GAZOO Racing Team won the first prize of the class in the season-opening race of the VLN series held on April 4th. They also entered Rounds 2 and 3 (held on April 18th and May 2nd), and collected precious data regarding the Nurburgring 24 Hours held on May 23rd to 24h. They were highly spirited after winning the victory of the SP8 class by fighting fiercely; however, the content of the race was more important than the result of that.
Their entry in the VLN series means to fight preliminary battles of the Nurburgring 24 Hours, the main event. Since there are few chances to continuously drive a lot of laps on the race track known as the world’s toughest, it is precious that a drive of four hours is allowed by participating in the race. A lot of competitors participate in this series on similar purpose, so Team GAZOO’s ability can be compared with each other directly. This is of course a chance helpful for setting the machines.
Many of the teams aiming at the victory of the Nurburgring 24 Hours indeed entered the VLN series. The number of machines increased as time passed from the season-opening race, so higher-ranking competitors gathered more in Rounds 2 and 3 than in Rounds 1 and 2, respectively. Beginning with Porsche GT3 of Manthey Racing, an invincible team and the most probable winner even in 2009, Audi placed as many as a couple of racing R8 machines on the grid aiming at securing victory at any cost, and the Chevrolet Corvette and the Dodge Viper were also on the grid side by side. Aston Martin was also showing off their presence, the V12 Vintage attracting attention in particular. So, the battle was heated up and included in an intense atmosphere just like the 24-hour race. We expected that the battle would be really fierce.
GAZOO Racing Team decided to throw two Lexus LF-A machines into the competitions with the real race of the VLN4 in mind. This means to take a strategy systematically to collect data and measure their own real ability. Machine No. 92 was driven by a pair of Japanese drivers, Takayuki Kinoshita and Akira Iida. For machine No. 95, Armin Hahne, a well-experienced driver, Jochen Krumbach, and Hiromu Naruse were behind the wheel. The team took all possible measures to the race in which members bring forward their tasks such as check-up of tire performance and measurement of fuel consumption as sharing with each other.
The machines seemed to be better finished than ever. The machine won the first prize of the class in the season-opening race, so it was confirmed that the Lexus LF-A has distinctive ability to fight. Nonetheless, the machine was under development, so the victory was obtained by so-called try-and-error method. However, the gripping ability and durability of the tires have been becoming clear. Data on fuel consumption have also been being collected. The suspensions and engines have always been improved, so the degree of completion of the machine has been getting higher day after day.
The team confirmed that the tires brought by Bridgestone would be ready for unpredictable weather. The aerodynamic parts which were newly brought in this time proved that they would bring about the effect as much as expected. For the engine, the balance between fuel consumption and power has been improved. The staff has become confident of the excessive durability of the transmission based on the fact that the transmission has been got in no trouble yet, and the durability has been verified by shift-changing operation up to 200,000 times. To bring forward the race with taking the initiative, it may be necessary to drive laps in a further faster time. Since durability has been confirmed completely, the drivers will definitely examine the machines like whipping a horse.
In Round 2, machine No. 92 won the second prize in the SP8 class. The machine took third place in Round 3. The team has won the prize consecutively from the season-opening race. So, the rate of standing on the podium was - what a miracle! - 100%. Machine No. 93 was bringing forward fine tuning as making a pit stop frequently because collecting much data was the purpose. Consequently, although this machine did not win the prize looking at the numerical record only, it is no problem because the machine recorded almost the same time as machine No. 92. On the contrary, its handling seems rather better than that of machine 92, so both Halne and Krumbach do not seem anxious about something.
There is of course no guarantee that such results can be obtained in the 24-hour race again. Much tougher competitors will come all together, and race distance is six times longer than that of this time. Nevertheless, compared with that competitors’ machines were frequently involved in troubles and left the line of battle, GAZOO Racing Team’s machines got stuck in little trouble. Weaknesses have been overcome based on the data collected from the race held last year, and fighting ability has been measured, too; there is little concern about the machines.
“While understeer is a bit strong, taking the 24-hour race into consideration, the machine is brought forward an ideal setting.” said Takayuki Kinoshita, and Halne also commented, “I am happy of fighting as a member of such a professional team,” showing his satisfaction with the feel.
There seems little doubt that the Corvette ZR1 and the Audi R8 driven by the Germany team will challenge making full use of home-court advantage. Having their prides of Germany, they will not withdraw so easily. Nonetheless, they must have felt pressured by Team GAZOO´s racing shown in the VLN series.
Well, what about the Nurburgring 24 Hours scheduled on Mar 23rd to 24th, 2009?
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