Daily Slideshow: Lexus and 3GT Racing Celebrate Big Win at Mid-Ohio IMSA Championships
Lexus proved to be a big winner at 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio and it wasn't a surprise. Not to the company that makes the RC F GT3, the nor the team that raced it.
Victory under pressure
Well, that didn't take long. About a year ago, we posted a story showing the 2017 GT3 RC F, which had been just introduced at the Geneva Auto Show. This weekend, the 3GT Racing team of Kyle Marcelli and Dominik Baumann drove their #14 GT3 RC Fs into first place in the GT Daytona division race with a track time of 01:20:758. The final laps of the Mid-Ohio WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Race were grueling and tense, but clearly the Japanese model didn't fold under pressure.
Built for speed
The first RC F GT3 was intended to be released in 2016 but got pushed back a year when the powers that be at Lexus decided to mount it onto a newly developed chassis. The GT3 eventually came out of the gate ferocious and eager, with its 5.0 V8 pumping out 540 horsepower that only has to propel 2,756 pounds down the road. That's more than enough go-juice to compete with the likes of the Porsche 911 GT3, Aston Martin Vantage GT3, and Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R, its main rivals on the circuit.
First there was Nürburgring
The GT3 won it's first race at the VLN Endurance Championship at Nürburgring, edging out second place ROWE Racing BMW M6 GT3 by an impressive 33 seconds, despite being an all-new prototype. It was a promising debut for a car designed with high expectations.
Then there was Ohio
Jump cut to this weekend out at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. It was the first IMSA weekend at this course since 2013. In the GTD class, the pair of Lexus RC F GT3s fielded by 3GT Racing swept the first two spots on the class grid in qualifying, led by Motul Pole Award winner Jack Hawksworth in the team’s No. 15 entry. One of the two entries went on to lead every lap in the GTD class.
Alvaro Parente very nearly gave Acura a GTD victory to go with its breakthrough Prototype win, but in the end, 3GT Racer Dominik Baumann, who co-drove to the victory alongside Kyle Marcelli in the No. 14 Lexus, held on to beat Parente in the No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 by a mere 0.191 seconds.
A very tight finish
A big win for 3GT Racing and Lexus
Lexus Motorsports Manager Mark Egger concurred. "We are ecstatic,” he said. “We were able to take all of the pieces that we’ve been able to put together over the last year and a half developing the RC F GT3 with some near misses and some heartbreaks throughout the last year and get our first GTD win. 3GT Racing did a fantastic job putting together a great program and everything came together this weekend, so we’re very happy to get that first win with the RC F GT3.”
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