Lexus Racing Report: Mid April 2019


Wet, rainy weather was the overarching theme for the start of the 2019 Lexus motorsports season in Japan and Europe.


Super GT Round 1 at Okayama

The inaugural round of the 2019 Super GT season in Okayama, nominally a 300 km / 82 lap race was ended by torrential rains after only 31 laps that saw a pair of red flag crashes.

In the GT 500 class, Lexus’ best result was the 6th-place finish of the #19 WedsSport ADVAN LC 500 co-driven by Yusuke Kunimoto and Sho Tsuboi. Other Lexus top 10 finishers were the #38 ZENT CERUMO LC 500 co-driven by Tachikawa Kushiro and Ishiura Hiroaki (8th place) and the #36 au TOM’S LC 500 co-driven by Kazuki Nakajima and Yuki Sekiguchi (9th place).

Lexus fared much better in the GT 300 class, with the #96 K-Tunes RC F GT3 co-driven by Morio Nitta and Haruna Sakaguchi taking the checkered flag for the class victory. Also finishing within the top 10 in GT 300 was the #60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3 co-driven by Hiroki Yoshimoto and Atsushi Miyata in 7th place.

The next race will be on May 4th at Fuji Speedway.


Blancpain GT Europe Round 1 at Monza, Italy

Lexus Tech Racing

The maiden outing of the Tech1 Racing team in Blancpain GT Series Europe Endurance Cup competition saw the #23 Lexus RC F GT3 co-driven by team principal Fabien Barthez and Bernard Delhez achieve a 5th-place finish in the AM Cup class under rain-soaked conditions.

The next race will be on May 12th at Silverstone in Great Britain.

EuropeJapanRacing
Comments
Thanks for the links @LexusTechSA
Hype, hype, hype! Loving it right now!
Thank you so much! :) @LexusTechSA
krew

Lexus RC F GT3 Scores First Victory in IMSA WeatherTech Championship
[​IMG]

Drivers Dominik Baumann and Kyle Marcelli were dominant throughout the race.
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Is this thread will be only Lexus or for Toyota also?, as Toyota won the first race in the WEC2018
maiaramdan
Is this thread will be only Lexus or for Toyota also?, as Toyota won the first race in the WEC2018
Lexus-only, since it's in the Lexus Lounge.
YESS!! I AM SO HAPPY! Isn't anyone taking note how the Lexus LC and the RC are dominating the GT segment in motorsports? Simply amazing.


maiaramdan
Is this thread will be only Lexus or for Toyota also?, as Toyota won the first race in the WEC2018
Hey man! I was considering to take on the role of starting my own thing. Honestly though, tell me about it! I wanted to have an entire thread dedicated to Toyota Motorsports GMBH/Gazoo Racing and such. I was going to do news and such of the WEC, and the other amazing things Toyota does. The WEC is absolutely legendary, and is one of my favorite racing series of all time. I was going to report it, but then I was like its fine. Even though we have the garage. Still though, I am BUZZING like no other and still screaming internally for Toyota in the WEC. What an amazing race. It was scintillating. The pure speed and finesse of the TS050 Hybrid made it fly throughout Spa-Francochamps. There isn't a Porsche or an Audi to fight them anymore, so they finished the race 2 LAPS ahead of the next LMP1 car (not including the other Toyota car, which finished a few seconds behind the winner). This is an easy championship for Toyota, unlike 2014, where they had to fight a little, this season will be a home run. Go Toyota! I'm rooting for you, your car and your legendary drivers!
@F1 Silver Arrows
The main good thing in WEC is that it's really experimental test ground for future amazing machines take the Porsche 918 spyder and both Toyota (GR HV & GR super sport) concepts

3 machines simply are the road drivers of what happened in the circuit
F1 Silver Arrows
Hey man! I was considering to take on the role of starting my own thing. Honestly though, tell me about it! I wanted to have an entire thread dedicated to Toyota Motorsports GMBH/Gazoo Racing and such. I was going to do news and such of the WEC, and the other amazing things Toyota does. The WEC is absolutely legendary, and is one of my favorite racing series of all time. I was going to report it, but then I was like its fine. Even though we have the Garage. Still though, I am BUZZING like no other and still screaming internally for Toyota in the WEC. What an amazing race. It was scintillating. The pure speed and finesse of the TS050 Hybrid made it fly throughout Spa-Francochamps. There isn't a Porsche or an Audi to fight them anymore, so they finished the race 2 LAPS ahead of the next LMP1 car (not including the other Toyota car, which finished a few seconds behind the winner). This is an easy championship for Toyota, unlike 2014, where they had to fight a little, this season will be a home run. Go Toyota! I'm rooting for you, your car and your legendary drivers!
Indeed, there's nothing or no one to stop you if you want to start a Toyota WEC Racing (or even Toyota Racing if you want to throw in the Yaris WRC) Megathread. ;)
This is amazing. Lexus showing its presence in motorsports is huge for them, especially in Europe.

If you guys haven't heard, Japan (Super GT) and Germany (DTM) are making strides to merge into a series that has been initially dubbed as "Class One". Both bosses have been trying to extend their hands in terms of friendship and widen their presence around the world. Now for Lexus, this is good news because they now have the opportunity to have a huge presence in Germany, that they didn't have before (was only WRC and WEC with Toyota generally). This will boost Lexus' image like no other and we won't have to worry as much in terms of competition and image much longer for Europe. German car manufacturers are hoping the same, as they're also trying to have a huge presence in Japan too. Both Europeans and Japanese have huge amounts of respect for each other, so this process of a merged, single, high profile GT racing series is really good news for everyone. I really cannot wait for this to happen, some reports say the merger may occur somewhere in the next 2 years. This is a big step for everyone, and this represents how relevant GT racing still is.

Now for the "nitty gritty", there has been some demonstrations both in Japan and in Germany to give fans a taste, and they have been raving from both sides. There has been talk of regulations, where DTM has made strides to make the move from the V8 engines that has made them so popular, to a 2.0L turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, very similar to Super GT regulations for 2019. This was at a pause because Mercedes-Benz still wanted the V8's to happen, but now that this is their last season in DTM, it has made the merger much easier. It was apparent that the merger was going to happen a while back, and also the switch in power units, but Mercedes-Benz were adamant on the V8 engines, so it stayed.

Now that things are going to clear up a little, with 2019 being a transition year, probably being the last year for both series on its own, the merger will probably happen in 2020. I hope this comes true, because this move will make Lexus hugely successful in Europe (and other manufacturers of course).
Great job Gazoo for another great win, continuing the legacy of the LFA. Although IIRC LFA competed in SP8 class and was finishing 1st in class and something like 14th (or maybe 30 something) overall? I truly miss the LFA days, maybe if they went up in class, the LFA could've been winning the N24 outright? I'm not a big racing fan so excuse my ignorance but LFA days were truly exciting for me.

Some of the photos included were really nice, thanks for the update!
Failure, even the RC350 of previous year nuburgring did better, honestly even the 86

In short Toyota failed this year 24hrs Nuburgring

M