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
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.
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