Lexus

**Lexus FI Team** was the works team of Toyota in Formula International and briefly the feeder team of Toyota's FE team when the manufacturer moved up. Following their expression of interest of a potential return to single seaters, Toyota entered in the bidding war for Alpine's assets and acquired them. The team was named Lexus after their luxury brand, thus signaling the debut of Lexus in single seaters. The team spent most of the years in the lower midfield but showed sometimes glimpses of potential thanks to the talented lineup of Camilla Ruiz and Raviraj Kudmal. In 2036, Toyota moved up to Formula Earth and alongside them all of the major stuff including drivers Ruiz and Kudmal. Lexus raced for one last season in the sport as a token entry, scoring a last podium, as they announced that they would be sold in the end of 2036. The team was sold to Italian aviation moguls Romagnoli Aviazione, who formed their eponymous team.

## Origins

Toyota, who had lastly races in Formula 1 in 2009 and had focused on Le Mans and WRC in the following year, with lots of success in both series, had expressed their desire to return to single seaters somewhere in the late 2020s. In the end of 2032, Renault had announced that they would shut down the Alpine FI team as the French team had ammassed a large amount of debts and was close to declaring bankruptcy. The assets were put on sale and there was a major bidding war, where Toyota faced competition from Katusha-Gazprom, who folded before the results came and HSBC Nero who withdrew from the bid later to prepare for the following years. Toyota won by default and bought the assets. The team was named after Toyota's luxury brand Lexus, signalind their debut into single seaters.

## 2033-2035: Lower midfield success

For their debut season in Formula International, Lexus signed promising newcomer Camilla Ruiz and former Formula Earth race winner Raviraj Kudmal. Both drivers would make their debuts in FI, as Kudmal had not raced in the series before, having moved straight to Shadow's first team in 2030. The team had the slowest car of the grid much like every newcomer, but their lineup showed lots of talend, with Kudmal scoring all of the team's 5 points, beating DS Techeetah and the financially troubled BMW Andretti. Ruiz on the other hand, while she showed potential, failed to score points. 2034 saw the team score 26 points, finishing again in 10th, with Kudmal finishing with 14 points and Ruiz 12, her first in FI.

2035 saw the team pull off some great results despite having still a very weak car, with Ruiz scoring the team's first ever podium with a second place. Kudmal however proved to be the best performer of the team with 34 points while Ruiz failed to build up after the podium and only scored 14 points in total. The team had the best season in their FI spell with 58 points in total.

## 2036: Last season and sale

In 2036, Toyota moved up to Formula Earth for the first time since 2009 and alongside them all major staff of Lexus and drivers Kudmal and Ruiz. Toyota then announced that Lexus would race for one last season and would be put on sale after the end of 2036. For their last season in the sport and first and last as Toyota's feeder team, Lexus signed Casey King from Mercedes and newcomer Stanislav Rezac. Rezac impressed on his debut season in FI, scoring the team's last point and finishing in 17th with 36 points. King struggled for pace in this season scoring only 8 points. After the end of the season, which was their second best in their 4-year spell in FI, Lexus was disbanded and put on sale. The assets were placed on a bid, for the third time since the team was a descendant of Mahindra and Alpine, both of them were put on sale on the end of their cycle. In the end, the winner of the bidding war which also saw some unexpected faces attempting to enter FI, was Italian aviation company Romagnoli Aviazione, who created their eponymous team and had the best debut season of any FI team in 2037.

## Notable Drivers

* Camilla Ruiz (2033-2035)
* Raviraj Kudmal (2033-2035)
* Stanislav Rezac (2036)
* Casey King (2036)