Lexus will provide support in key areas to ensure that AKKODIS ASP Team is ready for the challenge of competing at the highest level against world-class teams representing eight other major manufacturers on a hotly-contested LMGT3 grid.

The RC F GT3 racecar, developed over multiple years by Lexus in collaboration with the brand’s road car engineers, is already a proven winner on the race track. But unleashing its full capabilities requires specialist knowledge and experience – something Lexus’ customer motorsports program brings to its partner teams around the world so they can fully focus on adding more race wins and titles.

It’s been a whirlwind few months since AKKODIS ASP Team’s program for the FIA World Endurance Championship began to take shape in early summer 2023. With essential support from Lexus' customer motorsports program, the team is gearing up to compete in the 2024 WEC’s ultra-competitive LMGT3 class.

“Lexus’ customer motorsports program has been excellent,” he explains. “I truly didn’t expect the level of support and collaboration we received when we first started working together. At our first test, we took eight people from our side to run one of the RC F GT3s and Lexus provided 10 people to help us out. We are so grateful for this.”

“We will work on our own mostly in the season, that’s the expectation,” says Policand, “but there will be an open and ongoing relationship. We bring our experience as a team to achieve the best results at the track, but we need Lexus’s customer motorsports program to help us get up to speed. It’s a strong and effective way of working together.”

And it’s a way of working that gets its first true test at the opening race of the 2024 WEC season, the Qatar 1812km on March 2.

What makes the 24 Hours of Le Mans so different from almost every other major sporting event on the planet? Each year amateur participants emerge victorious.

While much of the hype surrounding the FIA World Endurance Championship and its centerpiece event is centered on the factory teams and the world-class elite drivers that drive for them, it’s the amateur drivers racing alongside them who remain the foundation of the sport.

Sports car racing at its highest levels is unique in that many series require teams to compete with amateur drivers – often referred to as “gentlemen drivers” – in their lineups. For these gentlemen drivers, the challenge and risks that they take on are exactly the same as for their professional teammates, so they must tap into the talent and experience of the pros they share their car with to hone their speed and race craft and prepare them for some of the world’s biggest races.

Motorsports’ unofficial “Triple Crown” comprises the Indianapolis 500, Monaco Grand Prix and 24 Hours of Le Mans, but only one offers amateur competitors a legitimate chance of winning.

And it’s the allure of standing on top of the podium at the Circuit de La Sarthe, a venue where the defining stories of many of motorsports’ greatest names have been written, that keeps gentlemen drivers coming back year after year.

Robin will share AKKODIS ASP Team’s No. 78 Lexus RC F GT3 with “Platinum”-rated Kelvin van der Linde and “Silver”-rated Timur Boguslavskiy in the 2024 WEC, and the Frenchman knows that his own performance is crucial to its overall competitiveness.

“Many drivers, like me, have personal driver coaches, too, to help ensure I am ready from the moment I arrive at the circuit,” he says. “It’s never been so important to have professional drivers around you that are willing to help, because the level in pro/am racing has never been so high.”

Arnold Robin is one of the two experienced non-professional drivers representing AKKODIS ASP Team in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 campaign, alongside Takeshi Kimura from Japan. Robin's narrative is deeply intertwined with the world of motorsport, particularly with the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans, a race that runs through the veins of his hometown and has fueled his passion for racing since childhood.

Robin works in real estate during the week, and races on the weekends. It’s tough to juggle both things, but his dream of winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans makes the sacrifices and effort worthwhile.

“I love my job, but it makes finding the space for racing, fitness, and simulator work tough sometimes!” he says. “I have to really work hard to prepare for the season. It’s a real challenge.”

Nevertheless, Robin comes into the 2024 season carrying confidence and momentum from a successful campaign in the Le Mans Cup series, where he won the GT3 class title. He’s versatile, motivated, and keen to learn, making him an ideal fit for AKKODIS ASP Team’s debut WEC campaign.

For Lexus customer AKKODIS ASP Team, the buildup to the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship season and its debut season in the new LMGT3 class has been relentless as it seeks to mold a group of potent, but disparate elements – unfamiliar racecars, new drivers and team personnel – into one competitive whole.

During the winter of 2023-’24, the French team has travelled across Europe, completing multi-day tests at a variety of race circuits as it learns the ins and outs of the Lexus RC F GT3, the car it will compete with for the first time in Qatar’s WEC season-opener on March 2.

The RC F GT3, powered by a proven and potent, 5.4-liter, naturally-aspirated V8 engine that’s based on the 2UR unit found in the RC F street car, has been designed to be a forgiving racecar as drivers zero in on its impressive on-track performance. Such a trait is vital for the challenge ahead in the 2024 WEC, as the Bronze-rated Robin must feel comfortable and confident behind the wheel in order to produce quick, consistent laps under immense pressure.

At his first test with the Lexus RC F GT3, Arnold Robin got a chance to spend some valuable time getting to know his AKKODIS ASP Team teammates, “Platinum”-rated pro driver Kelvin van der Linde and title-winning GT driver Timur Boguslavskiy.

As the RC F GT3 is new to all three drivers, the running provided a valuable opportunity for them to bond – call it a high-speed chemistry lesson – over the shared challenge of getting up to speed in the machine they’ll be racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s all-new LMGT3 class in 2024.

As the Bronze-rated “Am” in the No. 78 machine’s Pro-Am lineup, Robin cannot be the weak link. He’s aware of that but says that working with and learning from his co-drivers, his team, and Lexus - a brand whose GT3-based customer racing program thoroughly supports aspiring amateur drivers in reaching their potential - is not only helping him grow as a racecar driver, but feeding back into his life outside of racing.

Professional athletes call it “Flow,” a state of optimal consciousness where they feel “at one” with their situation, with an effortless focus that often allows them to reach their highest level of performance. Through interacting with and learning from his teammates, that’s something Robin aspires to.

“It is incredible to see these guys working and to see how they do this to such a high level,” he says. “That’s something I aim for, too. I enjoy working to elevate every aspect of my racing, and it’s something that can help me away from the race track, too.

“Some Bronze drivers spend so much time on racing that they are like pros, but I work in real estate and love my job. It’s a challenge to balance my work and my racing, but the ability to focus and operate at a higher level, and have that extra mental bandwidth that I’m learning from my racing is a huge help.

“AKKODIS ASP is such a professional team, but also so friendly and supportive. To be a part of it for such an important season, I cannot wait to start repaying their confidence in me. It’s a dream come true.”