After two years of racing the VLN Endurance Championship Farnbacher Racing is going to break new ground and take the Lexus RC F GT3 to the International GT Open. Like in the past the siblings Dominik and Mario will be sharing the driver’s seat.
Within a close collaboration Toyota Technocraft and the team from Lichtenau, Germany, have consequently refined the RC-F GT3. Now that it has been homologated according to FIA regulations Farnbacher Racing will take the race car to start in an international top GT Championship.
The brand new and refined version of the Lexus RC F GT3 already had its very first striking entrance on the 9th run of the VLN 2016 when Farnbacher Racing took the car to the top of the podium. This victory also made Lexus the first Asian car manufacturer to secure itself an overall win in a VLN race. “This was our absolute highlight for the whole season. We were all incredibly happy about this win and really proud to have gained it. It’s so nice to be rewarded like this for a lot of hard work” says Dominik Farnbacher with a smile.
But sitting back is not the plan for this ambitious team. Farnbacher Racing has set high demands for the team and intends to get to know the car even better, develop as a team and get to the top of the international fields. The GT Open will provide a great platform for these plans as it offers seven events on internationally known race tracks.
Additionally Farnbacher Racing will continue their cooperation with Emil Frey Racing who will race a Lexus RC F GT3 at the GT Open this year as well after two years in the VLN.
Dominik Farnbacher:
“We’re very much looking forward to taking the new Lexus RC F GT3 to the GT Open and therefore on international race tracks. We’re seeing 2017 as a preparation year still but it’s nevertheless going to be a very important season for us and we have set high standards for ourselves to achieve good results – for our team who’s putting in so much effort and also for Lexus. I’m sure it will be an exciting season and Mario and me can’t wait to take the steering wheel in our hands again and take the car to its limits. If we might secure a podium or even a victory that would of course be awesome. But first of all we’d like to lay the groundwork for 2018.”
Team manager Horst Farnbacher:
“The finalized Lexus RC F GT3 is a wonderful car. Toyota Technocraft has built an amazing car that doesn’t have to hide next to the competition. We’re very much looking forward to getting to know the car once we’ve received it in a month’s time. We’ll be going straight to Portugal then for the Balance of Performance test of the GT Open and the race afterwards. That of course means we don’t have much time to prepare for that very first race but we know that the Lexus is great. We’ll be very happy to start racing the new season.”
The first race of the International GT Open 2017 takes place on the 29th-30th of April in Estoril, Portugal. You can watch every race via live stream on www.gtopen.net.
Dates GT Open 2017:
29th-30th April – Estoril, Portugal
27th-28th May – Spa, Belgium
10th-11th June – Paul Ricard, France
1st-2nd July – Hungaro Race Track, Hungary
2nd-3rd September – Silverstone, UK
30th of September – 1st of October – Monza, Italy
28th-29th October – Barcelona, Spain