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Gazoo Racing Will Put Toyota and Lexus Racing Under One Roof

Lexus X-Code 1 photo
Photo: S. Baldauf / SB Medien
We all know that thoroughness and a very developed sense of discipline are what took the Japanese this far, and we're not talking only about the car industry. Moreover, these two values are also found in motorsports, as Toyota Racing, Lexus Racing and Gazoo Racing will be united under one single authority, called Gazoo Racing.
Until now, Toyota took place in different competitions around the world - including the World Endurance Championship (WEC), Japan's Super GT and the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race under the three different teams mentioned above.

"Our founder Kiichiro Toyoda once said that motorsports are vital to the evolution of car making and the entire auto industry. With this in mind, Gazoo Racing has carried out activities aiming to nurture our people, develop our cars, and inspire new car enthusiasts, under the belief that the roads build the people, and the people build the cars," explained Toyota President Akio Toyoda.

That sounds really nice and inspiring, but there's more. Toyota will participate in races and rally competitions under the team name Toyota Gazoo Racing while Lexus will take part in races such as Super GT with branded cars wearing the Lexus Gazoo Racing logo.

In practice, this shift in names won't make too much difference, so we're inclining to think this is just a change dictated by marketing and the attempt to come up with a more efficient motorsports division. However, In the same way as the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race was used to refine the Lexus LFA, Toyota plans to promote the hands-on, boots-on-the-ground methods of training its mechanics and engineers.

In addition, Toyota said they will integrate its motorsport-related marketing, vehicle development and technical support functions into a new Motor Sports Group, established on April 1st, 2015.
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