Lexus IS 350 almost ready for American Le Mans

announced in December that they would be fielding a team of two IS 350's in the 2006 American Le Mans Series GT2 class and they've been hard at work getting the car ready for competition.

The team has announced that they will begin testing in the next few weeks with the goal of a race debut in July. Although we'd love to be racing this weekend in Houston, building a new, competitive, GT2 car from the ground up is a complex undertaking," said Team Lexus owner Chuck Goldsborough. "Our team has been working very hard to design and build the new cars, with inevitable challenges along the way. Once complete, the task of development then starts and must ramp up very quickly."

Rumor has it that the IS 350 will be producing over 450 hp from a production based V6 with the final weight of the car weighing less than 2,800 lbs. The car will retain its double wishbone front and multi-link rear suspension, suitably modified for the task and tuned to work with the large BBS-mounted Michelin racing slicks.

The IS 350 is in for stiff competition facing the like of Porsche, Ferrari, and Panoz in the very competitive GT2 class.