TOYOTA GAZOO Racing celebrates a centenary anniversary at this year's 24-Stunden-Rennen at the Nürburgring (26 until 29, May 2016): The motorsport team of the Japanese car manufacturer is starting their long-distance classic in the Green Hell for the tenth time - and has a quintet and two premieres in the luggage.
Already before the actual race, the Lexus LC celebrates its German premiere on the Nordschleife: Among other Lexus models, the luxury coupe, which comes 2017 on the market, at the prologue on Saturday. The strikingly drawn 2 + 2 is powered by an 5,0-liter eight-cylinder, which develops a power of 351 kW / 477 PS and 527 Nm sends torque to the rear wheels - ideal conditions for a start on the most demanding race track in the world. The driver and the vehicle will have to master 17 percent elevations, eleven percent inclines, and a total elevation gain of 300 meters on each lap.
If the more than 160 registered subscribers of the 44. Long-distance races then go to 15.10 clock on their introduction lap, the following vehicles are there: In addition to the sports cars Lexus RC and Lexus RC F and the sports sedan IS F, the Toyota C-HR Racing makes its race debut. The motorsport version of the new crossover model starts with the start number 326 and is controlled by Masahiko Kageyama, Kumi Sato and Tomoyuki Katayama.
The Japanese Takeshi Tsuchiya, Kazuya Oshima, Takuto Iguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka are on the road in the Lexus RC F # 36, which starts for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing with TOM's. Kazuya Oshima occasionally drives in the Lexus IS F CCS-R with the starting number 135, which he shares with Yoshinobu Katsumata and Masahiko Kageyama. For the Lexus RC #188 Takayuki Kinoshita, Takamitsu Matsui, Naoya Gamo and "Morizo" are reported. Ring Racing will also race with two ISF CCS-Rs (#52 and #53).
As in previous years, the driver teams are thus made up of Toyota employees from the Japanese headquarters, who want to get a taste of the racing air and get to know the unique atmosphere on the legendary Eifel course. The insights gathered during the long-distance classic will be incorporated into the development of production vehicles.
But that's not the complete Toyota squad, the 44. Edition of the long-distance classic in the Eifel will contest. Also at the start are two TMG GT86 CS-V3. These 200 PS strong coupes otherwise provide in the GT86 CS-V3 Cup held by Toyota Motorsport GmbH in the context of the long-distance championship Nürburgring (VLN) on the Nordschleife for thrilling motorsport. Both brand cup coupés with boxer engines are used by Team Pit Lane - AMC Saint Vith, which is one of the top teams in the GT86 CS-V3 Cup. And team boss Olivier (Belgium) will take the wheel in one of the cars himself.
The TMG GT86 CS-V3 is a close-to-production race car with spare parts service and on-site technical support, providing the perfect foundation for optimal and cost-effective motorsport.
All photos: SB-Medien, Stefan Baldauf / Guido ten Brink