Racing preparations continue for Auto Express

Last weekend, Auto Express’s senior road tester Owen Mildenhall took the wheel of the specially-tuned Lexus ISF that he will drive in this year’s Nurburgring 24-hour race.  The event was part of the German VLN series which is held on the legendary Nordschleife, and is great preparation for May’s endurance event.

Read the first outing for the Auto Express racing Lexus ISF

No fewer than 216 cars took the start of the race, with Owen sharing his car with his Japanese teammates – SuperGT driver Hideshi Matsuda and Gran Turismo game creator Kazunori Yamauchi - who he will also drive with in the 24-hour event.

Since the last race, Lexus’s engineers have been busy adding a revised rear wing, with new end plates, a racing dash readout and new endurance seat belts to make the driver changes easier. The car also ran with extra cooling for the exhaust, diff and brakes.

And the changes have brought about immediate improvements. Over the 10 dry laps Owen drove, he set a new personal best of 9 minutes, 37 seconds, and the car finished the race in 70th overall, and 4th in class.

There’s still another race to go before the 24-hour event proper on April 24th, where the car will get revised rear suspension, some new aerodynamic parts and will also benefit from a new engine and gearbox. Keep following Auto Express on Twitter for all the latest updates.