Gazoo's LC Rules the Day at 24 Hours of Nürburgring
Lexus and Gazoo Racing officially start a streak of class wins at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring endurance race with their second straight victory.
Hot Streak
Gazoo Racing and Lexus officially have a streak going on. After taking first place in the SP-PRO class at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring endurance race in 2018, they've done it again with another class win in 2019.
Photos: Lexus
Clawing Their Way
When you consider the fact that 2018 was also the debut of their racing effort, that makes this feat all the more impressive. Plus, they did it by clawing their way up from 35th place overall on the grid with an overall lineup of 158 cars.
Photos: Lexus
Tough Conditions
The No. 56 GR Lexus LC was piloted by Takeshi Tsuchiya, Takamitsu Matsui, Naoya Gamo, and Yuichi Nakayama. Despite challenging conditions, they managed to kick off the early part of the race in impressive fashion.
Photos: Lexus
Problems Surface
Things we going well as the Gazoo team managed to move up to the 30th overall position, until disaster struck. The car hit another soon after the race started. This necessitated a long pit stop roughly 8 hours into the race that caused them to slip in the overall standings considerably.
Photos: Lexus
Grueling Race
Regardless, the LC scored a class victory and 96th overall at what is widely considered to be one of the most demanding races in the world. And that's certainly something to celebrate.
Photos: Lexus
Growing Pains
"We took measures to improve reliability this year since we stayed in the pit for a long-time last year," said Toshiyuki Sekiya, Lexus LC Chief Mechanic, GAZOO Racing. "Nürburgring is always a tough race for us. I am happy that we spent a lot of time with the mechanics and I witnessed a lot of growth and teamwork."
Photos: Lexus
True Test
"We are proud of our team's achievement in this challenging event for a second consecutive year," added Yugo Miyamoto, Chief Representative of the Middle East and Central Asia Representative Office at Toyota Motor Corporation. "The Lexus LC gave an outstanding performance at this year's 24 Hours of Nürburgring, a place that tests the strength and capabilities of the GAZOO Racing team and its vehicles."
Photos: Lexus
Pushing the Boundaries
Despite the car's impressive early success, Miyamoto is also eager to keep working. "We will continue to build upon everything we have learned through our participation in motorsport to develop vehicles with brave design and exhilarating performance. I would like to thank our fans for continuously inspiring us to push the boundaries in our drive to create Amazing Experiences."
Photos: Lexus
Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday
But the most intriguing post-race comments of all came to us from Shigeki Tomoyama, President of Gazoo Racing. "The knowledge and technologies refined here at the Nürburgring will not only be incorporated into models in the GR brand line-up but also utilized in a variety of future Toyota production cars."
Photos: Lexus
Trickle Down
And that's the beauty of Lexus' continued racing success. We'll soon see the results of their winning efforts trickle down into future products. And we certainly can't wait for that!
Photos: Lexus
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