Lexus has joined the two-time Manufacturers Cup winners’ club, taking the overall win at the 2024 World Finals in Amsterdam — despite not securing first place in the grand final.
The Lexus team went into the finals with mixed fortunes. It was leading the way in the Manufacturers Cup championship already, courtesy of 13 World Series points that put it four ahead of its nearest rival Porsche.
However it also had to deal with the loss of its talismanic, multiple-champion driver Igor Fraga due to a scheduling conflict with his real-life racing career. He’d be replaced by the second-best Americas qualifier for the brand, Harald Walsen, and those are some pretty big shoes to fill for anyone.
The format for 2024’s finals were a little bit of a departure from previous events. Rather than a single race for each of the three representatives and then a final race requiring all three to drive, it’d just be the one final race. However that would be preceded by a “superpole” format qualifying.
All 12 teams would attempt their fastest lap on hard tires with one nominated driver. The bottom three would then remain in position and be cut, with the remaining nine heading to a second session on medium tires with a different nominated driver. Again we’d lose the bottom three before a final, six-car shootout on soft tires with the final driver.
An incredibly tight first session saw the 12 cars covered by 0.56s, with the surprise loss of the high-ranked Mazda team and a perennial podium presence in Mercedes, as well as Audi. The next session also saw the fancied Genesis team fall, along with Ferrari — which had topped the first session — and Chevrolet.
In the final, soft-tire superpole session, it was former Nations champion Valerio Gallo that took his Honda NSX to pole position, just ahead of the BMW, with Porsche, Lexus, Toyota, and Subaru rounding out the top six and split by just under 0.7s.
But there was still 20 laps of Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps to go, and it’s a track that can bite you — especially when it rains — and it was all-action on the opening lap.
The BMW just cruised right past the Honda on the Kemmel Straight, while a late lunge from Porsche at Les Combes saw all three cars touch — with the Honda heading off the track and rejoining right into the side of the 911.
Things got worse for Honda, as the Porsche passed at Bruxelles and was almost joined by the Toyota until it, baulked by the Porsche, dropped back behind Genesis and Subaru. And that was only halfway around the first lap…
Honda’s troubles weren’t over yet either. Contact with the Genesis saw them fall behind the Korean marque and Toyota too, before falling even further behind Mercedes-AMG and, after a slide from the German car into the passenger door, Chevrolet and Ferrari too.
Lexus was moving the other way though, sneaking past Porsche — before a penalty for its championship rivals cemented the deal — and up onto the back of the BMW.
Anticipating a squall, Mazda and Subaru pitted, with the latter opting for full wet tires in something of a surprise. It turned out that they’d gone early though, as the majority of the field was able to carry on for another lap on the mediums without issue — dropping the duo well off the back of the pack.
The stops saw a divergence of strategy though, with roughly a 50:50 split of cars on intermediate tires and wet tires. Initially it looked like both were viable, but the leading inter-shod car, Porsche, began to leak time in chunks — to Toyota first but then Genesis which cruised past both. Soon the split showed the front six on wets and the rest on inters.
Meanwhile at the front Lexus had caught right up with BMW. Given its points advantage, second would be enough for Lexus to take the title no matter what, but Coque Lopez — driving the Lexus — is not one to settle for second and battled past Labouteley in the BMW to take the lead. He’d make an error later at La Source, as the track started to dry again, letting the BMW back past.
With a third of the race remaining the rain stopped and the track started to come back towards the intermediates, with the Mercedes-AMG making up time hand-over-fist and closing onto the back of the Genesis and Chevrolet fighting for the podium. Genesis opted to roll the dice and head back in for slicks.
The bold move proved the right one, as the Genesis leapt past the Chevrolet when it pitted a lap later with a delta of around 2.5 seconds — and closed right back up onto the top two cars into the bargain.
That set up an interesting tactical battle for the last five laps. BMW could win but lose the title by one point to Lexus if the original Manufacturer Series champion finished in second — and could really do with backing the Lexus into the chasing Genesis, but the top seven were now just six seconds apart.
Seven became three with a pair of bizarre, sequential incidents at Les Combes. The Mercedes appeared to squeeze the Subaru off under braking, earning a two-second penalty and time lost to the leaders for both. Immediately behind them, the Toyota and Chevrolet collided much more dramatically with both falling to the back and Toyota scoring a three-second penalty.
Genesis seemed to be settling for third, in order to secure third in the championship, but the penalty for Mercedes changed the picture enormously. Serving its penalty, the Mercedes dropped behind the Subaru, Mazda, and Porsche, to leave those three teams tied on 19 points with Genesis. Mazda came within 0.072s of passing Subaru to take the place outright but couldn’t quite make it.
While the BMW crossed the finish line in first and in eventually comfortable fashion, it wouldn’t be enough to take the title from Lexus as the Japanese team held a five-point advantage going into the finals.
Victory for Lexus means it’s the third brand to have won the title twice, backing up its win in 2018 to join Toyota and Subaru. Coque Lopez is also now the only driver to win a title four years in a row — extending his own record — and to claim both two Nations and two Manufacturers crowns having won with Toyota in 2021.
That all just leaves the Nations Cup to come, and that gets underway at 1800 UTC on Sunday December 8.
Manufacturers Cup Grand Final Race Results
- 1. Team BMW – BMW M6 GT3 – Labouteley/Roach/Suzuki – 20 laps
- 2. Team Lexus – Lexus RC F GT3 – Kawakami/C. Lopez/Walsen – +1.818s
- 3. Team Genesis – Genesis X Gr.3 – Heldt/Romero/Sasaki – +2.914s
Manufacturer Cup Final Points Standings
- 1. Team Lexus – 33 points
- 2. Team BMW – 32 points
- 3. Team Genesis – 19 points
- 4. Team Subaru – 19 points
- 5. Team Mazda – 19 points
- 6. Team Porsche – 19 points
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