'Ring Leader: Lexus announces return to Nürburgring 24 with new LFA racer-We love Cars

'Ring Leader: Lexus announces return to Nürburgring 24 with new LFA racer: "

Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Europe, Lexus, Toyota, Racing

2010 Lexus LFA racer - Click above for high-res image gallery

Toyota has announced its racing activities for 2010. And while Formula One has already been removed from the program, the Japanese automaker has plenty going on in other disciplines, including the domestic Super GT series, Formula Nippon, NASCAR and...what's that? The Nürburgring 24 Hours.

As you may recall, Toyota's Lexus division took LFA prototypes to the 'Ring in both 2008 and 2009 for the round-the-clock race to help drum up some excitement and give the prototypes some competition testing. Since then, the LFA has gone from concept car to race car to production car and is now going back to endurance racer for this year's event.

The pair of cars, now based on the production LFA, will be fielded once again by Gazoo Racing, piloted by a roster of Japanese and German drivers with a wealth of experience between them in sportscar racing. They'll be supported by Toyota factory personnel, potentially to include once again company president Akio Toyoda.

The announcement comes hot on the heels of the similar news regarding a track-oriented LFA special edition, reportedly bearing the Nürburgring name as well. The race takes place in May, but in the meantime, you can check out the press release after the jump and the fresh images in the gallery below.

Gallery: 2010 Lexus LFA racer