Tag: Corvette Racing

Juncadella and Bamber join Corvette’s IMSA roster

Ahead of its first season of worldwide GT3 competition, Corvette Racing is expanding its roster of factory drivers that will compete in championships and events around the globe with the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Daniel Juncadella, Earl …

Ahead of its first season of worldwide GT3 competition, Corvette Racing is expanding its roster of factory drivers that will compete in championships and events around the globe with the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Daniel Juncadella, Earl Bamber, Charlie Eastwood and Nico Varrone will be part of the group that will race Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs in either the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, FIA World Endurance Championship – or in some cases both.

The quartet joins existing Corvette factory drivers Antonio Garcia, Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg and Alexander Sims, all of whom will contest the full WeatherTech Championship season. The eight collectively will compete as factory drivers for Corvette Racing – the brand that encompasses all factory-supported and customer Z06 GT3.R efforts going forward.

“As we move into GT3 and customer racing, it is important that we add to our roster of drivers that are available to teams,” said Christie Bagne, Corvette Z06 GT3.R program manager. “We are excited about the wealth of experience in our Corvette factory lineup. Both GM and our teams will benefit from the learnings from each driver.”

Juncadella and Bamber each will be part of Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports ’two-car effort in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Daytona (GTD) PRO class. Both drivers will race with the factory-backed program in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans. Juncadella will drive with Garcia and Sims while Bamber joins Milner and Catsburg.

“I’ve been a witness to what it means to be a Corvette driver in the U.S.,” said Juncadella, who recently wrapped up the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup for WeatherTech Racing in GTD PRO after wins at Daytona and Petit Le Mans. “That means a really big fanbase. That’s pretty exciting, to be honest.

“At every autograph session in IMSA that I’ve been sitting next to the Corvette tent, there is a queue of 100 people waiting to get an autograph from their drivers, and we were just sitting around! That’s very exciting, I have to say, to see the legacy that Corvette Racing has created in the U.S. and to see the amount of awareness about the brand is very exciting. It makes me proud and it feels quite unique to be a Corvette factory driver.”

In addition, Juncadella will have the distinction of driving the Z06 GT3.R in two championships as he joins TF Sport for its full-season effort in the LMGT3 Am class of the FIA World Endurance Championship – including the 24 Hours of Le Mans – his first year in the global series.

“I have not been to Le Mans. I did watch a lot of this year’s race. I was already in talks with Corvette so I knew it might be one of my possibilities for next year, and that made me be more interested in the race.

“This year obviously was a big year for Hypercar and all the brands coming together with the new regulations. It was an interesting year with a lot of stuff – the Centenary, the last year of GTE … I have to say I was a bit worried that Corvette was winning again because I was like, ‘They are winning so much this year that it’s going to make it difficult for me next year being so successful. ’But it did make me realize how good of a brand they are, how good of a team they are and how they turned things around. It was very exciting.”

Bamber will contest IMSA’s endurance rounds in the Z06 GT3.R. Previously a long-time rival to the Corvette Racing program while driving for Porsche, Bamber already has tested the Z06 GT3.R, adding to a long list of GT3 cars he has driven throughout his career. He also remains under contract for Cadillac Racing’s WEC program in 2024.

“It’s really exciting to be joining Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports for the long races” said Bamber. “I’ve been a part of some big rivalries for many years in IMSA racing; but this organization has won so many races and championships… it’s really impressive. When I did my first test at Road America, you could see why they’ve been so successful. I

“’ve driven the Z06 GT3.R and I think the package is really good. These guys have built fantastic GTLM cars over the years, and I don’t see why the Corvette GT3 should be any different. It’s a well-balanced car already just in its infancy, so I think they will be a formidable force not just in IMSA but also as this program seeks out to go all around the world. I think it will be one of the benchmark cars into the future.”

Varrone, Corvette Racing’s rising star who helped capture the WEC GTE-Am title for teh team, will transition to full-time IMSA duties in his first year as a factory driver. He rejoins AWA – a team with which he won this year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona in the LMP3 class – and will partner with Anthony Mantella.

“First of all, it’s a big honor to be a factory driver for Corvette,” stated Varrone. “It’s also nice to be back in IMSA next season with everyone at AWA. These are people that I know from this year and doing the endurance races in LMP3. It was a good year. We won Daytona and had great performances throughout the season. It will be a big challenge with the new car, not only for our team but everyone in the entire Corvette program. But this is also a completely new class for AWA.

“It will be a challenge, but we will be prepared to make the most of it and get some wins with the Corvette Z06 GT3.R and have a great season.”

In FIA WEC, Eastwood joins the Corvette factory lineup alongside Juncadella as TF Sport’s two professional drivers. It’s a familiar relationship for Eastwood, who has driven for TF Sport in the championship from 2018-’20 and the current season.

“It’s really beneficial. Obviously, this is a brand-new car with new regulations going to GT3 from GTE, so knowing all the team and the engineers already, I feel like it can give us the upper hand in how quickly we can develop a brand-new car,” Eastwood said. “It’s a short timeframe between receiving the car and only a few days testing before we get to Qatar. We need to make sure that we’re making the most out of the time that we have together. Knowing all the personnel and the engineers, I hope that will put us in a really good place going into the first round at Qatar.”

Corvette Racing’s new era begins with the Rolex 24 at Daytona on Jan. 25-28, the first round of the iMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The FIA WEC season begins in March in Qatar.

Petit Le Mans to bring an end to 25 years of factory Corvette Racing

Twenty-five years of Corvette Racing history comes to an end when the checkered flag falls on this weekend’s Petit Le Mans, the season finale of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Having competed as an entity through several categories of …

Twenty-five years of Corvette Racing history comes to an end when the checkered flag falls on this weekend’s Petit Le Mans, the season finale of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Having competed as an entity through several categories of GT racing and across several series, the sun will set on the program as Corvette transitions to customer racing with the advent of the Corvette Z06 GT3.R next season.

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For those who built the program that produced 127 victories worldwide, nine wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and 14 drivers and manufacturers titles, the record is one of remarkable achievement that laid the groundwork for what is to come.

“In my time with Corvette Racing, I watched the team evolve immensely,” said Oliver Gavin, who drove for Corvette Racing from 2002-20. “It really has been incredible to watch. The racing landscape is changing constantly with new teams and new manufacturers, but the constant has always been Corvette Racing. It’s such a strength of this program to have been flexible and smart enough to apply themselves in the best way to come away consistently with championships and race victories over the years. I’m immensely proud to be part of it all.”

Gavin, the winningest driver in Corvette history, is one of 24 different drivers to have won in a Corvette, including Johnny O’Connell, Jan Magnussen, Ron Fellows, Olivier Beretta, Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor, Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating, Kelly Collins and Max Papis. Corvette lore is written in achievements such as the overall victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2001 or the 2017 victory at Sebring against some of the best GTLM competition ever assembled, or the first-and-second battle to the finish at Daytona in 2016.

Oliver Gavin has won more races for Corvette than anyone else. JEP/Motorsport Images

“I’m proud of Corvette Racing’s achievements in the last 25 years,” declared Jim Campbell, Chevrolet’s U.S. vice president for Performance and Motorsports. “I was fortunate to be part of the team that launched the program at Daytona in January of 1999. In addition to its on-track accomplishments, I’m proud of the relationship that Corvette Racing has established with our production teams from design, engineering and propulsion to improve Corvettes for the showroom.

“Corvette owners and fans have supported Corvette Racing from the beginning. I recall hundreds of owners driving their Corvettes to Daytona for the 1999 Rolex 24 to support our launch. We appreciate their passion, knowledge and support at more than 280 races since.”

Corvette Racing has as much fan engagement as any team or manufacturer in the paddock with Corvette Corrals at IMSA races bringing in more than a thousand owners throughout the season. The cars in those corrals range from impeccably restored C1 Corvettes to modified C5s to brand-new C8s, and the last three generations of the car have benefitted greatly from the racing program.

“It’s difficult to imagine what the Corvette brand would look like without the Corvette Racing program,” said Corvette executive chief engineer Tadge Juechter. “For 25 years we have been working toward total integration of the race- and street-car teams. Endurance racing provides us with a treasure trove of information in any number of areas – aerodynamics, engine performance and chassis, to name a few.

“That kind of real-world data is highly valuable to production engineers and designers, and we have made great use of those lessons from the racetrack. It really improves our products, and resonates with our fanbase and Corvette owners.”

Those lessons will likely continue, as longtime partner Pratt Miller is building the Z06 GT3.R, and will run two cars in GTD PRO as Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports. It will be one of several Corvette racing teams worldwide, including AWA in IMSA GTD, TF Sport in WEC and and DXDT in GT World Challenge America.

Aside from Pratt Miller’s involvement, further continuity comes from the GTD PRO driver lineup of Garcia, Catsburg, Tommy Milner and Alexander Sims. Garcia will close out Corvette Racing’s current iteration on Saturday with Milner and Jordan Taylor, who moves back to his father’s team to drive one of the Acura ARX-06 GTP cars next season.

“It has meant a lot to my career with all I’ve achieved with Corvette Racing,” said Garcia. “There couldn’t be a better place to be. I’ve managed to win five championships, but the team has managed to win so many more. This is the best team in the sport at the end of the day, and I’m grateful I’ve been able to carry on.

“I’m super happy with Corvette Racing and they seem to be super happy with me. It’s been a perfect combinations for the last 15 or 16 years that I’ve been racing.”

Corvette Racing wins again at VIR, PMR closes in on IMSA GTD title

Vasser Sullivan Racing and Corvette Racing looked pretty evenly matched on pace in GTD PRO, so it was pit stop strategy and execution on which the Michelin GT Challenge for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship ultimately turned to the favor …

Vasser Sullivan Racing and Corvette Racing looked pretty evenly matched on pace in GTD PRO, so it was pit stop strategy and execution on which the Michelin GT Challenge for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship ultimately turned to the favor of the No. 3 C8.R and delivered victory at VIRginia International Raceway to Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia. The boost to their championship hopes was small, however, as Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth finished second in the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 and carry a 144-point lead into the final two races.

GTD, on the other hand, was another flag-to-flag romp for Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3, Snow taking a 12.187s victory over a fuel-saving Robby Foley in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3. In the process, the team set a record of five wins in GTD during a season, and all but clinched the Sprint Cup Championship, which would make them the first team to score back-to-back Sprint Cups.

“It’s amazing. It’s really wonderful,” said team owner Paul Miller. “I’ve just given everybody a hug on the team. It’s an unbelievable record. We’ve never won anything like that. We’ve never won more than one or two races in a season, so it’s crazy!”

Sellers and PMR even had the No. BMW in the overall lead after the first round of pit stops, but eventually the two leading GTD PRO cars would get back to the front, with Snow and Sellers finishing third overall.

In a race interrupted by only two cautions, and neither coming at a time when it would have any real effect on strategy, the first indication that maybe this wasn’t going to be a cruise for the polesitting No. 14 Lexus came after the first round of pit stops. Taylor took over the No. 3 C8.R from Garcia, dispatched Jules Gounon in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG rather quickly and immediately started knocking out fast laps. While Barnicoat would eventually take the fast lap back, it was an indication that Taylor had the bit between his teeth and intended to close the GTD PRO points gap to the Vasser Sullivan team.

Taylor’s first attack came as Barnicoat saw an opening to get by overall leader Bryan Sellers in Oak Tree. The move slowed Sellers enough for Taylor to also scoot past, but it also left Barnicoat vulnerable due to a lower corner exit speed. Taylor got alongside, had the inside line for Turn 14, but Barnicoat held the braking just a bit later and maintained the lead.

“I didn’t have a ton of confidence going there,” Taylor explained. “I think a lap before I braked kind of late and had a bunch of ABS interaction and almost hit the back of him. That lap I was going to be offline, so I wasn’t 100 percent confident that I would make the corner had I braked when he did on the inside. And yeah, he kind of did the exact same thing to me the last year when I had a similar run, so I knew he was going to go deep. At that point in the race, I knew had we got track position, it who would have transformed the race for us, but I also didn’t want to throw it away.”

Taylor would have to wait for the second round of pit stops to take the point. Corvette Racing brought Taylor in first, with just under an hour to go. The undercut strategy was compounded by the No. 14 Lexus stalling as Barnicoat was leaving the pits. He got it going quickly, and emerged from the pits ahead of Taylor; but Taylor was at full speed, and passed Barnicoat easily going into Turn 1. Barnicoat slid wide on cold tires, giving Taylor more of a buffer. Barnicoat kept the gap around 2s to Taylor until the end, but could never really close and attack, finishing second by 2.068s. It was a nice comeback from what was almost a sure win in the previous race at Road America, ruined by a penalty for insufficient fueling time.

“Pretty much that whole race I was pushing, even on the first cycle, just to close the gap to the Lexus and to see if we could make them make a mistake,” explained Taylor. “So when the [second] yellow came out, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen – those guys restarted really strong. The guys made an amazing call to kind of shortfill, get us out front track position-wise and then it was just down to saving fuel, managing tires and maintaining the gap. I was counting down the laps from about 25 to go, so I was very happy to see that checkered flag.”

The earlier stop left Taylor needing to save fuel, and he was denied his requested post-victory burnout because the team didn’t believe he had a sufficient supply to roast the rear tires and still get back to the pits.

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“It was amazing,” declared Taylor, whom his teammate compared to a Swiss watch. “That’s down to Corvette Racing, calling that strategy, getting us that track position. And then when they told me that fuel number, I was definitely worried. But the car was so good in fuel save mode, it actually helped me save the tires.”

The victory was the 115th for Corvette, 29th for Garcia and the 33rd for Taylor in IMSA competition as Taylor enters his final two races for the team. Next year he moves back to Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport to drive the team’s second Acura ARX-06 GTP car with Louis Deletraz. For Garcia, who moved the Corvette into second during the first stint, consistency was key to victory.

“Yesterday, we tried to do something different in qualifying, because everybody seemed to be so close,” he explained. “So that probably gave us some indication on how to set up for today and the car was pretty good. So I’m glad that during the first stint the car was where it needed to be. I was able to close to second. The Lexus was very, very strong today. So in a way we we kind of managed to stay in contention. We just had to be there and put pressure and at some point somebody will make a mistake, and it wasn’t us. Then Jordan worked really, really good for the rest of the race. Another great example of pure consistency and very, very well executed.”

Klaus Bachler and Patrick Pilet in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports was a distant third in GTD PRO. Their run was aided by a strategy that had the No. 9 topping off fuel during the second full-course caution, leading to a shorter second stop. But what really secured the podium for them was Bachler having a bit of contact with the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG driven by Jules Gounon a little past the halfway mark of the race. The Porsche suffered minor damage, but the Mercedes needed a long stop to get bodywork back in a position so that the car could continue.

Jake Galstad/Lumen

For Paul Miller Motorsports, the dream season continues. Snow put the No. 1 BMW on pole in yesterday’s qualifying, and never faced a serious challenge during the first stint. Sellers took over the car for the middle portion of the race, and because PMR was one of the first teams to pit and thus took less fuel, Sellers had the overall lead with PRO cars giving him a buffer behind. A slight bobble in Oak Tree let Barnicoat in the Lexus and Taylor in the Corvette get through, but the No. 1 never faced any real threat from another GTD car, either while Sellers was in the car or when Snow took it back over.

“If there was a secret, I definitely wouldn’t be trying to give it out,” said Snow of the team’s success this year. “But it’s really the team. We just worked really well together. We’re always trying to improve, we’re always helping each other out. But having grown as a co-driver really makes that possible. And Brian doesn’t get nearly enough credit for

how hard he works and how hard he brings the whole team together, but also car setup and strategy and everything else.”

But Snow was the driving force behind the victory today, countered Sellers.

“What [Madison] has stepped up and done this year has been has been unbelievable,” he said. “Like today, he, pardon my language, but he really saved my ass today. I didn’t feel well all weekend and I had to tell him last night, ‘Listen, if I don’t get better, I’m going to need you.’ You just have that trust in him all the time.”

The best opportunity for any team to stop the PMR juggernaut was Inception Racing. Frederik Schandorff was charging in the No. 70 McLaren 720S and had the car up to second. But during the final round of pit stops, a wheel nut rolled under the car and a mechanic reached under to retrieve it. Doing any work under the car during refueling is violation of IMSA rules, and the team was handed a drive-through penalty. Schandorff got the car back up to seventh, but a far cry from what might have been possible.

It was a BMW one-two on the GTD podium as Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher finished second in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport M4 GT3. Gallagher was saving fuel during his first stint, and like PMR, Turner brought both the No. 96 and the No. 97 M4 of Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull into the pits after only 50 minutes, 15 of which had been run under yellow. The shorter fill time helped propel the No. 96 from sixth to third, and eventually into second as Frankie Montecalvo in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 faded.

It was nearly a full BMW podium, until Philip Ellis pushed the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG into third past Auberlen in the No. 97. The BMWs were clearly strong at VIR.

“I think it’s a combination of things,” said Sellers when asked why the BMWs were so good here. “The BMW was obviously fantastic today and Madison did a great job. You know, I think one of the things that fits it the most is the high-speed nature of the track. There are a lot of places where it’s small and tight and the cars struggles, but here at VIR, where it’s wide and sprawling, it really stretches its legs so we’re super happy to be a part of it.”

For third-place finisher Winward, it was a nice change for last year’s winners Ellis and Russell Ward. The team has had its struggles this season, so a podium was quite welcome.

The two caution periods were both caused by single-car crashes, the first coming only 10 minutes into the race when David Brule crashed the No. 92 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 911 GT3 R in The Snake. The second occurred when Misha Goikhberg, attempting to get the No. 78 Forte Racing Powered by USRT Lamborghini Huracán back to the pits after a malfunctioning ABS system had sent him off course in Turn 1, lost the car under braking for Turn 14 and buried the Lamborghini in the tire wall. Neither driver was injured in their respective incidents.

RESULTS

Sims, Catsburg in at Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller

With the news that Jordan Taylor would be returning to the family team next season, and with Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller doubling the Corvette presence in GTD PRO in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the full-time, four-driver squad …

With the news that Jordan Taylor would be returning to the family team next season, and with Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller doubling the Corvette presence in GTD PRO in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the full-time, four-driver squad for the two Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs has been determined. Alexander Sims returns as a Chevrolet Corvette factory driver, this time for a full season, along with returning veterans Antonio Garcia, Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg. Driver pairings of the quartet of drivers with a combined 34 years of experience with Corvette will be confirmed at a later date.

“We’re very pleased with the full-season IMSA lineup in the Corvette Z06 GT3.R for 2024,” said Mark Stielow, director of Chevrolet Motorsports Competition Engineering. “The four drivers have exceptional records and history with Corvette. At the same time, we thank Jordan Taylor for his years of service and success with General Motors. He has been an important part of Corvette Racing and a great ambassador for Chevrolet. We wish him well.”

Three of the drivers are current Corvette drivers, either in IMSA or WEC. Sims is returning to Corvette, having served as an endurance addition for 2021-22, after a year in the No. 31 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R run by Action Express Racing. He was part of the winning effort for the team at this season’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and he and Pipo Derani are currently second in the GTP points.

“It’s been fantastic to drive the Cadillac GTP car, but It’s great to be able to work with all the team at Pratt Miller again after two years as third driver,” Sims said. “I know not only a lot of the engineers and team personnel but also the other full-time drivers and guys I’ve worked with before within Corvette Racing. I’ve shared a Corvette with Tommy and shared a garage with Antonio and Nicky. It’s great to be going into a driver group where I know everyone and know that we get on well together. We will push each other hard, so from a performance point of view, it’s really good to know that we will all be on a similar level and eking more performance out of one another all the time.”

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Of the other three drivers, only Garcia has participated in WeatherTech Championship competition full-time this season. Milner has joined in for the endurance races while also helping develop the Z06 GT3.R. Catsburg returns to IMSA competition after competing for Corvette Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, where he won the GTE-Am title with Ben Keating and Nico Varrone.

“This will be my first full season in America, and it’s something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time,” said Catsburg, who has wins in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Sebring’s 12 Hours. “Some of the most notorious tracks like VIR, Road America, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, I’ve never been to these. I’ve always wanted to do this because those are the events I enjoy watching always, and now I get to race there.

“When I joined Corvette Racing, the goal was to become a full-time driver. To have a chance to do full-season WEC this year and a full IMSA season next year is something I’m really looking forward to. This is something new and something that is a challenge. This will not be easy because some of these tracks are ones I don’t know. But I am ready for that challenge.”

For Milner, it marks a return to full-time racing for Corvette, where he has scored 20 victories and two championships in 13 years. Garcia will be the only driver with extensive experience in the GTD PRO category that was created for the 2022 season, albeit in a different version of the C8 than he has raced the last two years.

“It’s hard to believe this will be my 16th year racing with Corvette Racing and Pratt Miller,” said Garcia, who has 27 victories, including two in the Rolex 24 and four at Sebring, plus five championships. “We have grown a lot in our time together with many different versions of the Corvette. I think this Z06 GT3.R is a very good car. You can see that from the months of testing and development we’ve done on this car for 2024. I think it will be a very good race car for us in what is going to be a tough GTD PRO category with some new teams and maybe some new manufacturers. More importantly, it will be a very good car for the new customer Corvette race teams. I’m very happy to be part of the first group to race this car in this new era for Corvette Racing.”

Corvette Racing is in its 25th year of competition, having competed in various IMSA categories, WEC and at Le Mans as a factory team, earning 126 victories. With the advent of the Corvette Z06 GT3.R, the effort is transitioning to primarily customer racing, with its GTD PRO attack run by Pratt Miller. AWA Racing will be running two cars in GTD, and TF Sport will campaign WEC with a pair of Corvettes.

Jordan Taylor has been a significant part of that history, but moves back to prototypes with his father’s team in 2024, opening the door for Sims. In more than 10 years as a factory driver for Corvette Racing and General Motors, Taylor compiled an outstanding record of 33 victories and four drivers’ championships in both prototype and GT competition — including in 2020 and ’21 with Corvette Racing. He also was part of the team’s winning lineup at Le Mans in 2015 and is a three-time Rolex 24 winner in GM-powered entries.

Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller will make its competition debut in the 62nd Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 27-28, 2024.

Corvette switches to party mode after wrapping up WEC GTE Am drivers’ title

At first glance, Corvette Racing’s fourth-place finish at the 6 Hours of Monza may seem unremarkable. Following a string of outstanding results since the season began in March, including wins at Sebring, Portimao and Le Mans and a second-place …

At first glance, Corvette Racing’s fourth-place finish at the 6 Hours of Monza may seem unremarkable. Following a string of outstanding results since the season began in March, including wins at Sebring, Portimao and Le Mans and a second-place finish at Spa, you could be fooled into discounting yesterday’s outcome as a forgettable day at the office.

Look at the points table, however, and you will see the full picture. Ben Keating, Nico Varrone and Nicky Catsburg didn’t finish on the podium and therefore leave Italy without a set of trophies, but by scoring 12 points they secured the biggest prize for GT drivers in the WEC: the GTE Am Driver’s Championship.

Wrapping up the title in July, in a season that started in mid-March, has simply never been done before in this championship. No core FIA WEC title has ever been clinched with two races to go, four months before the end-of-season prize presentation.

But Corvette Racing did it. After lackluster performances from their title rivals, who folded under the pressure of the situation and the scorching temperatures trackside, a fourth-place finish in front of a 65,000-strong crowd at Monza was enough to seal the deal.

“I’ve said it over and over, but in this championship and in each one of the five races we’ve had, it has been a true team performance overall,” Keating said after the race. “You win as a team and you lose as a team, but we’ve also been lucky in quite a lot of places. It’s just been a magical season.

“Everyone kept talking about us needing to finish first or second in order to clinch the championship here. I kept saying it was more about where the No. 25 (ORT by TF Aston) and No. 85 (Iron Dames Porsche) finished rather than where we finished. We weren’t really racing for that.”

This is Keating’s second FIA WEC title in a row. Last year the Texan claimed the Am title with British Aston Martin outfit TF Sport, which until yesterday was a title contender once again and coincidentally, was announced as Corvette Racing’s first customer for the forthcoming FIA WEC LMGT3 category that debuts next season prior to the meeting.

Keating has continued to set the standard for Bronze-graded drivers worldwide with his efforts this year. He will be missed next season when he is expected to race elsewhere, having declared that he has no intention of competing in GT3 on the world stage.

For teammate Nicky Catsburg, this title is the latest accolade in an ongoing series of remarkable results in 2023.

The Dutch Corvette factory driver, who has become renowned for his versatility, has added a number of significant lines to his resume in recent weeks. His tour of Europe since mid-May has netted a Nurburgring 24 Hours overall victory in a Ferrari 296 GT3, a Le Mans 24 Hours win with Corvette in GTE Am, a class win at the Spa 24 Hours in a Mercedes AMG GT3 and now the GTE Am title in a C8.R.

“Honestly, this season might have been one of my nicest in motorsport,” he said. “It has been so cool, right from the start. It was always very relaxed with not a lot of pressure. Somehow the results just kept coming.

“It’s super, super cool to be able to call myself a World Champion. I think I had won it before with a team but not as a driver. So I’m really, really happy!”

Fourth at Monza was enough for the Corvette crew to wrap the GTE Am title up with two races to spare. Motorsport Images

Nico Varrone’s part in this title win has been key. The 22-year-old Argentinian has taken to life at Corvette Racing like a duck to water and quickly become a popular member of the team. His unwavering positivity has been infectious, and his performances behind the wheel throughout his debut season in the WEC have been head-turning.

This was a driver who thought his career was over during the pandemic. “I ran out of money, I ran out of support to get a drive,” he told RACER before Le Mans. “I returned home (from Europe) to Buenos Aires, I thought I would need to get a job or work in the family business.”

But this shot to prove himself after Jeroen Bleekemolen (a friend and former teammate) put in a good word with Corvette and recommended him for the WEC Bahrain Rookie Test last year has re-launched his career and taken him to new heights.

“It feels very weird at the moment but means so much,” he admitted after the race. “To say that we are World Champions is just an amazing feeling. I’ve been working for this since I was 8 years old and started driving karts. I didn’t imagine it was going to be so early.

“As Ben said, this was all teamwork all season. We’ve all done a great job – the three of us as teammates, the engineers and the pit crew have been amazing.”

All in all, for a factory team like Corvette Racing, which has been a loyal servant to top-level GT racing since the turn of the century, claiming a Le Mans class win and WEC title in the final year for GTE racing seems fitting.

On the cusp of a new era, which will mark Corvette Racing’s primary role shifting from all-out factory racing to operating a new customer program in the GT3 space, it’s a memorable sign-off.

“How cool is this?” Said Laura Wontrop Klauser, the GM Sports Car Racing program manager.

“The Corvette Racing team joined the WEC full-time last year to learn the championship and had some great successes. We enjoyed it so much and had an opportunity this year with Ben, Nicky and Nico to have a Corvette in the GTE Am class. This group couldn’t say no!

“Now to be able to walk away champions and win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the final year of GTE and the C8.R is a dream come true.”

So what about the remaining races in Japan and Bahrain? Keating said after the race that it will be a four-month party until the end-of-season prize-giving ceremony in the Middle East. The pressure is now off.

“I keep on joking that because we’ve finished fourth, we get to lose 10 kilograms in success ballast!” he chuckled. “Now we can really start pushing hard because we don’t have to be conservative…

“Just kidding! It’s been a great season. I’m really proud of everyone on the Corvette Racing team.”

Corvette Racing has their greatest day – from Monza to Mosport

Corvette Racing’s Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia scored their first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD PRO victory since Sebring 2022 Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. On the other side of the Atlantic in Italy, their sister team …

Corvette Racing’s Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia scored their first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD PRO victory since Sebring 2022 Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. On the other side of the Atlantic in Italy, their sister team finished fourth in the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Monza. Not a very remarkable result, but on the back of victories at Sebring, Portimão and in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it clinched the GTE-Am championship for Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone with two races yet to run.

“A very good day. I don’t think it could have gone much better,” said Taylor after celebrating on the top step of the podium at CTMP. “We have our remote ops here as well, so during our pre-race meeting and warmup we were listening to their intercom and what was going on there. (Chief Engineer) Kyle Millay is usually on the WEC side, but he came here this weekend and they were still talking to him here during our pre-race meeting about strategy for there. It’s a team effort from both sides. Nicky texted us just now saying that they were on our intercom during our race. It’s one big family. They’ve obviously had an unbelievable year winning as much as they did – winning Le Mans and able to clinch the championship, so I think it was a good decision for Corvette to stay in the WEC to execute that championship and open up some doors for the future.”

GM Sports Car Racing Program Manager Laura Wontrop Klauser was at Monza to see the team linch the WEC title. In the second year of running a dual IMSA and full WEC program, it’s certainly a trans-oceanic success for the ages.

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“I can’t think of a better weekend for Corvette Racing,” Klauser declared. “A World Championship in the WEC and a race win in IMSA on the same day is something we all will remember. It shows how strong this program is in both series and how much both sides work together to get the most out of these Corvette race cars. I’m incredibly proud of both the No. 33 and No. 3 Corvette teams on this unbelievable day.”

Ben Keating, the defending GTE-Am champion who came on board the Corvette program for this season after WEC shelved the GTE-Pro class, is often lapping the No. 3 Corvette regularly in IMSA competition aboard the PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 car. But he is now part of the Corvette championship family.

“I’ve said it over and over, but in this championship and in each one of the five races we’ve had, it has been a true team performance overall. You win as a team and you lose as a team, but we’ve also been lucky in quite a lot of places. It’s just been a magical season,” he said, a sentiment echoed by Catsurg.

“Honestly, this season might have been one of my nicest in motorsport,” Catsburg said, who also wont he 24 Hours of Nürburgring, albeit with a different marque. “It has been so cool right from the start. It was always very relaxed with not a lot of pressure. Somehow the results just kept coming. I cannot deny that we have a great car, a great team and we have an awesome lineup. But we still need to execute, and I feel like we did that really well.”

For Garcia and Taylor, there is still the opportunity to produce a championship of their own. They are third in the GTD PRO points, although with a 109-point deficit to championship leaders Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth, it’s going to take a lot of luck in the five remaining races to achieve. For now, though, they get to celebrate Corvette Racing’s “unbelievable” day.

Corvette, Paul Miller Racing stay out of trouble to win GTD at CTMP

Going a bit off strategy, plus some misfortune for competitors, allowed Corvette Racing with Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia to claim their first GTD PRO victory of the season in the No. 3 C8.R at the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire …

Going a bit off strategy, plus some misfortune for competitors, allowed Corvette Racing with Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia to claim their first GTD PRO victory of the season in the No. 3 C8.R at the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. Brian Sellers and Madison Snow, meanwhile, claimed their third GTD victory of the season for Paul Miller Racing in the sixth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Taylor brought the Corvette into the pits for the first time only 33 minutes into the race – far earlier than necessary, but far enough in that they could likely make it to the end with one more stop – and handed the car over to Garcia. Meanwhile, local favorite Pfaff Motorsports went for an opposite strategy, pitting as late as possible — the differing strategies actually coming together at the end of the race.

Without some misfortune for the frontrunners, though, Corvette Racing would have had a tougher time taking the win. The first GTD PRO competitor to fall brought out the race’s first full-course caution halfway into the race. Contact between Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin and Jules Gounon in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG in Turn 8 sent Gunn’s Aston hard into the tire wall. Gunn was evaluated by the medical team and released; the No. 79 had to serve a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.

The second incident occurred on the penultimate restart with a little more than an hour in the 2h40m contest left with Patrick Pilet leading in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. Ben Barnicoat in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus attacked for the front, but ran out of room and went off track; Garcia seized the moment to pass them both and take the lead.

“On the restart, I knew that the Porsche was the only one that gambled on a different strategy, jumped us, and I was kind of first-row spectator into Turn 1 watching them going side by side, which I think never works here,” said Garcia. “Once I saw that, I was kind of alert and going for it and made the move, went into the lead. Then I think we had strong pace, especially on the front.”

Meanwhile, Barnicoat took the Lexus to the pits with a leak in the cooling system, the car eventually going behind the wall and ending an 11-race podium streak for him and Jack Hawksworth. However, with Gunn out, the No. 14 squad still collected fourth-place points.

Garcia was able to hold off Pilet to the end, the Corvette Racing team collecting their first victory since Sebring last season, with Pfaff’s Pilet and Klaus Bachler second followed by Gounon and Daniel Juncadella in third.

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“We’ve definitely struggled here and there,” said Taylor. “But I felt like we’ve been executing very well in a lot of the races and the results just haven’t been there. We’ve had a lot of podiums here and there, but it’s nice to for everything to click and go our way. The guys called great strategy to kind of undercut everyone at the beginning, jumped up a couple spots into second and Antonio had a great restart there to jump into the lead. It was kind of stressful to watch, being mixed in with the GTD cars, but he stayed out of trouble and I think we had a pretty quick car in clean air. It’s nice to get a Corvette back into victory lane.”

Jake Galstad/Lumen

Snow and Sellers were aided by some misfortune for a close competitor as well. The No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz qualified second but had to have an engine change after morning warmup and thus started at the back. In addition, because they missed the installation lap, the No. 12 had to start from pit lane and serve a drive-through penalty and were never a factor.

That left only polesitter Roman De Angelis in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage for Snow to deal with at the start.

“After qualifying yesterday, I knew it was gonna be tough,” Snow said. “We got fortunate with the Lexus with their engine change and starting at the back, so I just had Roman to fight with. There were two GTD PRO cars I had to deal with, but once they were out of the way, and it was just Roman, Roman and I raced hard for a couple of laps and then I ended up getting him around the outside of (Turn) 8. It shows in this field that you can’t do that with everybody that’s out there on the track with you. Roman’s one of them that you definitely can, so he’s a great person to race with.”

From there it was relatively smooth sailing for Snow and Sellers, although Sellers had a hard-charging Frederik Schandorff in the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren catching him in the closing stages. The final full-course caution with only five minutes left put play to any challenge, and Schandorff and Brendan Iribe finished second. Mike Skeen and Mikael Grenier were third in the No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG.

Gradient Racing suffered a heartbreak while in a good position for Katherine Legge and Sheena Monk to score a good placing, or even a victory, in the No. 66 Acura NSX GT3 Evo22. Having pitted right before the short yellow with 57m left, Legge would be able to make it to the end while the rest of the GTD cars in front of them would have had to pit without another long yellow. A short time later, Legge was back in the pits with a brake issue, the screw that holds the pads in the left-rear caliper backing out. The Acura was repaired and continued, seven laps down.

Barnicoat and Hawksworth hold the GTD PRO points lead at 2110, 96 points ahead of Gounon and Juncadella, with Garcia and Taylor another 13 points back. Sellers and Snow extended their GTD points lead, now at 212 over De Angelis and Marco Sorensen. Telitz and Montecalvo are another seven points back in third, with Shandorff and Iribe moving into fourth.

The GTD PRO and GTD cars get their own race next, with a GT-only contest at Lime Rock Park in two weeks.

RESULTS

Toyota finds redemption with victory at WEC Monza 6 Hours

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s No. 7 GR010 HYBRID of Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway emerged victorious in a thrilling FIA WEC 6 Hours of Monza Sunday afternoon in front of a huge crowd. The trio ran a clean race from pole position, beating …

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s No. 7 GR010 HYBRID of Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway emerged victorious in a thrilling FIA WEC 6 Hours of Monza Sunday afternoon in front of a huge crowd.

The trio ran a clean race from pole position, beating the No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P to victory after a final-hour showdown, successfully bouncing back from their retirement at Le Mans last month.

In the second half of the race, following a second safety car called for an incident involving the No. 9 Prema and No. 10 Vector Sport LMP2 ORECAs, Lopez took control up front, building a healthy lead of over 40s.

The third and final safety car of the race in the fifth hour (called due to mechanical woes at the first chicane for the No. 99 Proton Porsche) didn’t cost the No. 7 crew the lead, but it did reduce the gap and created a fight between them and the No. 50.

In the final two stints, Antonio Fuoco, with fresher tires, was tasked with reeling in the Toyota, which was double stinting its set before the final stops. Fuoco closed in and got to within 10s of Kobayashi, much to the delight of the hordes of Tifosi in the stands, before Toyota brought the No. 7 in for a final full-service stop to get it to the flag.

After both contending cars had pitted for a final time, the No. 7 was still leading, but the gap was down to 8.5s. Kobayashi, however, delivered the goods under immense pressure, setting his fastest lap of the race and pulling away, crossing the line 16.5s ahead of Fuoco.

Completing the top three was the No. 93 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8. Paul Di Resta, Jean-Eric Vergne and Mikkel Jensen, a year on from the 9X8’s race debut at the same circuit, fought hard and were rewarded with the program’s first podium.

The 9X8s, building on their surprise showing at Le Mans, were quick all weekend. Despite losing time at an early pit stop and suffering gear selection issues, the No. 93 came home as the third and final car on the lead lap. The result will mean the world for the Peugeot team, which appears to be turning a corner.

The victory, the third of the season for the No. 7 crew, has tightened the title race, as the sister No. 8 GR010 and Le Mans-winning No. 51 499P that sat first and second in the points before the race both had tough afternoons in the sweltering conditions trackside.

Toyota’s No. 8 crew still leads the title race (by 23 points) with a sixth-place finish after a late-race recovery that ended with Brendon Hartley battling past the No. 51 and No. 5 Porsche Penske 963. The tussling included a brave move from Hartley on Antonio Giovanazzi around the outside at Curva Grande to put the No. 8 ahead of the No. 51.

It was a hard-fought result for the No. 8 crew, which was penalized twice early in the race for separate collisions involving Sebastien Buemi — first at the start when Buemi locked up and turned the No. 51 into a spin at Turn 1, then for wiping out the No. 777 D’Station Aston Martin later in the first hour.

There was a further 50 second penalty post-race for the No. 8 for excessive energy usage in the late stages of the race, the penalty dropping the car from fourth at the flag to sixth behind the No. 51 Ferrari.

The No. 51 ended up finishing fifth thanks to the Toyota penalty, behind the No. 5 Porsche that inherited fourth.

With the top two in the points finishing off the podium, No. 7 and No. 50 are now in the game. Both are within 34 points with two races remaining.

“After a tough Le Mans, it was important to bounce back,” Lopez said. “Unfortunately, car No. 8 had a tough race but recovered well. I am very proud of these guys, it feels nice.”

“With the split strategy, it was tense, but with a mega pit stop and a solid last stint from Kamui, it was nice to beat Ferrari on home ground,” added Conway.

Elsewhere in the top class, it was a messy race, with multiple teams in contention for podium honors hitting trouble.

The two privateer Porsches were on track for strong finishes, but both had dramas. The Hertz Team JOTA 963 mirrored its performance at Le Mans, fighting for the lead of the race before an issue for the electronics on the steering wheel saw Antonio Felix da Costa end up speeding in the pit lane under an emergency service.

The crew was unable to fix the issue as nothing more than five seconds of fuel was allowed. The car then stopped at pit out, requiring a power recycle. It came home ninth.

Proton Competition, meanwhile, also briefly led with its new 963, but late in the race stopped at the first chicane shortly after Harry Tincknell got in for his first race stint in the car. A throttle sensor issue was the root cause of the loss of power, which resulted in the car being retired by the Briton after briefly getting going again.

It wasn’t a much better race for the factory 963s either, as neither Penske prototype had the outright pace. The No. 5 ended up fifth, while the No. 6 ended up seventh after having to take an emergency service stop under the second safety car, forcing the team to pit twice in quick succession.

The fifth and final LMDh runner in the field, the No. 2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, finished a disappointing 10th. Richard Westbrook, Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn were in the mix for a strong finish after the field was split in half at the first safety car due to varying strategies, but later faded.

“We were fighting at the front and on a different strategy to half the cars, so it was good, classic sports car racing with different strategies playing out. And it was working for us,” said Westbrook. “Unfortunately, the timing of the safety car was bad for us — we had to pit for emergency fuel and once that happens you’re pretty much out of the game. It’s a real shame. When stuff like the timing of the safety car happens, you’re in the lap of the gods and it didn’t quite work out for us today. But in the future it will.”

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In LMP2, it was heartbreak for the No. 31 WRT ORECA, which retired from the lead with an engine issue with under 20 minutes remaining. This promoted the No. 28 JOTA ORECA, which had been fast all day, to the lead in the run to the line. For Oliver Rasmussen, David Heinemeier Hansson and Pietro Fittipaldi, it was their first win and first podium of the season.

“It was amazing, we had an incredible start, then it was up in the air. I thought a podium would have been great, but to be number one, incredible,” said Heinemeier Hansson.

“We fought back, kept it clean, we were so close at Spa, to get the win was amazing,” added Fittipaldi.

While it wasn’t the best of days for JOTA’s Porsche Hypercar, things could hardly have gone better for its LMP2 ORECA-Gibson. Motorsport Images

Behind, the No. 36 Alpine also secured its best finish of the season with second, coming home ahead of the LMP2 pole-sitting No. 41 WRT ORECA.

The No. 41 snatched the final podium spot off the No. 23 United ORECA on the final lap of the race, completing a recovery drive after losing time in the pits in the first half of the race.

For Josh Pierson, Giedo van der Garde and Oliver Jarvis in the No. 23 United Autosports car, fourth will come as a disappointment, especially after van der Garde put in a trademark opening stint, fighting to third from 11th on the grid. The sister No. 22 ended up sixth behind the Le Mans-winning Inter Europol example that crossed the line fifth.

Motorsport Images

GTE Am, meanwhile, was won by the No. 77 Dempsey Proton Porsche of Julien Andlauer, Christian Ried and Mikkel Pedersen. All three were faultless and played their strategy cards right on a day in which the category delivered an enthralling, unpredictable contest.

“We had no idea where we would finish, it was so close, but we made the right calls and were out front in the closing hours. We had to manage a gap and maintain it at the end,” Andlauer said.

The No. 60 Iron Lynx and No. 86 GR Racing Porsche made it a 1-2-3 for the German brand.

The main headline here was Corvette Racing’s No. 33 C8.R of Ben Keating, Nico Varrone and Nicky Catsburg claiming the class title with a fourth-place finish.

It wasn’t an easy race for the trio, who were carrying 40kg of success ballast, as they had to serve a drive-through for speeding in the pit lane and were forced to take an extra emergency stop for fuel. However, by finishing ahead of the Iron Dames Porsche and ORT by TF Aston Martin, they sealed the championship.

This was the first time all year the Corvette had finished off the podium, in what has been a fairy tale season which had seen the team score three wins and a second place prior to this weekend.

“I’ve said it over and over, but in this championship and in each one of the five races we’ve had, it has been a true team performance overall,” said Keating. “You win as a team and you lose as a team, but we’ve also been lucky in quite a lot of places. “It’s just been a magical season. I’m really proud of everyone on the Corvette Racing team.”

Iron Dames and ORT by TF had hugely disappointing races with the titles on the line. The all-female-crewed No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche finished fifth, while the TF Aston could only muster seventh.

RESULTS

‘We joked about going home’ – A look inside Corvette’s remarkable Le Mans comeback

Corvette Racing’s ninth Le Mans class victory came in fine style Sunday, the U.S.-flagged factory team overcoming a two-lap deficit early in the race to take a commanding victory by the end of the 24 hours. In the final GTE race at the Circuit de a …

Corvette Racing’s ninth Le Mans class victory came in fine style Sunday, the U.S.-flagged factory team overcoming a two-lap deficit early in the race to take a commanding victory by the end of the 24 hours.

In the final GTE race at the Circuit de a Sarthe, it was somewhat fitting that Corvette Racing, a servant of the Le Mans 24 Hours’ GT categories since the turn of the century, would achieve a historic victory at the centenary event.

The story of Corvette’s win didn’t start on lap one. Instead, the opening chapter was penned when the mechanics put in a heroic effort to prepare the car for practice on Wednesday. A costly error from Nico Varonne in FP1 at Tertre Rouge left the car badly damaged and the team scrambling.

The job list was huge, with the crew fitting the car with new right side suspension, new right side brakes, a new floor, rear facia, rear wing, decklids, seat belts, right side front and rear fender, right side door (pause for deep breath)…right side rocker, and more.

In a matter of hours, the car was ready to get out for qualifying, allowing Nicky Catsburg to sneak the car into Hyperpole, setting up Ben Keating for a performance for the ages on Thursday night, which saw him take class pole by over a second. Had the team not moved so quickly to prep the car, it would have started at the very back. In the tricky mixed conditions in the opening hours, the outcome of this race could have been oh so different amid the chaos that ensued.

Come the start of the race, the team hit trouble early. In only the second hour a damper failure saw the No. 33 pushed into the garage for a quick fix. Once again the crew moved fast, but it wasn’t possible to get out fast enough to stay on the lead lap. Instead, Keating climbed in and found himself two laps down, tasked with surviving the heavy rain that caused so many incidents in the Am class.

“We joked about going home,” Catsburg said. “Thankfully the car was back to normal and felt good.”

Masterful pit work is no small part of success at Le Mans. Corvette Racing brought it in spades all week long. Alexander Trienitz/Motorsport Images

Varonne, too, felt a win was out of the equation at that point, telling RACER after taking the victory that he felt a win would be “impossible.”

“But somehow we came back like crazy with great strategy and timing,” he continued. “The decisions we made paid off. The car was mega.”

Initially, after Keating survived the race’s first deluge, the Corvette race engineers called him to the pitlane for wets. At that point, the crew thought it would gain back one of its laps as part of the new safety car procedure because the C8.R would be ahead of the class leader in a train behind one of the three safety cars.

For reasons unknown to the team, a group of cars – including the GTE Am leader – were allowed to exit pit lane before the next of the three safety cars came around. The mistake meant that the Corvette was trapped behind the class leader and couldn’t advance to catch back up after all the safety car queues moved. The car stayed two laps down as the sun set over the circuit.

“It was super tricky in the wet,” Keating said when asked about the opening hours when the track was wet in some places, dry in others. “I cost us 20s in an escape road at one point, but I then watched a competitor in the same place hit a wall. So it was a good decision to be cautious!”

The challenge beyond that, with the night hours underway, was clearly two-fold: stay focused and out of trouble while so many other GTE Am cars saw their races end in the barriers, and chip away at the deficit.

“Over half the class retired, which was a big part of our fightback,” Keating explained when asked about the rate of attrition that saw over half the Am field retire during the race. “Some of our biggest (WEC) competitors didn’t make it; second, third, fourth place in the championship were all wrecked. I don’t know if I’ve had a race like this with this many retirements.”

Varonne, like Keating, had to brave the wet weather during the race’s second major downpour. Catsburg felt the Argentinian’s performance — on the wrong tires while the team waited for a safety car that never came — was key in staying in the fight.

“One of the most significant moments in this race for us was Nico’s stint in the wet on slicks,” Catsburg said. “Half of the field completely destroyed their cars and it’s so difficult to stay calm and mistake-free.”

With brake discs glowing and fireworks overhead, the pace of the ‘Vette began to improve substantially as the track dried and Sunday arrived. Keating completed a triple stint before Varonne took over in the morning.

Varonne was simply masterful with the sun rising, setting the fastest GTE time of the entire event as part of a triple stint that saw him make up more than a half-lap on the field. It was the perfect response to his FP1 shunt and resulted in a welcome reception in the garage after his final stint before Catsburg took the wheel for the finish.

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“I felt like I was in the right moment, at the right time on track,” Varonne told RACER. “The car was better through the high-speed corners and in the last sector when the track warmed up. I had clean laps and managed to do the fast lap. I am really happy because after Wednesday my confidence was down. I was so angry with myself. So gaining that confidence back, setting the fastest lap, was so satisfying.”

All of a sudden, by the end of the seventeenth hour with the crowd beginning to build trackside for the end of the race, the Corvette team was back on the lead lap. The progress made before Catsburg’s final stint was enormous. In the final run to the flag, Catsburg simply had to manage the gap as he continued to pull away as other competitors in the top five, including Bronze-rated drivers in the field, burned the last of their drive time with the race coming to a close.

The Dutchman would cross the line far ahead of the chasing ORT by TF Sport Aston Martin. GR Racing and Iron Dames Porsche were more focused on securing podium places than catching the C8.R by that point.

The team’s achievement caused an eruption in the garage. A ninth-class win, at the centenary event, and finally a victory for the C8.R in France in its final attempt.

“I’ve never taken the finish here,” Catsburg said. “I didn’t know it was so super-crazy on the in-lap, so that was nice. That it’s the 100th anniversary makes it special. That it’s the last year of GTE makes it extra special. That it’s the last year of the C8.R makes it extra special. I’m so happy for the whole team because I feel like we should have already won it in the years before. So it’s sweet for this to happen this year.”

Looking ahead, the result at Le Mans has greatly increased the crew’s chances of wrapping up the class title in the WEC early. With three wins in four races this season, including double points secured at Le Mans, Catsburg, Varrone and Keating can crown themselves champions at Monza next month, before the WEC heads to Fuji and Bahrain for the final two races.

That’s next month, though. For now, the celebrations are fully underway in the Le Mans paddock.