DETROIT – The relationship between the Chevrolet Corvette and motorsports stretches is approaching
its sixth decade, beginning with the Corvette’s competitive debut in at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1956.
Less than five years later, Briggs Cunningham entered three Corvettes in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1960
– Corvette’s first appearance at the world’s most demanding race – and the international racing
community began to take notice of America’s sports car.
Fast-forward nearly 40 years as the Corvette returned to the front and center of major endurance sports car racing with the debut of the Corvette Racing team. The effort is a partnership between Chevrolet and Pratt & Miller Engineering, which builds the race cars and operates the Corvette Racing program.
Needless to say, the results speak for themselves.
Since its first race in 1999, Corvette Racing has posted 94 victories around the world to become
endurance racing’s premier production-based team.
Most of those successes came in the American Le
Mans Series (ALMS), where Corvette led in all-time victories and 1-2 finishes, along with 10 team
championships and 10 manufacturer titles – both ALMS records – for Chevrolet. Corvette Racing and
Chevrolet also have won in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans seven times.
The 2014 season saw Corvette Racing contest the inaugural TUDOR United SportsCar Championship
with the new Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. A new championship did not, however, change the philosophy of
the Corvette Racing program – develop and test technology on the race track that makes its way to
Chevrolet showrooms around the world.
Over the years, the Corvettes competing on the track and those available at Chevrolet dealerships
became more closely related, with racing elements adapted to make better road cars.
Perhaps the greatest examples are the 2014 Corvette C7.R and the 2015 Corvette Z06, which shares a common chassis along with similar aerodynamic strategies and engine technologies.
“The importance of the Corvette Racing program to Chevrolet cannot be understated,” said Mark Kent,
Director of Racing for Chevrolet. “What our engineers learn and gather from racing the Corvette C7.R
lays the groundwork for technologies that go into our production vehicles. We are proud to race what we
sell.”
For 2015, Corvette Racing will do so on two continents. The team will field two Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
race cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the GTE Pro category as well as the TUDOR United SportsCar
Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. Already, Corvette Racing has scored victories in the Rolex
24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Last season saw four victories in the TUDOR Championship along with a second- and fourth-place finish at Le Mans.
“Our relationship with Chevrolet is very important,” said Gary Pratt, Corvette Racing team manager and
co-principal of Pratt & Miller. “Chevrolet provides us with a great product in Corvette. This is a great
combination – the support and engineering from Chevrolet along with our Pratt & Miller crew and
engineers. It’s fascinating to look back over the years and see how close the racing and production
programs have grown.”
In the beginning: Corvette C5-R (1999-2004)
Even before the fifth-generation Corvette rolled into dealerships in the late 1990s, plans were well
underway to return Chevrolet and the Corvette brand to professional endurance racing. The Corvette C5-R debuted in 1999 at the Rolex 24 At Daytona and was a fixture of global GT racing for the next five
years.
From 1999-2004, Corvette Racing and the C5-R set the standard for racing success with 31
victories in the ALMS, along with an overall victory at the Rolex 24 in 2001.
Success wasn’t limited to North America. The C5-R scored the first of its three GTS victories at Le Mans
in 2001, following with wins in 2002 and 2004. ALMS team and manufacturer championships came in
2001-04.
The C5-R also helped install Corvette drivers such as Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell as faces of the
team and the ALMS. Fellows won 21 ALMS races in the C5-R and captured the GTS drivers’
championship three times, including twice with O’Connell. It also helped launch the sports car careers for
future stars like Oliver Gavin, who remains a fixture with Corvette Racing.
Worthy successor: Corvette C6.R (2005-2013)
Chevrolet introduced the sixth-generation Corvette for 2005, and the Corvette C6.R made its competition
debut at Sebring in March that year. What followed was a period of unqualified success that came to
personify Corvette Racing and its new car – first in GT1 and then GT.
The Corvette C6.R was homologated on the sixth-generation Corvette Z06 production car’s architecture.
Each was powered by a 7.0L small block V-8 engine, with dry-sump lubrication system, CNC-ported
aluminum cylinder heads, titanium valves, forged steel crankshaft and plate-honed cylinder bores.
The C6.R proved to be a worthy successor to the C5-R. It won 39 GT1 races in the ALMS and delivered
driver, team and manufacturer championships every year from 2005 to 2008. In that era, Corvette Racing
won 12 straight races from 2005 to 2006, followed by 25 consecutive wins from 2007 to 2009. Four
drivers claimed GT1 titles, too: O’Connell, Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Jan Magnussen.
The C6.R also won the GT1 races at Le Mans in 2006, 2007 and 2009, the latter being Corvette Racing’s
final race in the class.
Corvette Racing and Chevrolet took another step forward in 2009 with the introduction of a GT-spec
version of the C6.R – this one based on the Corvette C6 ZR1. The GT rules, along with GTE at Le Mans,
required many production-based components. The regulations made the C6.R and ZR1 at that time the
closest street and racing Corvettes since the 1960s.
Components from four major areas carried over between the C6.R and ZR1:
• Aluminum frame – The same as the Z06 and ZR1, the shared structure included the windshield frame,
hoop surrounding the passenger compartment, door hinge pillars, drivetrain tunnel, firewall and floor pan
• Steering system – The C6.R used the production steering column and production rack-and-pinion
steering
• Body profile – The two cars are practically identical in appearance, as mandated by GT rules
• Aerodynamics – The C6.R used the production rear spoiler from the ZR1 and a production-based front
splitter.
The GT-spec C6.R won 12 times from 2009 through 2013, plus a 2011 win at Le Mans, leading Corvette
Racing and Chevrolet to team and manufacturer championships in 2012 and 2013. Tommy Milner and
Oliver Gavin won four times in 2012 to claim the GT drivers’ championship. Antonio Garcia and Jan
Magnussen followed with their own title in 2013, with three wins.
“Both the Corvette C5-R and C6.R earned a place among the greatest entries in the modern era of
sports car racing,” said Doug Fehan, Corvette Racing Program Manager. “Each helped define Corvette
Racing and Chevrolet as championship-winning efforts in global sports car racing.
More importantly, the cars showcased and proved the technology that transferred to production Corvettes.
That is a hallmark of the Corvette Racing program now, and it will be going forward."
A New Generation: Corvette C7.R (2014-Current)
Starting with the new TUDOR Championship in 2014, Chevrolet and Corvette Racing entered the
Chevrolet Corvette C7.R in the series’ GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. Based on the seventh-generation
2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06, the C7.R wrote a new chapter in technology transfer.
The two represent
the closest link in modern times between Corvettes built for racing and the road, sharing unprecedented
levels of engineering and components including chassis architecture, engine technologies and
aerodynamic strategies.
• Frame Production – As before, the race car and the Z06 will share the same, production-based
aluminum frame. However, for the first time, the frames for the race car and production Z06 will be built in-house at the Corvette’s Bowling Green, Ky., assembly plant.
• Direct Injection – The addition of direct fuel injection to the Corvette Z06 will enable the technology to
return to a Corvette race car for the first time since the end of the GT1 era in 2009. It promises greater
efficiency, which can make a significant difference in long-distance endurance racing such as Daytona
and Le Mans through fewer time-consuming pit stops.
• Aerodynamics – The Corvette Z06 and C7.R take the aerodynamic foundation to the next level,
sharing aggressive strategies for increased cooling and aerodynamic downforce, including similar front
splitters, rocker panels, and front- and rear-brake cooling ducts.
“Corvette Racing sets the gold standard for technology transfer between the track and street,” said
Tadge Juechter, Corvette chief engineer.
“We are continually taking what we learn in competition, and applying it to improve production Corvettes – which then make better race cars. As a result, the new
Corvette Z06 is the most track-capable production Corvette ever while the new C7.R is poised to be even
more competitive on the race circuit.”
CORVETTE RACING FAST FACTS – 1999-2015
Le Mans class wins: 7
ALMS manufacturer titles: 10
ALMS driving titles: 9
ALMS team titles: 10
Worldwide races: 159
Worldwide wins: 96
Team 1-2 finishes: 54
