Lexus Racing Report: Mid-May 2019


May 2019 has proven fortuitous, thus far, for Lexus motorsports. We’ve already reported on AIM Vasser Sullivan’s victory in Round 3 of IMSA WeatherTech GTD racing in Mid-Ohio in the U.S. Lexus racers in Japan and Europe have seen similarly positive results.


Super GT Round 2 at Fuji (500 km)

As with Round 1 at Okayama, rain was the operative word (including a 30-minute red flag period). Ultimately, the rains stopped, and after a thrilling duel with the #23 Nissan GT-R, the #38 ZENT CERUMO LC 500 co-driven by Yuji Tachikawa and Hiroaki Ishiura claimed the first GT 500 Lexus victory of the season. Other Lexus top-10 finishers were the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD LC 500 co-driven by Heikki Kovalainen and Yuichi Nakayama (4th place), the #37 KeePer TOM’S LC 500 co-driven by Ryo Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy (7th place) and the #6 Wako’s 4CR LC 500 co-driven by Kazuka Oshima and Kenta Yamashita (8th place).

In the GT 300 class, the sole Lexus top-10 finisher was the #60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3 co-driven by Hiroki Yoshimoto and Dominik Farnbacher in 9th place.

The next race will be on May 26th at the Suzuka Circuit.


Blancpain GT Europe Round 2 at Silverstone, England

Lexus RC F GT3 Blancpain

In just their second race in the Blancpain GT Series Europe Endurance Cup, the #23 Tech1 Racing Lexus RC F GT3 co-driven by team principal Fabien Barthez and Bernard Delhez achieved their first AM Cup class podium finish (2nd in class and 31st overall).

The next race will be on June 1 at Circuit Paul Ricard in France.

EuropeJapanRacing
Comments
Some great improvements by Lexus Racing. Kyle is a great guy and awesome driver. Excited for the rest of the season!
@LexusTechSA, thanks bro for the videos
Slowly but confident
So proud of those guys!!!!
Next up is Petit Le Mans here in Atlanta next month. I'm hoping something cool happens :)
I'll be with Lexus Racing at Petit Le Mans. If you have a LFA/LC/IS F/GS F/RC F and would like to attend send me a message. I would love to give a couple of involved LE members a pass to attend :)
Hi everyone. I have one VIP Pass to offer a Lexus Enthusiast F/LC 500 owner. Held in Atlanta, Petit LeMans is the historic race going on Saturday but the pass gives you access Friday and Thursday as well. On Friday and Saturday, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner are served as refreshments all day and VIP goodies.

I am specifically looking for one hardcore F/LC 500 owner to join us! We already have a group of 10 F owners coming together.

You can DM me here or email me at mikeforsythe13@gmail.com. Thank you!

-mike-

Here we are at Sebring to get a general idea of things. It really is an amazing experience!

Emil Frey Lexus Racing posted a summary of its 2018 season in Europe's Blancpain GT3 series (the team finished 3rd overall). More info in this Lexus Europe Newsroom article:

https://newsroom.lexus.eu/emil-frey-lexus-racings-highlights-of-the-year-2018/
The new AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F team is close to completing its full-time roster with the signing of 2015 IMSA GT Daytona champion Townsend Bell and his recent GTD co-driver Frankie Montecalvo. The American duo join Lexus program veteran Jack Hawksworth, the first driver confirmed by AVS, who will have his teammate announced in the near future. More info in this Racer magazine article:

https://racer.com/2018/11/29/bell-a...BbABEYuHecGnEVeRW1ZO0l-EgAJOuRNEZSOKc3XZlJtTc
krew
krew

Lexus LC Set to Return in Next Year's 24 Hours of Nürburgring Race
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Would love to see that racing here..... especially with BMW now racing the 8 series..
Flashing back a bit to November 24, Autoweek's Matt Weaver wrote an informative background piece on the Gentilozzi 3GT-to-AIM Vasser Sullivan IMSA team transition:

https://autoweek.com/article/imsa/new-aim-vasser-sullivan-racing-lexus-teams-gears-debut-imsa-season
Is Toyota and Lexus going to eventually implement these improvements and technology to their road cars? I'm especially interested into what they do to their engines.

C