grid. They will be lined up by their final position before the rain delay.

Also, I’m being told that Toyoda-san is scheduled to drive the LFA again in the morning.

5:12pm ET: Now six hours in, the race has been postponed due to rain:

Lexus Nürburgring Rain

4:47pm ET: The rain has started, here’s the LFA being outfitted with rain tires:

Lexus LFA Rain Tires

3:36pm ET: Nearly four hours into the race, the Gazoo LFA team has climbed up to 39th overall:

Inside Lexus LFA Cockpit

1:18pm ET: LFA stops for tires & fuel:

Lexus LFA Tires Fuel

12:23pm ET: After an hour and a half of racing, the Gazoo LFA has fallen to 39th position.

11:11am ET: The race has started — here’s the LFA racing team, including Toyota president Akio Toyoda:

Lexus LFA Racing Team

10:35am ET: Less than 30 minutes before the race starts, here’s the V10 engine in the Gazoo Racing LFA:

Lexus LFA Engine

May 18th, 2013


6:26pm: The Lexus LFA has just finished two days of qualifying, and will be starting at 30th overall and first in the SP8 class in the race tomorrow (11am ET/8am PT) — Lexus Europe has posted some photos from the past two days:

Lexus LFA 629

Lexus LFA 630

EuropeLexus LFARacing
Comments
W
Ooo... The competition is stiff this year, eh?
W
They have to stop showing the inside of the pits! haha
    K
    • K
    • May 22, 2013
    Found out why there was so much footage from the pits -- showing any on-track footage costs a fortune, especially if you want to broadcast globally.
    W
    HAHA! Really?! I assume the cost is from licensing or something... How costly would it be to leave a camera on? Perhaps, it might drain some power from the engine. :P
T
  • T
    tinhinnh
  • May 20, 2013
what's P2?
    K
    • K
    • May 20, 2013
    Position 2 -- second place.
    T
    • T
      tinhinnh
    • May 20, 2013
    oh, thanks. what happened this year? they've been winning every year in its class.
    K
    • K
    • May 21, 2013
    A 24 hour race is a game of inches, and I think when the race is rained out for nearly 11 hours, it prevents a lot of movement in the numbers. That said, the other years that Lexus has competed, it's had the driver that set the Nürburgring lap record, Akira Iida. This most definitely factored into the 37 overall finish.

K