TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, marking its 10th year of participation, will enter 3 cars into the 2016 edition of the 24 Hours Nürburgring endurance race: the C-HR Racing, the RC, and the RC F
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will enter three vehicles - the TOYOTA C-HR Racing※, the LEXUS RC, and the LEXUS RC F - in the 44th edition of the 24 Hours Nürburgring endurance race to be held in Germany on May 26th - 29th. This annual race is infamous for its ability to test both the drivers and their cars to the limit of their performance. This year's race will mark the 10-year anniversary since first taking part, and as such the GAZOO Racing team would like to acknowledge the support of its loyal fans who have helped make this possible.
Team representative Akio Toyoda, reflecting on the team’s activities thus far, had this to say "Our first race under the GAZOO Racing brand on the Nürburgring was with the Altezza back in 2007, but I still remember it as if it were yesterday. The fact that the track conditions change depending on the weather, and that every year we make new friends and say goodbye to old ones, means that each occasion brings a mixed bag of emotions and challenges. However, there's one thing that doesn't change: the unforgiving nature of the track at Nürburgring, which always allows us to improve and develop our cars, while the difficult race environment also improves us as drivers and crew members. Over the last 9 years that we've been competing at Nürburgring, I've come to understand how true this is. In fact, it's the reason why we participate in motorsport.
Furthermore, I think the way we go about tackling these harsh racing conditions really connects with our fans and customers. TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will help the Toyota company as a whole to create better cars and increase our fan-base. To that end we will continue to put all our energy into our motorsports activities, and hopefully give our loyal fans plenty to cheer about."
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing was launched in April 2015 in order to unify GAZOO Racing, TOYOTA Racing, and LEXUS Racing under a single banner. This will allow us to push ahead with its commitment to continually "make better cars”, with our motorsport activities at the center of our drive to "develop people, cars, and car enthusiasts".
※ The race car will be based on the commercial model of the TOYOTA C-HR Concept which is planned to unveiled at the Geneva Motor show in March 2016.
The 24 Hours Nürburgring Endurance Race Overview
Team Representative
Akio Toyoda
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing
TOYOTA C-HR Racing
As part of our challenge "to create even better vehicles", instead of using a pure race car, we came up with this sporty cross-over vehicle. The new experiences gained from working on this new type of vehicle will accelerate the development of both our team members and future vehicles.
Chief Mechanic
Akihiro Osaka (Toyota employee)
Drivers
Masahiko Kageyama, Kumi Sato Others*
*Other drivers to be determined
LEXUS RC
Entering the race for the second time following its debut in 2015. Last year's race allowed us to boost our levels of reliability and quality, and on top of this we added further improvements and new technology, allowing us to further develop the skills of our team as well as the car itself.
Chief Mechanic
Minoru Takagi (Toyota employee)
Drivers
Takayuki Kinoshita, Naoya Gamo Others*
*Other drivers to be determined
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing with TOM'S
LEXUS RC F
TOM'S is not only joining us on the development side, but also helping to oversee our participation in the race itself.
The experience and knowledge our employees will gain from working alongside the skilled TOM'S mechanics will contribute to their overall growth and development.
Drivers
Takeshi Tsuchiya, Kazuya Oshima, Takuto Iguchi, Takamitsu Matsui