The Lexus RC F GT3 Led Late in Its Final IMSA Race, Then Ran Short of Fuel
The No. 14 led GTD Pro into the final hour at Road Atlanta before a late fuel stop. Next year, the GR GT3 takes over and the Lexus name leaves IMSA.
The Lexus RC F GT3's last IMSA race played out a lot like its final season: fast enough to lead, not quite enough to close. Ben Barnicoat had the Vasser Sullivan No. 14 at the front of GTD Pro going into the last hour of Saturday's Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, but a late fuel stop dropped the car to 10th in class.
The result closes a run that started in 2017. From 2027, Toyota's IMSA GT3 effort switches to the GR GT3, the race car developed alongside the GR GT road car, and it will race under the Gazoo Racing name. That also takes the Lexus brand out of the series.
Out front, then out of fuel
Lexus says the No. 14 led 126 laps of the 10-hour race. Jack Hawksworth started 12th in class, Kyle Kirkwood moved the car into the top 10, and Barnicoat took it to the front. All three did it in a hot cockpit: the drivers' cooling suits stopped working about two hours in.
The finish unraveled in the final 25 minutes. According to Sportscar365, Barnicoat slowed after IMSA warned the team for running outside the series' controlled powertrain limits, and the car still had to stop for energy on the second-to-last lap. The class win went to Car Blanche's Aston Martin Vantage, in only the team's sixth IMSA start, while Paul Miller Racing's BMW took the GTD Pro title.
"We were first, we were last, and we were first again," Barnicoat said.
The sister No. 12 never got the result its pace suggested. Aaron Telitz started third in GTD, but contact from an LMP2 car during Frankie Montecalvo's stint broke a toe link. The repair left the car 16th and 12 laps down. Telitz, Montecalvo, and Benjamin Pedersen recovered to 11th.
A better farewell year than the finale suggests
The farewell season had real highs. Telitz and Pedersen won GTD at Long Beach in April, the RC F GT3's first IMSA win since 2024. Hawksworth and Barnicoat then won GTD Pro back to back at Watkins Glen and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Lexus counts three wins, four podiums, and three poles for 2026, and says the July win in Canada was the RC F GT3's 20th in IMSA.
The momentum didn't last. Late contact cost the No. 14 a podium at Indianapolis, and the car was out of the GTD Pro title fight before Petit Le Mans even started. Kirkwood admitted the No. 14 didn't have the pace to win all weekend, but age isn't the whole story: Mercedes-AMG's GT3, racing since 2016, clinched a third straight GTD title in the same race.
What comes next
Toyota revealed the GR GT3 in Tokyo in December 2025. Jeff Bal, who runs Toyota's North American sports car racing, told Sportscar365 in January that the 2027 Rolex 24 At Daytona is the current plan for its debut here. That is less than four months away.
Toyota hasn't named a team or drivers. Sportscar365 reported that Vasser Sullivan is likely to continue the partnership, and Hawksworth closed his post-race comments by pointing to more news next year.
