Lexus wins super GT300 class at Fuji Speedway

Lexus secured its first victory of the season in the Super GT300 class, as the No. 51 Lexus JMS P.MU LMcorsa RC F GT3, driven by Yuichi Nakayama and Sho Tsuboi, sealed a thrilling win in the second round of the 2017 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series at the Fuji Speedway. Held under a clear bright sky, the Fuji 500-km race is the most popular event on the calendar, as well as the second longest race of the SUPER GT season, running for more than three hours.

Trailing in fourth in the early stages of the race, the No. 51 Lexus RC F GT3, with Nakayama behind the wheel, jumped up one place into third to chase the two frontrunners at the same pace as theirs. As the cars in the first and second places pulled up for their routine pit stops, the No. 51 Lexus RC F GT3 pursued a different strategy, holding off longer and delaying the stop-off. During the middle stint of the race, Tsuboi, having taken over from Nakayama, showed outstanding driving and fast laps to slowly close the gap.

As the frontrunner pulled up for a second routine pit stop on the 70^th lap, Tsuboi, with no one in front of him now, ran consecutive super-fast laps. When he brought the car in for its second pit stop on the 80^th lap, the team pulled off some fast pit work, enabling the No. 51 Lexus RC F GT3 to get out of the pit and back into the race in just 39 seconds. Although the chasing car pulled up to within one second of its tail, Nakayama, back behind the wheel, hung strong to pull away and blitz his way to the checkered flag, giving the new Lexus RC F GT3 and the rookie Tsuboi a momentous first win. With the Lexus LC 500 having already won the Super GT 500 race held earlier in the day, the RC F GT3’s maiden victory completed a double win for the Lexus team on their home track of Fuji.

“Lexus has once again distinguished itself on the international stage by securing not one, but two incredible triumphs at Japan’s top-level sports car racing event, first in the SUPER GT500 race and again in the GT300 class,” said Nadim Haddad, Deputy General Manager at Markazia. “We at Markazia are always excited to witness the incredible performance engineering of Lexus in action, and it was a pleasure to watch the team’s unparalleled vehicles, drivers and pit crews come together to claim the much-deserved first-place prize.”

Remarking on the win, Takayuki Yoshitsugu, Chief Representative, Middle East and North Africa Representative Office, Toyota Motor Corporation, said, “Motorsports is an important medium for Lexus to convey the excitement of driving. It provides us with significant insights into our cars and their performance under extreme conditions on racetracks. Through these activities, we will continue to develop our human resources and leverage our ‘know-how’ to make ‘ever-better cars.’ We thank our fans for their support and look forward to providing them with more thrills as the season unfolds.”