{"id":156167,"date":"2023-10-16T21:12:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T15:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/english-lexus-wins-2023-gtd-pro-manufacturers-championship\/"},"modified":"2023-10-16T21:20:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T01:20:01","slug":"lexus-gana-el-campeonato-de-fabricantes-gtd-pro-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/lexus-gana-el-campeonato-de-fabricantes-gtd-pro-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Lexus Wins 2023 GTD PRO Manufacturers Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\"><![CDATA[\n\/* Style Definitions *\/\nspan.prnews_span\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\na.prnews_a\n{\ncolor:blue;\n}\nli.prnews_li\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\np.prnews_p\n{\nfont-size:0.62em;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\nmargin:0in;\n}\n.prntac{\nTEXT-ALIGN: CENTER\n}\n]]><\/style>\n<div class=\"xn-content\">\n<p class=\"prntac\"><i>Barnicoat, Hawksworth and Vasser Sullivan Secure Driver and Team Titles<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">BRASELTON, Ga.<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-chron\">Oct. 16, 2023<\/span> \/PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE\/&#8211; Lexus clinched the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD PRO Manufacturers Championship at the Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Saturday. <b><span class=\"xn-person\">Ben Barnicoat<\/span><\/b> and <b><span class=\"xn-person\">Jack Hawksworth<\/span><\/b> also won the GTD PRO Drivers title and the Vasser Sullivan No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 clinched the GTD PRO Team championship. It marks the first full-season IMSA GT titles for Lexus and Vasser Sullivan, as well as Hawksworth and Barnicoat.<\/p>\n<div id=\"prni_dvprnejpg4bdaleft\" dir=\"ltr\" style=\"width: 100%; text-align: left;\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"prnejpg4bdaleft\" title=\"Lexus Wins 2023 GTD PRO Manufacturers Championship\" src=\"https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/2248246\/Lexus_Racing_IMSA_Championship_HERO_Image.jpg\" alt=\"Lexus Wins 2023 GTD PRO Manufacturers Championship\" align=\"middle\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Hawksworth and Barnicoat scored podium finishes in nine of 11 races this season, including wins at the Long Beach street circuit and Watkins Glen International. Hawksworth also led the GTD PRO class with four pole positions this year, winning the 2023 Motul Pole Award for most poles in class. Hawksworth has been a part of the Lexus GT program since its inception in 2017, while Barnicoat has raced the RC F GT3 for two seasons. Endurance racers <b><span class=\"xn-person\">Kyle Kirkwood<\/span> <\/b>and <b><span class=\"xn-person\">Mike Conway<\/span> <\/b>also contributed to the Manufacturers title with endurance race starts in the Lexus RC F GT3 this season.<\/p>\n<p>Lexus and Vasser Sullivan previously won the 2020 IMSA GTD Sprint Cup Championship as the top team across all of the sprint races that season.<\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Aaron Telitz<\/span><\/b>\u00a0and <b><span class=\"xn-person\">Frankie Montecalvo<\/span><\/b>\u00a0finished the 2023 season third in the IMSA GTD championship. They were joined by endurance racer <b><span class=\"xn-person\">Parker Thompson<\/span> <\/b>during the four endurance events this year. The highlight of the season for the No. 12 RC F GT3 came at Watkins Glen International in June when the trio dominated and won the six-hour endurance event and gave the Lexus and Vasser Sullivan the first double victory in program history.<\/p>\n<p>The 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season begins at the Rolex 24 at Daytona on <span class=\"xn-chron\">January 27<\/span> and 28. To keep up with all of the racing action, follow Lexus Racing on <u><a href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3997538-1&amp;h=3834009718&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Flexusracingusa%2F&amp;a=Facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Facebook<\/a><\/u>, <u><a href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3997538-1&amp;h=2221147194&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Flexusracingusa%2F&amp;a=Instagram\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Instagram<\/a><\/u> and <a href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3997538-1&amp;h=2714497440&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40lexusracingusa&amp;a=TikTok\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">TikTok<\/a> by using #LexusRCFGT3, #LexusPerformance and #LexusRacing.<\/p>\n<p><b><u>Vasser Sullivan Driver Quotes<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">JACK HAWKSWORTH<\/span>, No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3<br \/><\/b><b>What does it mean to win the first GT championship for Lexus in your seventh season?<br \/><\/b>&#8220;It&#8217;s been amazing. For me personally, I&#8217;ve been with the program since it was formed at the end of 2016 all the way through the different teams and people who have touched this program over the last seven years, and to see it grow has been incredible. It&#8217;s not always been easy. We&#8217;ve had a lot of ups and downs along the way. It&#8217;s been quite the journey really. I just feel very grateful and thankful to Lexus\u00a0and TRD\u00a0and Vasser\u00a0Sullivan who have stood by me and put their trust in me for a long time. To finally get a championship alongside two fantastic drivers in <span class=\"xn-person\">Ben (Barnicoat)<\/span> and <span class=\"xn-person\">Kyle (Kirkwood)<\/span>, it&#8217;s been a dream come true for me this year. It&#8217;s been an awesome journey and I&#8217;m very proud of what we achieved this year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>What does it mean to get the GTD PRO championship with the Lexus RC F GT3?<br \/><\/b>&#8220;It means a lot to get one with the RC F\u00a0GT3 for sure. I&#8217;ve been driving this car since 2016 so to finally get a championship done with it is pretty special. Over these seven years, yes we have a homologated\u00a0GT3 car, but again this is credit to Jimmy and Sulli\u00a0and everyone at TRD. They&#8217;ve found ways to squeeze more out of it every single year and then squeezing more out of the race team. That&#8217;s how we managed to do it. Getting 1% better every couple of months. It&#8217;s really special to get one with this car. There&#8217;s advantages and disadvantages to having a car which has been around for longer. Obviously, we know this car exceptionally well. We know what its strengths are and what its weaknesses are. When you bring out a new platform there&#8217;s always growing pains with it and understanding it and what not. Right now, we have a car which is capable of winning races, and we know how to use it. From that perspective, it&#8217;s an advantage for us as well.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">BEN BARNICOAT<\/span>, No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3<br \/><\/b><b>What does it mean to win the GTD PRO championship in your second season with the Lexus and Vasser Sullivan program?<br \/><\/b>&#8220;In 2021, I made my IMSA\u00a0debut here with a different team, but that&#8217;s where I sat down and met all of the individuals at Lexus\u00a0Racing and Vasser\u00a0Sullivan. If you would&#8217;ve told me at that point that in two years&#8217; time that I&#8217;d be a GTD\u00a0PRO champion, I don&#8217;t know if I would&#8217;ve believed it or not. Of course, that&#8217;s what we all set out to do and that&#8217;s why I was hired and brought into this program. It&#8217;s been phenomenal. I&#8217;m very lucky to race alongside <span class=\"xn-person\">Jack (Hawksworth)<\/span>. He&#8217;s definitely one of, if not the best guy in IMSA\u00a0right now. There&#8217;s no one else I&#8217;d rather go racing with. All of the Vasser\u00a0Sullivan engineers giving us an amazing Lexus\u00a0RC F\u00a0GT3. I&#8217;ve been able to slot into the family exceptionally well, it&#8217;s the first title in my second year, and I plan on staying around and hopefully getting a few more.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">KYLE KIRKWOOD<\/span>, No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3<br \/><\/b><b>What does it mean for you to see the team accomplish this success this year?<br \/><\/b>&#8220;It&#8217;s amazing. The amount that this team has grown over the past years. This marks my fourth Petit Le Mans with the Vasser\u00a0Sullivan team. I started out with the 12 car and then moved over to the 14 car quickly. The amount that this team has grown, how much that they&#8217;ve filled in their shoes and how much better they&#8217;ve gotten over the years that I&#8217;ve been with them is phenomenal. The fact that the Lexus\u00a0RC F\u00a0GT3 has been in circulation for so long and now it seemed like a very dominant year for Vasser\u00a0Sullivan and Lexus\u00a0is something that is so cool against these manufacturers that have been involved for many decades. I&#8217;m proud to be a part of it. (James) Sulli\u00a0(Sullivan) and <span class=\"xn-person\">Jimmy (Vasser)<\/span> took me under their wing in 2020 when I didn&#8217;t have a ride because of Covid, and we haven&#8217;t looked back since and have had a lot of success together and I&#8217;m happy to continue this journey with them and watch them succeed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">JEFF BAL<\/span>, Senior Manager | <span class=\"xn-person\">Lexus Motorsports<\/span>, Experiential Marketing &amp; Sponsorships<\/b><br \/><b>What does it mean to have Vasser\u00a0Sullivan earn the first GT\u00a0championship for Lexus?<br \/><\/b>&#8220;We&#8217;re relatively still new to competitive GT\u00a0racing so this is a tremendous accomplishment for everyone involved. Congratulations to <span class=\"xn-person\">Jack (Hawksworth)<\/span> and <span class=\"xn-person\">Ben (Barnicoat)<\/span> and <span class=\"xn-person\">Kyle (Kirkwood)<\/span> and everyone at Vasser\u00a0Sullivan on this championship. They don&#8217;t just race for themselves and for the Vasser\u00a0Sullivan team in the paddock, but it&#8217;s for the 245 dealers and the nearly 400 Lexus\u00a0guests that are here tonight cheering on the hillside. The growth and attention to the program has been growing consistently each year. To earn this championship with the Lexus\u00a0RC F\u00a0GT3 is truly an incredible accomplishment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>What has the relationship been like with <span class=\"xn-person\">Vasser Sullivan<\/span>?<\/b><br \/>&#8220;For all of us, it was a tremendous leap of faith. We were at a point in our program where we had some struggles quite frankly with a car that wasn&#8217;t originally first designed to be a GT3. It started with a conversation and phone call to (Jimmy) Vasser\u00a0and Sulli\u2013 they were IndyCar\u00a0guys and hadn&#8217;t spent much time in sports cars, so it was a leap of faith together. And with their ability to build this team together and the comradery and to realize that everyone has a role and it&#8217;s defined, you could see it here with the drivers. They&#8217;re like brothers. As we are with our dealer network, we&#8217;re fiercely loyal and we wouldn&#8217;t want to do this and couldn&#8217;t do this without anybody but Jimmy and Sulli\u00a0and this team. That&#8217;s the future for us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">AARON TELITZ<\/span>, No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3<\/b><br \/><b>How was your race?<br \/><\/b>&#8220;Obviously, a massive disappointing day all around for the Vasser\u00a0Sullivan team other than the 14 car taking the green flag and clinching the first ever GT\u00a0championship for Lexus. Not much else went right for us today. Our car was really fast in the beginning of the race, but I noticed early on that we had a bit of an issue with the drive train of our car, and it just never got better. By the time <span class=\"xn-person\">Parker (Thompson)<\/span> got in about midway through the race, it was so bad that we had to stop and fix it and the guys did an amazing job to do an entire rear-end change on our car in about an hour and get us back out there to pick up valuable spots to clinch third in the GTD\u00a0championship. Not the way we wanted to end the season and we would&#8217;ve liked the 12 car to finish higher in the championship but we&#8217;ll celebrate with our 14 boys and we&#8217;ll be back stronger next year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">FRANKIE MONTECALVO<\/span>, No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3<\/b><br \/><b>How was your day?<\/b><br \/>&#8220;Crazy day. It&#8217;s kind of a shame. I felt like we had a car there to be able to battle at the end. The team gave us a great car all weekend and we&#8217;re gutted from getting taken out from the top five. The Vasser\u00a0Sullivan team did a phenomenal job changing the gearbox out and getting that done in 45 minutes to an hour. I think it&#8217;s going to make the difference in our championship points to get the car out there because it moved us up a couple spots and I think that will be what it takes to clinch third in the championship. A team effort here. Congratulations to the entire 14 team and Jack and Ben for winning the GTD\u00a0PRO championship. I want to thank everyone at Vasser\u00a0Sullivan and Lexus\u00a0for another great season.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">PARKER THOMPSON<\/span>, No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3<\/b><br \/><b>How was your race?<\/b><br \/>&#8220;We&#8217;re capping off our season here at the Petit Le Mans with the Vasser\u00a0Sullivan crew and Lexus\u00a0Racing. Unfortunately, not the way we wanted it to end for the 12 side. We had a fast Lexus\u00a0RC F\u00a0GT3 today, but some gearbox issues about four hours in took a pretty easy ride in the top three down to scrapping away to get as much points as we could to seal up third in the championship for <span class=\"xn-person\">Aaron (Telitz)<\/span> and Frankie\u00a0(Montecalvo). They so deserve it. I can&#8217;t thank them enough as teammates. I&#8217;m glad to help get them third in the championship. Then, on the other side of the garage, to see the 14 boys \u2013 <span class=\"xn-person\">Jack (Hawksworth)<\/span> and <span class=\"xn-person\">Ben (Barnicoat)<\/span> along with Kyle Kirkwood\u00a0win the championship. So deserving for them. Jack has been around a long time and with this program he has led this Lexus\u00a0RC F\u00a0GT3 pretty much through its IMSA\u00a0campaign. So, to see this guy get what he deserves which is the highest crown in the world of sports car racing is awesome. Huge congrats\u00a0to Ben, Jack and Kyle. Couldn&#8217;t pick three guys that deserve it more.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><u><b>About Lexus<\/b><br \/><\/u>Lexus&#8217; passion for brave design, imaginative technology, and exhilarating performance enables the luxury lifestyle brand to create amazing experiences for its customers. Lexus\u00a0began its journey in 1989 with two luxury sedans and a commitment to pursue perfection. Since then, Lexus\u00a0has developed its lineup to meet the needs of global luxury customers in more than 90 countries. In <span class=\"xn-location\">the United States<\/span>, Lexus\u00a0vehicles are sold through 244 dealers offering a full lineup of luxury vehicles. With eight models incorporating Lexus\u00a0Hybrid Drive, Lexus\u00a0is the luxury hybrid leader. Lexus\u00a0also offers nine F\u00a0SPORT models, one F\u00a0performance model and one F\u00a0model. Lexus\u00a0is committed to being a visionary brand that anticipates the future for luxury customers.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3997538-1&amp;h=3036804885&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Flexus&amp;a=www.facebook.com%2Flexus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.facebook.com\/lexus<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3997538-1&amp;h=2165932017&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.twitter.com%2Flexus&amp;a=www.twitter.com%2Flexus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.twitter.com\/lexus<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3997538-1&amp;h=265475146&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2FLexusVehicles&amp;a=www.youtube.com%2FLexusVehicles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.youtube.com\/LexusVehicles<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3997538-1&amp;h=1184102531&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Flexususa&amp;a=www.instagram.com%2Flexususa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.instagram.com\/lexususa<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3997538-1&amp;h=1776775758&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Flexususa&amp;a=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Flexususa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/lexususa<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Media Contacts:<br \/><\/b><span class=\"xn-person\">Sam Mahoney<\/span>, Lexus\u00a0PR, <a href=\"mailto:Samuel.mahoney@lexus.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Samuel.mahoney@lexus.com<\/a>, 980.900.8573<br \/><span class=\"xn-person\">Pam Jansen<\/span>, Golin\u00a0for Lexus\u00a0Racing, <a href=\"mailto:pjansen@golin.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">pjansen@golin.com<\/a>, 386.631.2489<\/p>\n<div id=\"prni_dvprnejpg1a57left\" dir=\"ltr\" style=\"width: 100%; text-align: left;\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"prnejpg1a57left\" title=\"Lexus Logo\" src=\"https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/1428802\/Lexus_Logo.jpg\" alt=\"Lexus Logo\" align=\"middle\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Photo &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3997538-1&amp;h=1358028917&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F2248246%2FLexus_Racing_IMSA_Championship_HERO_Image.jpg&amp;a=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F2248246%2FLexus_Racing_IMSA_Championship_HERO_Image.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/2248246\/Lexus_Racing_IMSA_Championship_HERO_Image.jpg<\/a><br \/>Logo &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3997538-1&amp;h=1007341511&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F1428802%2FLexus_Logo.jpg&amp;a=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F1428802%2FLexus_Logo.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/1428802\/Lexus_Logo.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n<p>SOURCE  Lexus<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"xn-content\">\n<p class=\"prntac\"><i>Barnicoat, Hawksworth and Vasser Sullivan Secure Driver and Team Titles<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">BRASELTON, Ga.<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-chron\">Oct. 16, 2023<\/span> \/PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE\/&#8211; Lexus clinched the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD PRO Manufacturers Championship at the Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Saturday. <b><span class=\"xn-person\">Ben Barnicoat<\/span><\/b> and <b><span class=\"xn-person\">Jack Hawksworth<\/span><\/b> also won the GTD PRO Drivers title and the Vasser Sullivan No. 14&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deportes-y-recreacion"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156167"}],"version-history":[{"count":"1","href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156176,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156167\/revisions\/156176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}