Racing is not a “one size fits all” situation, by any means. Going to a Formula 1 race is very different from a Formula E race, and even motorsports that might seem similar at first glance are actually quite different. No matter how many variations of a race you’ve been to, going to an endurance race is going to be unique. Going to the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona is like the Oscars of motorsports, if you will.
If you know anything about me, you know I’m a big fan of Lexus and Toyota. That comes through in many of my reviews of these brands. I’m a firm believer in the product, the people, and the philosophy behind the whole brand. So when I received an invitation to attend the Oscars of motorsports with Lexus Racing, you know I was in.
The Lexus RC F GT3 Race Car Is An Epic Version Of Your Favorite Coupe
Bozi Tatarevic is an important part of the Lexus Racing and Vasser Sullivan team. We caught up with him in the garage where the Lexus RC F GT3 was being pieced together and perfected ahead of the race. The cool thing about the RC F GT3 is that at its core, it’s the same car you can pick up at your local dealership. “If you look at the outline of the cabin and you look at the door openings and you step into an RC F, you’ll be stepping into the same space,” Tatarevic said.
“Most of the pieces that are added are to help us be able to mount suspension in a way that’s beneficial for performance, along with mounting the engine in a way that’s beneficial to performance,” Tatarevic explained. The result is obvious when you look into the bay. “You’ll see the engine down there, mounted pretty low,” he said. “The engine, compared to the production car, gets moved closer to the driver and lower for the center of gravity.” That packaging shift alone turns your everyday luxury coupe into something capable of driving at the absolute limit for 24 straight hours. No big deal.
“The cool thing is, we use the same engine as the production car,” Tatarevic said. “It’s the 2UR… the production RCF, the IS 500, all of those cars have the 2UR engine.” For racing, it’s pushed further. “Here, what happens is it gets stroked to 5.4 liters,” he added. And if you look closely, the evidence is everywhere. “If you look around the edge of the bay, you’re gonna see a lot of Lexus and Toyota tags, and there are a lot of production components.”
“That’s a point of pride for us,” Tatarevic said, “that we’re able to race in these long, grueling races with the same parts that Lexus owners use at home in their own cars.” It’s a rare approach in modern GT3 racing, and it explains why the RC F GT3 has built a reputation for toughness as much as speed.
Meeting With The Vasser Sullivan Team Members
As part of our Rolex 24 weekend, we got to meet with members of the Lexus Racing and Vasser Sullivan team. Everyone from Jeff Bal of Lexus Racing to Jimmy Vasser, co-owner of the team, and all the drivers sat down for a chat.
Lexus factory driver Jack Hawksworth made it clear that raw speed is only part of the equation at Daytona. “A big part of this race is just finishing already. Execution. Twenty-four hours of things that can go wrong.” He explained that early in the race, discipline matters more than heroics. “The first 20 hours, you’re really just looking after the equipment.” But once the race reaches its closing stretch, everything changes. “The last four hours are when the race is won. It turns into a sprint race.” Vasser Sullivan’s No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 competes in GTD PRO with full-season factory drivers Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat, joined by Kyle Kirkwood for endurance rounds, while the No. 12 GTD entry features Aaron Telitz and Benjamin Pedersen, with Frankie Montecalvo handling endurance duties.
He also explained why the team’s strategy group is so trusted. “We’ve got a big brain behind the computer screen making those decisions for us,” Jack said. “Sometimes he’ll make a call, and you don’t get it in the moment. Then you get to the end of the race and think, oh yeah… that was a good idea.”
“This race is our Super Bowl.”
Jeff reflected on how the Lexus program earned its place in IMSA. “When we first got here in 2019, a lot of people were asking, ‘Why is Lexus here?’ And honestly, they were probably right at the time.” But that outsider status became fuel. “We wanted to prove them wrong.”
He tied the racing effort directly to the brand’s identity shift. “We were tasked with connecting performance to the Lexus brand,” Jeff said. “Now we have owners wrapping their street cars to look like the race car. That’s when you know the story is landing.”
And on the RC F GT3 itself, he didn’t sugarcoat its origins. “This car was not designed as a clean-sheet GT3.” Instead, the team learned to evolve it. “We know where the weak points are, we know how to work around them, and we’ve turned it into a car that can win endurance races.”
Jimmy brought the big-picture emotion to our discussion. “This race is our Super Bowl.” He explained that the Rolex 24 isn’t just another round on the calendar. “You shoot your best shot here. “We nicknamed the car the War Pig,” Jimmy said. “It gets down and dirty. You might slow us down, but you can’t stop us.”
And as the program approaches a transition to a new GT3 car, he acknowledged the legacy. “This has been a real chapter in my life in racing. It started off very difficult, and it ended up super successful.”
Visiting The Pits And Going For A Hot Lap In The IS 500
Aside from the interviews, we also got to watch an actual pit stop and driver change during the actual race. It was crazy to see how many moving parts ( and people) are involved in one short stop. We learned that the longest part of the pit stop is the refueling; there isn’t a way around that safely. It takes a while to get enough fuel in the car to make it to the next stop, but that gives the team time to do other things, such as switch drivers, clean the windshield, and change all four tires. You can have up to six people involved in the put stop, but only four can actually touch the car.
The team that isn’t directly involved in the pit stop is monitoring progress elsewhere, usually on a monitor nearby. Each car has its own team and monitor setup, as shown in the photo above.
It’s a lot of work, but the Vasser Sullivan team made it look easy. 24 hours is a long time to keep a large group of people organized while running two cars in a race, but they did it.
One thing that I learned over the weekend is that it isn’t always about winning. Finishing the race is important, and it takes a lot of work just to do that. The team has to be working together, the drivers have to be on point, the cars have to work pretty flawlessly, and even then, anything can happen. The fog was a major hindrance to the overnight race, forcing it to be yellow-flagged for more than 6 hours. However, that probably provided a bit of a relief from all-out endurance racing.
Everyone I encountered this weekend was kind enough to share their thoughts with a group of Lexus fans, and I very much appreciated that. It isn’t just about taking home a trophy, and seeing how much work goes into a single weekend was pretty eye-opening for me. I have a newfound respect for every member of a race team because each of them has an important job to do, no matter how big or small it may seem from the outside.
Thank you VERY much to Lexus and Toyota for making this dream a reality. I will share all of my new knowledge with anyone who will listen, so be aware of that if you encounter me and ask about the Rolex 24 in the coming weeks: I have a lot to share.
