V3 Class winner

Toyota and Lexus arrived at the Green Hell in force over the 24 hour race weekend with 10 race cars to tackle the 25km circuit. Toyota Swiss Racing secured the team’s second class victory in two years at this year’s rain-affected race. Click through to read more.

2013 GAZOO Racing Toyota 86

Last month, Toyota Motor Corporation announced the GAZOO Racing entry for this year’s 24 Hours Nürburgring Race. Our Japanese outfit will once again tackle the Green Hell with two race-prepared Toyota 86 (marketed as the Toyota GT86 in Europe) and one Lexus LFA. Click through the break to see the first pictures.

LFA at The Ring

Earlier this month GAZOO Racing – racing arm of Toyota Motor Corp. in Japan – announced their 2012 race season activities. Around the same time, Toyota Switzerland also announced their entry in the VLN races at The Green Hell, a.k.a. Nürburgring Nordschleife, this year with two Toyota GT86‘s. Both racing teams will also take part in the gruelling 24 Hours of Nürburgring later this year. Their first race of the season, VLN2 took place last Saturday. Race report after the break.

The Nürburgring 24 Hour Race weekend is now over. When the clocked ticked over to zero, the GAZOO Racing Team LFA #88 (driven by Akira Iida, Hiroaki Ishiura and Kazuya Oshima) crossed the finish line in 41st position overall after 133 laps and more than 24 hours on the track. Our second car, LFA #87 came through to finish 134th overall, despite having to have its engine replaced during the race. It even clocked in a fastest lap time of 8:52.204 (just 14 seconds off its qualifying pace). LFA #88 and #87 came through in 3rd and 8th in the SP8 Class respectively.

Dawn has broken over the Nürburgring and I thought I’d add a new post, since a rather emotional moment for the team happened just minutes ago. Intending to go visit the pits and see how the team progressed, I happened across LFA #87 – which suffered an engine problem earlier in the race. The car was in the pit box and was being prepared for its return to the track.