2019, 47th Nurburgring 24 hr. Race

This race is held on a tough circuit made of over 170 corners, turns and curves, an approx. 300 m elevation rise and undulating road surfaces that continue for 25 km. The running environment that this Nurburgring race imposes on the cars is extremely severe. That is why makers and constructor should tackle this race if they want the surest feedback for "building better cars," and that is why it is one of the circuits that Toyota actively uses for tests to ensure the toughness of their cars. And that is also why it isn't difficult to understand that for the more than 150 cars that compete in the 24-hour race held here each year, it is tough to even finish the full race. And yet, that is exactly what fires up the competitive spirit of the drivers and teams that take on this incredible challenge. One of the teams that took on this challenge in 2019 Nurburgring 24hr. Race with the LEXUS RC F GT3 is the combined Bandoh Racing with Novel Racing team.

Bandoh Racing with Novel Racing is a team partnership bringing together the members of RACING PROJECT BANDOH and the NOVEL Racing team. For team director Masataka Bandoh of RACING PROJECT BANDOH, who took the reins for this race, it was his first time taking on the Nurburgring 24hr race, but in Japan his team is well known as former SUPER GT GT500 class champions. In contrast, NOVEL Racing has competed at Nurburgring the past three years, and in last year's race they entered two LEXUS cars, an RC F and an IS F, and finished 2nd and 3rd in the SP8 class. This time, this team that has won titles in Japan's top GT car competition and its partner team that has competed so successfully in the Nurburgring 24h with LEXUS cars, decided to enter the SP9 class, which is the category that the world's top teams compete in.

Wearing the race number 19 that is the symbol of RACING PROJECT BANDOH team, their LEXUS RC F GT3 car ran on strongly up through the ranks in the early stages of the 24-hour race with no serious accidents or machine trouble. But, after some gasoline leaked during refueling in a nighttime pit stop caused a fire to break out from the car, thinks began to go wrong. Though the fire was soon extinguished, it took time to repair the damage, which dropped the team from out of the battle for the lead. However, despite such a setback, the team was able to finish the 24-hour race (136 laps, 3,448.824 km), thanks to the tenacious determination of the Bandoh Racing with Novel Racing teams and also, in a large degree, to the high potential of the LEXUS RC F GT3.