Corvette Racing is back across the Atlantic once again for a landmark appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, its 20th consecutive appearance at the historic French endurance race.
Sunday’s annual Le Mans Test Day serves as a final dress rehearsal for the twice-around-the-clock race on June 15-16.
It is the only time that Corvette Racing and the rest of the 62-car field – can turn laps around the 8.48-mile Circuit de la Sarthe, a mixture of permanent race track and public roads.
This is a landmark year at Le Mans for Corvette Racing.
No team is on record as having made more than 20 consecutive appearances, and the program has won eight times in 19 tries.
What’s more, Corvette Racing’s Le Mans record also includes eight runner-up class finishes and nearly 100,00 racing miles completed.

That’s in addition to tens of thousands more miles in Le Mans testing and practice over the years on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, the preparation for a ninth victory has been a year-long process starting shortly after last year’s Le Mans with Corvette Racing’s pair of Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs.
The most recent testing took place at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin over two days earlier this month plus sessions at the Chevrolet Simulator near Charlotte, North Carolina.

Corvette Racing’s lineup is a carbon-copy of last year’s Le Mans roster and this season’s endurance group. Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller will drive the No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.

The trio finished third in class at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring earlier this year in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
In addition, Garcia and Magnussen are coming off a runner-up finish in their last race at Mid-Ohio.

In the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette, the trio of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler will team together at Le Mans for the third year in a row.
Gavin and Milner have a third-place class finish to their credit at Long Beach in April.

Le Mans is the final race in the FIA World Endurance Championship Super Season.
There is a total of 17 entries from five manufacturers in the GTE Pro category.
Each of the six Corvette Racing drivers own exemplary records at Le Mans:

• Antonio Garcia: Three victories in 13 appearances– 2008, 2009 and 2011; runner-up in 2014; third place in 2017
• Jan Magnussen: Four victories in 20 appearances– 2004-06, 2009; runner-up in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2014; third place in 2017
• Mike Rockenfeller: Two victories in nine appearances– 2005 and 2010; third place in 2012
• Oliver Gavin: Five victories in 18 appearances – 2002, 2004-06, 2015; runner-up in 2003; third place in 2001 and 2008
• Tommy Milner: Two victories in 10 appearances– 2011 and 2015
• Marcel Fässler:Three victories in 13 appearances– 2011-12 and 2014
The 24 Hours of Le Mans will air live on the MotorTrend Network with coverage of the Test Day, practice/qualifying and the race on Radio Le Mans.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

“Year after year we have gone to Road America to test, so you can see how the C7.R has developed from the last year.
You’ll know if you’ve made any improvements.
Knowledge of the Michelin WEC tire is a big thing, and we learned a lot at Sebring in the FIA WEC race.
Knowing that, we were able to focus a lot on that. Le Mans is always difficult to predict.

Sometimes it can be hot with no rain at all and other years it’s cold and wet all race. We need to be prepared for everything.
The good thing for Corvette Racing is we have the same car from past years and we have learned a lot each Le Mans.
It’ll be another tight fight in GTE Pro.”

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

“The way we are performing in the IMSA championship builds confidence for when we get to Le Mans.
Everyone will arrive with high expectations.
Everything needs to work that particular weekend. We’ve shown in IMSA that even when we are in a little bit of trouble, we can come together and get the best out of any situation.
That’s what we need to do for Le Mans. From the beginning, everyone needs to be at 100 percent otherwise it’s too hard to win unless you are at your best.”

MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

“The Chevrolet simulator is a great tool from Corvette Racing to help prepare for Le Mans. It was nice.
I drove a few laps in Elkhart Lake but it wasn’t easy because of the weather conditions.
But I was able to go to the simulator to drive Road America for a little while, which was good to feel how realistic and close it is.
Then we switched to Le Mans, which was the main target. Nowadays, simulators are so well-developed that you can really use it properly as a driver to prepare for racetracks or an event.
The Chevrolet one, honestly, is a very good one. It is very close to reality, so we are able to truly prepare the Corvette for Le Mans.”

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

“This season has been a season of what-ifs for Tommy and I on the No. 4 Corvette.
There have been a number of races this year we’ve had the right strategy, the right car setup, we’ve been working well as a team it seems like we’ve been able to unlock more speed from the car. That’s all encouraging and good.
We seem to have a better understanding of this Michelin tire, and we can take that knowledge into Le Mans and try to use it wisely in our test weekend and preparations for the race.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

“Having raced the C7.R at Le Mans for six years now, we’ve had the chance to improve it year on year.
The last couple of years have given us a chance to more fine-tune things.
With some of the work we’ve done this year, we’ll have the best Corvette we’ve ever had at Le Mans. In some ways, Le Mans is a bit routine but we are all eager to get there and see how we stack up against our competition.

There is work to do; we haven’t been the fastest car there the last few years but that’s not for lack of trying. Everyone at Corvette Racing has done made an extra effort to improve our car in every way possible.
So I’m eager to get to the Test Day and see how these changes perform. From my perspective we’re in a good place.”

MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

“It was good to be back in the Corvette at Road America.
The only downside is that the weather was mostly against us.
It wasn’t really fully raining nor was it dry; we had some mixed conditions which made it difficult to do a proper test.
But I did get some running on the rain tires and on the second day with slick tires. This was still a good test though.
At Le Mans, you can have these situations where there is rain coming down and then it starts to dry out.
So the better you know the car in those conditions, the easier it is to adapt yourself in the race.
So in that sense it was a successful test.”

Corvette Racing at Le Mans (1st Place in Bold)

2000
No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel/Justin Bell – 4th in GTS
No. 64 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 3rd in GTS

2001
No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Scott Pruett – 1st in GTS
No. 64 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 2nd in GTS

2002
No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GTS
No. 64 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 2nd in GTS

2003
No. 53 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Franck Freon – 3rd in GTS
No. 50 Corvette C5-R: Oliver Gavin/Kelly Collins/Andy Pilgrim – 2nd in GTS

2004
No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Max Papis – 2nd in GTS
No. 64 Corvette C5-R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GTS

2005
No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Max Papis – 2nd in GT1
No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1

2006
No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Max Papis – 7th in GT1
No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1

2007
No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT1
No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Max Papis – 14th in GT1

2008
No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT1
No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Max Papis – 3rd in GT1

2009
No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GT1
No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Marcel Fässler – 4th in GT1

2010
No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell/Antonio Garcia – 12th in GT2 (DNF)
No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Emmanuel Collard – 10th in GT2 (DNF)

2011
No. 73 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTE Pro
No. 74 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen/Richard Westbrook – 14th in GTE Pro (DNF)

2012
No. 73 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 5th in GTE Pro
No. 74 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook – 6th in GTE Pro

2013
No. 73 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 4th in GTE Pro
No. 74 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook – 7th in GTE Pro

2014
No. 73 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GTE Pro
No. 74 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook – 4th in GTE Pro

2015
No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ryan Briscoe – DNS (Qualifying crash)
No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Jordan Taylor – 1st in GTE Pro

2016
No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ricky Taylor – 7th in GTE Pro
No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Jordan Taylor – 10th in GTE Pro (DNF)

2017
No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 3rd in GTE Pro
No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 8th in GTLM

2018
No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 4th in GTE Pro
No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 15th in GTE Pro (DNF)

The GTE Balance of Performance tables for this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans Test Day have been released, with three manufacturers receiving weight increases.
Ford, BMW and Porsche’s cars will each be heavier compared to last year’s GTE-Pro race, while Aston Martin, Corvette Racing and Ferrari have been handed weight reductions.

The biggest change sees Ford’s quartet of Chip Ganassi-entered Ford GTs taking an extra 12 kilos (only 26 Lbs) make a total of 1287 kg.
The pair of MTEK-run BMW M8 GTEs will have an additional 9 kilos taking them to 1280 kg, while only 4lbs (2 kilos) have been added to the Porsche 911 RSRs which are now 1271 kg.

Porsche scored a 1-2 in last year’s race with its retro-liveried Manthey cars, ahead of Ford’s No. 68 machine.
Each of the three cars to receive weight breaks – the Aston Martin Vantage GTE, the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R and the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo – will be 7 kilos (15 lbs) lighter than last year’s race.

The Corvette is the lightest in the field at 1242 kg, ahead of the Aston at 1251 kg while the Ferrari is 1284 kg.
Weight totals typically change after the Test Day and throughout the Le Mans event, as was the case last year when a BoP update was issued between qualifying and the race.

Elsewhere, BMW has been handed a decrease in turbo boost, while Ferrari and Ford’s corresponding turbo output has been enhanced.
The maximum onboard fuel allowances for the Test Day have yet to be confirmed.
Unlike regular-season FIA World Endurance Championship races, GTE-Pro at Le Mans is not subject to the auto-BoP.

Ford GTE-Am Starting BoP Issued

The Keating Motorsports Ford GT that will be competing in the GTE-Am category will run the Test Day at 1295 kg, making it 13 kilos heavier than its next-nearest competitor.
It means the Am-class Ford will run to a different BoP setting than its GTE-Pro counterpart, both in terms of weight and turbo boost pressure where it has received a three-millibar reduction.
The Ferrari 488 GTE, which has also been handed a three-millibar turbo drop, will change in weight from 1291 kg to 1282 kg compared to the 2018 race, while the Aston Martin Vantage GTE will also be lighter.

The first-gen Vantage, which is set for its final Le Mans appearance next month, is registered at 1249 kg which makes it 4 kilos lighter than last year’s contest and 14 kilos under its total mass for the previous Test Day.

Porsche has not received a weight tweak to its naturally-aspirated 911 RSR which won last year in the hands of Dempsey-Proton Racing.

C7.R Corvette ended up quickest in GTE Pro won a 3m55.704s set by Antonio Garcia right at the end of the four hours of first session of test day

That jumped the #63 Corvette C7.R ahead of the best of the Ganassi Ford GTs in which Billy Johnson had earlier posted a 3m55.728s.

Porsche driver Gianmaria Bruni and Ferrari's Daniel Serra made it four marques within just over two tenths of a second at the top of the class times.

The quicker of BMW's M8 GTEs was only 12th in class, while the two Aston Martin Vantage GTEs rounded out the class order in 16th and 17th places.

Ahead of its 20th consecutive appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Corvette Racing clicked off eight hours of running on the race’s annual Test Day with its pair of Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs.
Corvette Racing drivers were first and third in the 17-car GTE Pro category in the only running the Le Mans field will have before official practice and qualifying commence in 10 days.

Mike Rockenfeller was the quickest driver for Corvette Racing during the test session at 3:54.001 (130.240 mph) in the No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C7.R that he will drive with Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen. Perhaps no driver benefitted more from Sunday as Rockenfeller, who missed last year’s Test Day due to a previous commitment.

Teammate Tommy Milner was third-fastest with a lap of 3:54.036 (130.239 mph) in the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette that he shares with Oliver Gavin and Marcel Fässler.

Rockenfeller led a group of 12 GTE Pro cars within one second of each other, an astounding fact around an 8.4-mile circuit.
Le Mans is a mix of permanent race track and public roads, and the Corvette Racing teams spent the entire eight hours tuning and setting up the two Corvette C7.Rs for handling and a solid race package – not necessarily ultimate outright pace.

The pair of Corvettes combined to complete 166 laps and covered more than 1,400 miles.
The only issue was a minor mechanical one on the No. 64 Corvette C7.R that cost it a minimal amount of time in the garage.
Other than that, the Test Day was fairly routine.

This is a landmark year at Le Mans for Corvette Racing. No team is on record as having made more than 20 consecutive appearances, and the program has won eight times in 19 tries.
What’s more, Corvette Racing’s Le Mans record also includes eight runner-up class finishes and nearly 100,000 racing miles completed.

Le Mans is the final race in the FIA World Endurance Championship Super Season.
There is a total of 17 entries from five manufacturers in the GTE Pro category.

Each of the six Corvette Racing drivers own exemplary records at Le Mans:

Antonio Garcia: Three victories in 13 appearances– 2008, 2009 and 2011; runner-up in 2014; third place in 2017
Jan Magnussen: Four victories in 20 appearances– 2004-06, 2009; runner-up in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2014; third place in 2017
Mike Rockenfeller: Two victories in nine appearances– 2005 and 2010; third place in 2012
Oliver Gavin: Five victories in 18 appearances – 2002, 2004-06, 2015; runner-up in 2003; third place in 2001 and 2008
Tommy Milner: Two victories in 10 appearances– 2011 and 2015
Marcel Fässler:Three victories in 13 appearances– 2011-12 and 2014

The 24 Hours of Le Mans will air live on the MotorTrend Network with coverage of practice, qualifying and the race on Radio Le Mans.

MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R FASTEST IN GTE PRO:

"It’s always good to be quick but as everyone knows, today does not’’ count. It counts on the Sunday when the flag drops and the race is over.
Today was really good for me to get used back to the Corvette.
Today I was able to get in a lot of laps and went through a lot of tires to get confidence, which helps.
For me personally, I’m very happy. In the afternoon, the track conditions were where they should be so we were able to collect a lot of data.
We are very happy with that.

"The Corvette C7.R is the exact same car from last year.
In the end, we tried to establish a base setup. We did a little bit of tuning but not much normal stuff like camber and dampers.
Then we really tried to learn about the compounds we have available from Michelin.
We tried to learn in which temperature window to use which tire. I was in that program, so that was quite nice!

"The GTE Pro class is really the place where there will be fights among the manufacturers just like years before.
We’re all looking forward to that. It’s super hard, and you have to fight for every tenth of a second. There is no margin for error."

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – THIRD-FASTEST IN GTE PRO:

"Overall, today was good for us. Like everyone here, you have a laundry list of items to go through…things that the engineers come up with that may work. This is our one opportunity to go through some of those options.
We certainly found some good things in the Corvette.
All of us drivers are generally happy with the car; there are always areas to improve. In the end, we’ve had a pretty smooth Test Day and we were able to check off a few boxes.
Obviously we’re quick on the time chart now, but we’ve been in this position in years past when everything seemed to change come race week. We’ll focus on ourselves, figure out what’s good for us and see where we stand on race week."

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"Things were good today. This is one of the few years where weather respected the test, and the conditions were very consistent.
Our running time was good; we were close to 100 laps. That means we have a lot of data to analyze.
We definitely ran through all our program we had planned and then some.
That’s always a good feeling. So I’m happy.

We need to gather everything, see what we have, where we can improve and then put everything together for the race.
Yes we were fastest today but I don’t think that means anything. I don’t know what the other teams are doing, so we need to wait until race week to see where everything is exactly.
This is a good starting point. We all hope the package we bring to the race will be enough."

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"It isn’t at all important to be quick on the Test Day. We are here testing and going through our program, including knowing the WEC Michelin tires a little better. For us on the 63 Corvette, getting to know the tires at the WEC race at Sebring was a little bit of an advantage.
But this is only our second time so we still have a lot to learn. So far so good. I think everyone is pretty happy.
We didn’t have any issues on our Corvette throughout the day, which is good. We shouldn’t because this is such a well-proven car."

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"It was a pretty good day for us.
We got quite a lot covered with Michelin and our WEC tire. We worked through our program well, I think.
There was a small issue in the middle of the day where we lost some time. But once we got on top of that, we fell back into our program. There were a number of slow zones and yellow flags that impede the process you are trying to go through. But we did get a lot done.
You could throw a blanket over everyone in our class. No one is out of this race and everyone will be in with a chance at winning.
We have to be smart and see what the race week brings."

MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"It was quite good to be back in the car. I immediately felt good and was good on pace.
The Chevy simulator tests we had recently helped a lot in being quick straight away.
But today was all about finding a good rhythm and testing different things for the race, try to find the limits, work on the Corvette to tune it in to the circumstances and collect data for next week.
All in all I felt pretty good in the car.
We can be happy with the work we did today."

This year’s running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is a landmark one for Corvette Racing. It is the 20th consecutive appearance for the program at the famed race dating back to 2000 – the longest current streak for a single entrant.
With eight class victories in 19 starts, Corvette Racing is one of the most successful teams in the history of Le Mans. Below is a handful of notes and statistics ahead of this year’s race…

• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 20 years at Le Mans: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette.
• 3: Generations of Corvette Racing entries since 2000 – Corvette C5-R (2000-04), Corvette C6.R (2005-13) and Corvette C7.R (2014-current).
• 3: Number of wins for the Corvette C5-R – 2001, 2002, 2004.
• 4: Number of wins for the Corvette C6.R – 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011.
• 8: As in Chevrolet’s small-block V8. More than 100 million units have been sold worldwide and is the most successful engine in American motorsports.
• 8: Class victories for Corvette Racing at Le Mans – all since 2001.
• 9: Number of drivers who have won races at Le Mans for Corvette Racing – Olivier Beretta, Ron Fellows, Antonio Garcia, Oliver Gavin, Jan Magnussen, Tommy Milner, Johnny O’Connell, Scott Pruett and Jordan Taylor.
• 12: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001.
• 16: Number of GT Le Mans wins in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Corvette Racing since the start of 2014. That’s tied for the most among manufacturers and entrants in GTLM.
• 19: Number of victories for Corvette Racing’s lineup at Le Mans.
Oliver Gavin: 5 Jan Magnussen: 4 Antonio Garcia: 3
Marcel Fässler: 3 Tommy Milner: 2 Mike Rockenfeller: 2
• 21: Number of drivers to compete for Corvette Racing at Le Mans. Oliver Gavin leads with 17 Le Mans starts for the program while Jan Magnussen has 15.
• 21: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres and Utah.
• 107: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 99 in North America and eight at Le Mans.
• 218: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999.
• 95,221.25: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 19 previous trips to Le Mans. That represents 11,299 laps… or nearly four full trips around the Earth at its equator. The two Corvettes need to complete 4,778.75 miles to reach the 100,000-mile mark at Le Mans.
• 104,671: Approximate pounds of freight sent by Corvette Racing to Le Mans by air and by sea!
• 289,913.28: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history – covered “just” 248,655 miles.

Official YouTube Channel of the "24 Heures du Mans".
The 2019 race will run on June 15-16. Corvette LOVES the 24 Hours of Le Mans and this 2019 edition is the 20th participation in a row for the famous yellow American car !
Listen to team manager Dough Fehan – 24 Hours of Le Mans 2019.

Corvette Racing’s 20th anniversary at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, program manager Doug Fehan offers his thoughts on how the uniquely American team has approached the classic French endurance race, and how, since its first appearance in 2000, the country has influenced the proud factory GT effort from Michigan.

“That it gets back to our early days before we ever came over here. And we knew, obviously, about the physical challenges of putting together a team, and getting them transported over here to compete.
But there were other challenges as well. We knew coming over here, there were some real horror stories about how Americans were treated, and there wasn’t much to those stories, although it was a challenge that we knew we weren’t going to be openly embraced as Americans, OK.

But we weren’t treated badly. We weren’t treated rudely, but we wanted to do things that would endear ourselves to not only the race, but to the town of Le Mans.
“Gary Claudio was our marketing manager and he was just a brilliant guy. I mean, he was a people person.
He could come up with stuff that he thought would work, and would help us overcome the stigma of being Americans and actually try and get us to a point where they liked us, because we knew that would be helpful.
I can remember coming over here the first year.

Quite frankly, the Corvette had a terrible reputation. I mean, it was pimps, prostitutes, and drug dealers who owned Corvettes in France. And that’s a pretty tough image to shake. So, he put together just a magical plan. We went to scrutineering and it was our very first time here.
“We knew that French people were crazy about cowboy, western movies. They love American movies, all American movies.
They watch the movies here in English, and they love cowboy movies. We’re going over there, we’re going to scrutineering and we’re all going to be in cowboy hats.

So we showed up in cowboy hats, and the fans, they didn’t know what to think.
They loved it, but they just didn’t know what to think. This was their first exposure to an American team like this.
“And so, I also set up a program. We were down in the center of [Place du] Jacobin, which is just a big old parking lot in front of the cathedral.
It’s kind of down in a hole, and the cars [entering scrutineering] arriving early would all be cordoned off and the people were not even allowed to get close.
Each team had stanchions set up to keep them away. You know, just shooing them away.

“I said, ‘We’re not doing that.’ I said, ‘We get down, and I want you to open that up and the first kid that comes along, I want you to open the door up, get them in the car and let his parents take a picture of him inside the race car.
And then line them up, and let’s do that for every kid that comes along before we get called up to scrutineering.’

“And I’ve got to tell you, the first parent was very reluctant, because they had spent their lifetime in Le Mans knowing you’re not supposed to get close to the cars. So when a team was inviting you to come to the car, you could see the reluctance to do that.
But that first dad, I’ll never forget him and his little kid was probably seven, eight years old, and the kid of course didn’t know any different. So he was excited. We got him in the car. David James put him in the car, his dad was snapping picture. Mom was in the background. Everybody was smiling.
The next thing you know, the parents were lined up, the kids were lined up, to get their picture taken in the Corvette. It was a great moment in time.

“We finish scrutineering. And so you line up to do the official photograph in that prescribed area for the yearbook thing that they do. And so we all line up, got our hats on, take the picture and of course they’re shooing us away, ‘Allez, allez, go, go, go, go.’ I said, ‘No, no, no, just one minute.’
Claudio had gotten each of us a beret and a fake mustache.
We took off the cowboy hats, put on berets and stuck on fake mustaches, and stood there and crossed our arms. The crowd broke out in applause.

“The tower, on which the photographers were all gathered, you know, that bridge that they erect, was shaking so badly because they were laughing so hard they couldn’t take a picture. So they had to wait to get that thing settled down, snap the photographs.
The audience is applauding. And the next day you look above the fold in La Sarthe, which is the regional paper, and our first trip there, there’s the Corvette team at scrutineering with berets and fake mustaches on.

“That was the first step in creating what we wanted to do, and that was traditions that would be tied to Corvette, because we knew the French culture was a tradition-based country.
Its architecture, its history, its art, its literature, they revere that here.
They have huge respect for that. Wonderful museums. They embrace the past.
“We wanted to do some things of course that would help endear us, and so when you look forward to all those things, Mike West playing the [the U.S. national anthem on] guitar at noon, that was huge here. That was huge. People love that.

They look forward to it. Mike then had moved down because he went to go do Cadillac program and some other things. We needed something to replace that.
“We had the train horn. We brought that in. We blow that every noon. That’s a tradition.
When we go to the driver parade, the beads like they do at Mardi Gras, that’s part of the tradition.
When we finish scrutineering, we hand out posters to the entire crowd. That’s our tradition.

We have a huge banner thanking the people of Le Mans. You’ll see that in pictures.
We unroll that and the drivers hold it up. ‘Thank you, people of Le Mans.’ That’s our tradition.
“That’s how we’ve ensconced ourselves. That’s how we’ve captured the hearts of the people here.
And this race is centered around the people of Le Mans. [Everything] happens at the racetrack, but believe me, these people own this race, the people who live here.
It’s been an amazing ride, and an amazing experience.”

Corvette between them, they have nine class victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which is one more than their team’s impressive win total heading into this weekend’s twice-around-the-clock battle on the Circuit de la Sarthe.

Corvette Racing drivers Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen have celebrated victories atop the Le Mans podium in front of a sea of fans three times together in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Gavin also won once prior, in 2002, and one time since, in 2015 with co-drivers Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor in the No. 64 Corvette C7.R.

“The last stint that I did in the car in ’15, when it was raining for the last hour off and on around the back of the track, so many things start going through your head,” recalls Gavin, who this year shares the No. 64 Corvete C7.R with Milner and Marcel Fassler in the GTE Pro class.
“You start hearing sounds and vibrations you’re feeling, all kinds of crazy things.

“You keep just having to talk to yourself and think about all the other times you’ve been there and all the other experiences you’ve had and how things have felt in the past. It got us through, and we got it over the line and we got another fantastic victory.
That’s what we’re aiming for again in ’19.”

Magnussen’s fourth Le Mans victory came in 2009.
The Danish racer is going for a fifth on the 10th anniversary of that victory, co-driving the No. 63 C7.R with German driver Mike Rockenfeller and his full-season IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teammate, Antonio Garcia, with whom he also co-drove to the win in 2009.

All of Magnussen’s wins at Le Mans have come as a member of Corvette Racing, which is a source of pride for the Danish racer.

“It’s fantastic,” he says. “To be part of a works team, a factory team, is fantastic at Le Mans. It’s really what you need to have a chance at winning. But to be with Corvette Racing, guys that I’ve worked with for so long now, is just a highlight of the year and what everybody is working for, to be successful at Le Mans.

“I’ve been fortunate enough that I’ve won my class at Le Mans four times, all four times with Corvette.
Hopefully, we can make it a fifth this year. It’d be fantastic to do with these guys.”

In addition to representing Corvette Racing, Magnussen and Gavin are part of a larger group – 28 drivers to be exact that are representing the WeatherTech Championship at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Both are WeatherTech Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) champions, as Magnussen won the title each of the past two years with Garcia, while Gavin won the 2016 title with Milner.

“It’s nice to go there and be competitive, because it shows how hard of a championship we have here in IMSA,” Magnussen said. “I do feel that our class in IMSA racing is the toughest class out there, and it’s nice to go there and be competitive and beat those guys from the WEC (FIA World Endurance Championship). It’s a cool thing to do.”

“We’ve still got the IMSA badge on our overalls,” added Gavin, who hails from England.
“If you come away managing to take the scalp of winning at Le Mans and bringing it back here to the U.S., I think that’s pretty special.

“The fans get a big kick out of that as well, I think, when they see you go over there and conquer that race and that event and also the other teams that are there. That’s something you always want to do.
You always want to put one over on the guys that are competing in that championship full time. That does give you a bit of an extra buzz.”

Speaking of buzz, Magnussen also takes pride in representing his native Denmark at Le Mans.
He says the turnout of Danish fans is larger at Le Mans than it is at any race actually held in Denmark.

“There’s a great tradition in Denmark for Le Mans with Danish drivers,” Magnussen said.
“It was John Nielsen that started the whole thing, and then Tom Kristensen after him and myself.
It’s just fantastic to feel the support that we get from the Danish fans.

“They make these massive camps down there. It just seems like, when you’re walking around, everywhere you go, you can hear somebody talking Danish.
Or, you can sort of barely make it out, because they’re usually really drunk. They go there and they have a fantastic party for, like, five days.”

A victory at Le Mans would bring another party to the next WeatherTech Championship race, the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on June 30.
Gavin knows that feeling well, having experienced it in 2015.

“You get such a reception,” Gavin said. “When we won in ’15 and we came back to the Watkins Glen weekend, that is our biggest Corvette Corral that we have all year is at Watkins Glen.
The reception that we got was pretty astonishing with all of those Corvette customers and owners.

“It was a very special feeling and you want to experience that again.
That’s what racing and competing is all about, those moments, that emotion, that special little click that you get with the fans and the owners and all the Corvette family.
You try to engage with those people and it’s very, very special.”

EVENT SCHEDULE:

Wednesday, June 12

4 p.m.–8 p.m. local: Practice 1 (10 a.m.–2 p.m. ET / 7 a.m.–11 a.m. PT)
10 p.m.–Midnight local: Qualifying 1 (4 p.m.–6 p.m. ET / 1 p.m.–3 p.m. PT)

Thursday, June 13

7 p.m.–9 p.m. local: Qualifying 2 (1 p.m.–3 p.m. ET / 10 a.m.–Noon PT)
10 p.m.–Midnight local: Qualifying 3 (4 p.m.–6 p.m. ET / 1 p.m.–3 p.m. PT)

Friday, June 14 (no on-track activity)

Drivers parade

Saturday, June 15

9:00 a.m.–9:45 a.m. local: Warm Up (3 a.m.–3:45 a.m. ET / Midnight–12:45 a.m. PT)
3 p.m. local: Race Start (9 a.m. ET / 6 a.m. PT)

Sunday, June 16

3 p.m. local: Race Finish (9 a.m. ET / 6 a.m. PT)

Live race updates
WEC - Le Mans Race

Total BS and no surprise on how Europe treats American Corvettes

Corvette driver Antonio Garcia says he is "surprised" with the lap time he set in first Le Mans 24 Hours qualifying, which was enough to top the GTE Pro class before it was disallowed.
Garcia shot to the top of the GTE Pro order on Wednesday night with a best lap of 3m49.467s, but it was not allowed to stand as the Spaniard didn't slow down sufficiently under yellow flags.

That meant the #63 Corvette C7.R shared by Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller ended up 10th in class, just over 2.5 seconds slower off the eventual class benchmark of 3m49.530s set by Ford driver Harry Tincknell.

"We’re right there, it was a really good lap," reflected Garcia.
"I knew there were yellows there and I did slow down, but you don’t really know how much to slow down.
"I was actually surprised by how good the lap was, I was happy that was good enough for [provisional] pole.
Luckily we have another four hours today.
"We’ll definitely go for it, because we’re still very far down the order, but we know the pace is there. Conditions should be better, the temperature was low but the laptime was there regardless."

Asked what he thought of Tincknell's late session-topping effort in the #67 Ford GT, Garcia said: "I think you have to count on everybody [challenging] – Ford, Ferrari, Porsche.
"Porsche for sure, they were strong last year and they are running the same spec, and there are four of them. If they are winning races, that means something. They are probably the team to beat."
Garcia stopped short of saying Gianmaria Bruni's 3m47.504s lap in qualifying last year was within reach, but didn't rule out that benchmark being beaten on Thursday evening.
"The last chicane is slower than last year [due to new kerbs], but maybe if somebody has a clear lap and everything runs smooth, someone can beat that," he said.
Milner laments "sloppy" session for #64 crew
The sister #64 Corvette shared by Tommy Milner, Oliver Gavin and Marcel Fassler suffered a fraught session, ending up 14th out of 17 cars in class and almost three seconds off the pace.
That followed punctures for both Gavin and Fassler - the latter coming after the crew had already abandoned efforts to embark on a proper qualifying run.
"Frustrating is definitely the word," Milner told Motorsport.com.
"Unfortunately Olly had a small issue early on that led to a puncture and the damage that resulted from that.
"It took a bit of time to fix that, and then there were still some issues left over from that.
We had plans to do a qualifying run which went out of the window, so tried to get all of us qualified, get the five night laps over with. I got my five, but Marcel had another slow puncture.

"Just a sloppy session, but hopefully we’ve got our bad luck out of the way and we can have a clean weekend from here out."
Milner however described Garcia's disallowed lap in the #63 car as encouraging, adding: "It’s great to see there’s some pace in the car.
Hopefully it stays that way for the race."

No program in endurance sports car racing can claim a longevity to match Corvette Racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Not only is this is the program’s 20th consecutive year at Le Mans, each year has been with Chevrolet and the Corvette brand.
The success has been substantial with eight class victories in 19 attempts.

Ahead of this weekend’s 87th running of Le Mans, Corvette Racing leadership and drivers offered their thoughts on this historic milestone.

JIM CAMPBELL, CHEVROLET U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, PERFORMANCE AND MOTORSPORTS:

"This is Corvette Racing’s 20th consecutive appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Every single year is an absolute honor to race at Le Mans. We’re proud to have celebrated eight class wins and many podium finishes with Corvette owners and supporters from around the world.
The tens of thousands of miles completed at Le Mans continue to help us learn lessons on the track that transfer back to our production vehicles and powertrain systems for the showroom.
The Corvette owners’ passion and support of this race program is one of the reasons why we continue to compete at Le Mans each year."

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"Corvette Racing is a huge part of Le Mans. Even though people focus a lot of prototypes, we always have a large group that follows us at the race and around the world on TV and radio.
It’s a big honor for them to follow us."I’ve already been there 15 years, but Corvette Racing has been there a few years longer!
I don’t see any other team that has been going to Le Mans for such a long period year after year. Corvette Racing needs Le Mans, but I also believe Le Mans needs Corvette Racing."

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"I don’t know if sports car racing will see a program like Corvette Racing again. It is unique with how this program has been put together and run for the last 20 years. That’s what makes being part of Corvette Racing so special. None of us knew when we joined the team that we were going to be here this many years for Le Mans. That’s one of the strengths of the program – the continuity in the team.
Everyone knows each other so well that we can work to the strengths of everyone on the team. I’d say it’s a huge advantage. It doesn’t mean we will win every race, but we do have the biggest chance to not making mistakes because there are very few unknowns. As a driver, I really like that."

MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"What stands out to me about Corvette Racing is that it is an American team that comes over every year for 20 years to Le Mans. It shows how important Le Mans is to Corvette Racing, but also Le Mans appreciates the attendance of Corvette Racing as well.
This program is committed and has all this experience over the years, still we know it’s a new challenge. The Corvettes always stand out.
Even when I was younger and in my container with other teams, you always knew when Corvette would come by!
I knew that sound and loved it, and so do all the fans."

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"Corvette Racing has been very loyal and determined to follow through on our commitment to Le Mans and what it stands for. It means a lot to the brand. Creating that image and sporting identity of racing and winning at Le Mans each year against the other top manufacturers is a huge deal. If we are fortunate to do it again this year, we would come away with nine wins out of 20 years!
That’s an amazing average and something to be extremely proud of. Then you think about how many races where we’ve been runner-up. For all the victories we’ve had, there have been some extremely unlucky close calls where we could have two, three or four more.
But that’s the nature of Le Mans and why we keep going back. You take up that challenge and fight against the other teams and manufacturers to come away with the spoils.
And when you do, it’s the best feeling in the world."

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"These 24-hour races are unique in itself. But Le Mans is why Corvette and other teams and manufacturers want to compete and test themselves and their technology.
In a lot of ways, this is shaping the trajectory of the Corvette brand itself with lessons learned on the track and improving future generations with what we learn on the racing side at Le Mans. It definitely has had an impact on the Corvette brand and the cars people can buy every day.
If there was ever an example of how a manufacturer makes a car better or the sentiment toward your brand,
I’d say those manufacturers look at Corvette Racing as the shining example of what can be done."

MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"This is something very unique. It makes me very proud to be a driver for such a great team.
The commitment also shows the value of the success of Corvette Racing at Le Mans. They have won many times and been on the podium many more.
It shows the professionalism of the team in the preparation and also not having so much change within the team.
This is an important thing to have consistency within the team to improve and be fast. It develops a trust between the drivers and the team. You are confident because you know have the support of the program in good times and bad times.
This is something every driver appreciates and I’m very happy and appreciative to be part of Corvette Racing."

Porsche retook provisional pole in GTE Pro thanks to a late effort by Michael Christensen in the #92 911 RSR of 3m49.388s in the closing stages of the session.
Antonio Garcia - fastest on Wednesday night until his best time in the #63 Corvette C7.R was scrubbed - came within 0.036s of Christensen's time late on, becoming the only other driver to better Harry Tincknell's first qualifying benchmark in the #67 Ford GT.

Tincknell's time of 3m49.530s remained enough for third, ahead of the #93 Porsche which likewise did not improve, while the #91 Porsche slipped one place to fifth despite a late improvement by Gianmaria Bruni.

The best of the Aston Martins slipped from third to sixth on the provisional grid, ahead of the #94 Porsche, the #69 and #68 Fords and the top Ferrari, the #71 car.
BMW was therefore the only manufacturer to end up outside the top 10 in class, the two MTEK-run M8 GTEs ending up 14th and 16th.

The top two times in GTE Am remain the same as on Wednesday, with Matteo Cairoli's best lap in the #88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche not being bettered.
Giancarlo Fisichella was the highest-profile improver, moving up to third place in the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari, behind the #56 Project 1 Porsche.
C7.Rs start race in 3rd and 11th place.

Normal Ford crap having 4 GTs running to the 2 C7.Rs

Garcia leads charge in No. 63 Corvette ahead of team’s 20th straight Le Mans

In its 20th consecutive appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Corvette Racing recorded its fastest lap in a decade around the fabled circuit Thursday on the final qualifying day for Saturday and Sunday’s race.

Antonio Garcia set a lap of 3:48.830 (132.849 mph) in the No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R that he shares with Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller.
A three-time winner at Le Mans – twice with Corvette Racing – Garcia set his best time in the final of three qualifying sessions.

The lap was good enough for the No. 63 Corvette to start third among 17 GTE Pro entries for Saturday’s 3 p.m. CET/9 a.m. ET race.
Rockenfeller had been quickest in class at the annual Le Mans Test Day 10 days ago, and Garcia qualified within 0.830 seconds of the pole-winning car.

Teammate Oliver Gavin was the fastest driver in the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C7.R with a lap of 3:49.573 (131.917 mph) that also was set in Thursday’s final session.
The No. 64 Corvette – with Milner, Oliver Gavin and Marcel Fässler – will start 11th in class but it could have been much better as Gavin was stymied on his final two laps that had his Corvette trending toward the top-five.

Track conditions around the 8.49-mile circuit were at their peak Thursday with rain having moved out Wednesday.
Garcia took advantage late in the opening session with his best time placing provisionally second in class. However, a number of teams set their best times of the day immediately at the beginning of the final session.
After giving his teammates a chance to sample the setup of the Corvette, Garcia went out for the final 20 minutes and very nearly delivered pole position.

Milner had sights on moving up the charts early but caught the worst of traffic and yellow-flag sectors around the track during his quick run.
As darkness grew, focused turned to race setup for Saturday and Sunday until the team sent out Gavin in the final minutes for a final qualifying shot.

The achievements by the collection of six Corvette Racing drivers can’t be matched by any other entrant at Le Mans.
The group has combined for 19 victories – an exemplary record at Le Mans:

Antonio Garcia: Three victories in 13 appearances- 2008, 2009 and 2011; runner-up in 2014; third place in 2017
Jan Magnussen: Four victories in 20 appearances- 2004-06, 2009; runner-up in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2014; third place in 2017
Mike Rockenfeller: Two victories in nine appearances- 2005 and 2010; third place in 2012
Oliver Gavin: Five victories in 18 appearances – 2002, 2004-06, 2015; runner-up in 2003; third place in 2001 and 2008
Tommy Milner: Two victories in 10 appearances- 2011 and 2015
Marcel Fässler:Three victories in 13 appearances- 2011-12 and 2014; runner-up in 2010; third place in 2015

The 24 Hours of Le Mans begins at 3 p.m. CET/9 a.m. ET on Saturday and will air live on the MotorTrend Network with full audio coverage on Radio Le Mans.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – QUALIFIED THIRD IN GTE PRO:

"It was interesting and difficult.
We know how the session went with the amount of yellows and slow zones, so it was kind of a gamble that we could go on track and find a clear lap and just go for it. We decided to have another go (tonight) mainly because yesterday’s time got cancelled so we needed to have a run in the first session this evening.
That put us in a position where, instead of doing the classic two attempts in the final session, we had to do one in the first session when the track wasn’t as good.
I drove a pretty decent and pretty fast lap.

It was pretty close between Porsche and us. We obviously went a bit faster in the last session, though I don’t know whether the conditions were really better. I don’t think we would have gotten pole, because those lap times were very, very strong. But if you look all around the field you see 12 cars within 1.5 seconds and I am just 0.8 off pole position, that’s pretty close.
And that’s what we can expect for the race: a train of GTE cars. But luckily, we’re in the first part of the train, which will make things a little bit easier since we’ll be a little bit more in control rather than chasing all the time. I think it’s going to be a very interesting 24 Hours, with 15 laps per hour and many cars nose to tail."

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – QUALIFIED 11TH IN GTE PRO:

"We’ve had quite a fraught couple of days on the No. 64 Corvette with punctures and damage.

The crew has worked super-hard to straighten things out and get us ready for today, and we all need to thank them for that.

We were running through a program and Tommy was so unlucky; every time he went out to do a qualifying run, he was so unlucky. He was getting balked, getting traffic, red flags, slow zones
I think he came in and waved the white flag and said we needed to get myself and Marcel some laps, which was very decent of him. I was out there end and our engineer came on the radio and asked if we should give it one last shot.
It’s always magic to drive around here with low fuel and good tires.
We were getting some breaks but other things were just utterly ridiculous with the driving standards. We were on two really good laps but had people ahead of me who wanted to wreck our laps.
You don’t want to see that. But I’m pleased we were a little farther up the grid;
I think that last lap would have close to where Antonio ended. That’s the way things roll around Le Mans.
Once again, thanks to the guys for sticking with us and pushing, pushing, pushing."

With less then 10 hours before race starts !

Aston Martin and C7R Corvettes have both been penalized in the latest GTE Pro class Balance of Performance issued for the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The Aston Martin Vantage GTE, which took pole on Thursday night thanks to Marco Sorensen's 3m48s lap, has been given a small turbo boost reduction.
All cars in the class except the Corvette C7.R, including the Aston Martin, have been handed a 5kg weight break.

It comes after Antonio Garcia qualified the best of the Corvettes third.

The Aston has also been hit with a two-liter reduction in fuel capacity as organizers aim to ensure all cars are capable of no more than 14-lap stints during green flag running.
BoP changes have been made in the GTE Am class as well, following a Porsche top-three lockout in qualifying.

The 911 RSRs will run 10kg heavier,
while the sole Ford GT in the class, the Keating Motorsports entry, has been handed a 10kg weight break. !

Both the Ferrari 488 GTE and previous-generation Aston Martin Vantage are unaffected by the latest changes.

With 6 and half hours of race #63 C7.R is in first place, #64 is back in 8th place
see live timing at

Live Timing

Race video

Two safety car periods broke up the sixth hour of the race, one for a big incident at the Porsche Curves.

The infamous set of sweeping bends have claimed their first victim of the race,
the No. 64 Corvette Racing C7.R of Marcel Fassler, which was running just outside the top five in Pro.

The Swiss collided with the No. 88 Dempsey Proton Porsche while lapping the Gulf Racing Porsche, Satoshi Hoshino in the Porsche turning into the side of Fassler as he came through.
That sent both off the circuit, the Corvette straight into the barriers.

It was race over immediately for Fassler and the No. 64 crew, reducing Corvette Racing’s effort to just a single car.
Thankfully he was OK — fit enough to tell the team on the radio that “there was nothing” he could do.

It’s not over for Corvette, though. Its No. 63 currently sits third behind the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari and No. 92 Porsche.

“He was talking and walking. We believe we have the safest GT cars in the world,” Corvette Racing’s Doug Fehan said.

“Our crush zone, seating and side window nets have all come into play.
As a precaution he’s down at the medical centre.
He’ll be back later, the car looks too badly damaged to be repaired.
But we’ve done this before, we’ve been here and won with two cars, it’s not over yet.”

At 45 mins past the eight hour, there was a clash at the second chicane between Olivier Pla in the #66 Ford GT and Sven Muller in the #94 Brumos-liveried Porsche 911 RSR as they dueled over 10th place.

Approaching the ninth hour – midnight local time – James Calado moved the AF Corse Ferrari 488 into the lead ahead of Michael Christensen before pulling into the pits for the 10th time.

Once the leaders had cycled through their 10th stop, Christensen resumed around 6sec ahead of Calado with Corvette Racing’s sole remaining #3 C7.R chased by Jonathan Bomarito (#67 Ford), Patrick Pilet (#93 Porsche), Sam Bird (#71 Ferrari), Richard Lietz’s #91 Porsche and #69 Ford GT of Richard Westbrook.

Alex Lynn had spun the 13th place #97 Aston Martin Vantage AMR just past midnight, breaking the rear wing and right-front fender, and the team were still occupied fixing that 20mins later when Marco Sorensen suffered a much bigger impact in the #95 Aston just before Indianapolis corner.

The resultant safety car period had a major impact on the race, too, with Christensen and Calado very close too each other – indeed, the Ferrari was swiftly past the Porsche – but now over 75sec clear of their chasers led by Magnussen, Pilet, Bomarito, Wesbtrook, Lietz and Joey Hand in the #68 Ford.

The 11th stops saw the #92 Porsche now driven by Laurens Vanthoor emerge just ahead of the AF Ferrari now driven by Daniel Serra and the 12th stops maintained this order, but Vanthoor went over half a minute clear of the Ferrari only until the spinning Ligier brought them back together.

Sadly that didn’t bring the chasing pack back in touch, with third and fourth places held by Fred Makowiecki and Earl Bamber in the the #91 and #93 Porsches, followed by Mike Rockenfeller in the Corvette, and then the #69, #68 and 67 Fords of Scott Dixon, Sebastien Bourdais and Andy Priaulx respectively.

Race stewards found Marcel Fassler at fault for the crash.
According to social media, Fassler has been fined €7000 and had his license endorsed to the tune of seven penalty points.

Corvette Racing reached half distance of its 20th appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans early Sunday with one of its Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs firmly entrenched in the battle for GTE Pro honors.
The No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R of Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller ran fifth at the 12-hour mark with Rockenfeller just finishing a double-stint. The practice of having the three drivers stay in the car for two fuel stops at a time was the prevailing strategy for Corvette Racing, which is shooting for its ninth Le Mans class victory.

Unfortunately, the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C7.R isn’t part of the fight following a heavy crash for Marcel Fässler near the six-hour mark. The incident happened in the lightning quick Porsche Curves toward the end of the lap. Fässler – driving with Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner – was hit from behind after making a pass on a slower car with the impact sending the Corvette hard into the wall on driver’s right.

The damage was too extensive to repair, and Corvette Racing was forced to retire the car. Fässler was evaluated at the track medical center and was sent to a local hospital for a CT scan, which came back negative.
Early in the race, the No. 63 Corvette led early and often. Garcia began the race from the third position but needed less than 20 minutes to move to the point in a frantic start.

All three drivers of the No. 63 Corvette took turns in the lead early. The first safety car period of the race during the sixth hour brought the top nine GTE Pro entries to within 15 seconds of each other at the six-hour mark. Another safety car near the 10 hours running split the two lead cars from the rest of the GTE Pro field, effectively taking what had been a nine-car battle down to two with the Corvette part of the second group.

The No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette was up and down the order early with Gavin climbing from 11tth at the start to fourth in class during his opening two stints. Debris on his tires made it challenging for him to maintain his early pace but he and Milner had relatively calm stints before handing over to Fässler, who was matching the pace of his teammates before the incident.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

“There was a lot of uncertainty at the start.
We were all looking at each other not knowing who would be fast and who would be slow. So we did like we did in qualifying and just settled in. Everybody seemed to be on a good pace and obviously our car felt pretty good.
In the draft I was kind of following everybody but I think I feel more secure and better for myself when I’m running in a higher position rather than depend on the others.
I could have stayed behind, but I decided to go ahead and see if I could stay because with the amount of slipstreams you have here it’s easy for the others to overtake you again even if they don’t have the pace. There is no better place to stay than P1!”

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

“The first stint was good, keeping the same distance to the Porsche and opening the gap a bit towards the end, which was nice.
The second stint was a little bit more of a handful on the tires. The car started moving around a bit.
I think the track isn’t quite ready yet for double-stinting the tires, but we have to do it.
I thought we were going to lose everything when I had to come in (early for an emergency five seconds of fuel) under the full-course yellow when the pit lane was closed, but fortunately everybody else was pretty much in the same boat so we didn’t lose anything.”

MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

“Like last year, unfortunately, these safety car rules tear the field apart, which is a shame but the race is not over.
Let’s see. Maybe we will get lucky and catch the better safety car next time and the field will be bunched up together because it was a good fight when we were all together. Let’s see where we will end up in the morning.
It feels like since it has cooled down or the track has rubber-ed in that the car is running better and better. This is good, but we just need some luck to come to us.”

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

“It was a very interesting first couple of stints. We bounced up and down the order among pretty much all the manufacturers.
There definitely were some moves early on there. We were on the move a lot of the time. But it was aggressive very aggressive.

It was very intense racing. In the back of your mind, you’re thinking we have a lot of racing to be done but it was pretty wild now thinking about it. Toward the middle of the second stint, I ran wide a little bit near the end of the lap and got a bunch of junk on the tires.
I just couldn’t cleaned up for a bit. It was amazing how many stops I dropped just through that one little thing. That shows the fine line in this category.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

“My stints were pretty relaxed.
There was some fighting ahead of me during my second stint, but generally those guys were not going crazy.
In the first stint, I struggled with understeer but my pace was decent.
On the second stint, we decided to double-stint the tires, which was a bit of a struggle.
I think we were heading toward a good balance in the car and would have been in good shape.”

Just as the fans began to fill the stands trackside for what looked to be a grandstand finish in GTE Pro in the final hours of this race, it all changed when the AF Corse Ferrari, which had held a slim lead over the No. 63 Corvette, was handed a huge advantage.

The RLR MSport ORECA suffered a terminal engine failure in pit lane, while Nyck De Vries had a big off at Indianapolis in the Racing Team Nederland Dallara.
The Dutchman lost control and went head-on into the barriers, severely damaging the front end, bringing out a safety car.
De Vries managed to get going and back to the pits, the task ahead for the team’s mechanics mAnd it was the safety car that changed it all.

The GTE Pro contenders were spread across the three safety cars, splitting the class battles up. Initially the Corvette of Jan Magnussen was behind the AF Corse Ferrari of James Calado, setting up a two-way fight.
But Corvette had to pit the No. 63, meaning Magnussen was forced to wait at the end of the pit lane as the safety car train drove past, and wait for the next one.
This gave the Ferrari a two-minute advantage at the front ahead of the Corvette and the gaggle of Porsches and Fords behind.

Once the race restarted, things changed again when Magnussen had a near-identical off to that of Gustavo Menezes early in the race, losing the rear end of the No. 63 through the Porsche Curves, and clouting the barriers head-on.
This forced the Dane into the pits for repairs, dropping the car to eighth in class.
Corvette’s day, therefore, will end with no silverware: a tough pill to swallow after such a consistent run for the No. 63 in the No. 64’s absence.

“This may have decided GTE Pro now,” Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, former Porsche GT boss said.
“The four cars at the top have been split across three safety cars, the Ferrari has been given a big advantage.
Sometimes the safety cars give, sometimes they take.
It’s a pity because the race was so close after an excellent battle for 20 hours. But maybe another will come?
We will see!”

This leaves the No. 51 Ferrari over a minute up win the No. 91 and No. 93 Porsches behind.
The No. 68 Ford is now waiting in the wings to take the final podium spot in fourth.
GTE Am had a hairy moment too, Felipe Fraga going off at the Ford Chicanes and almost hitting the barriers.
Thankfully, the Brazilian rejoined and is back at normal pace, almost three minutes clear of the Project 1 Porsche.

C7Rs finish race back in 9th and 17th place

Ferrari scored its first GTE Pro class victory since 2014 thanks to the efforts of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Daniel Serra in the #51 AF Corse 488 GTE.

The vagaries of the safety car periods had essentially turned the battle for honours into a two-horse race between the #51 Ferrari and the #63 Corvette of Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller heading into the morning hours.

However, the 21st-hour intervention caused by Nyck de Vries’ high-speed off in the Racing Team Nederland Dallara at Indianapolis led to the #63 car getting held at the end of pitlane, which handed the #51 Ferrari a one-minute lead it would never lose.

Any chance of Corvette salvaging a podium finish was lost when Magnussen spun at the Porsche Curves, making light contact with the barriers, which cost the car two laps. A further 15-minute trip to the garage left it five laps off the pace.

Corvette had already lost one car when Marcel Fassler hit the barriers at the same part of the track with force towards the end of the sixth hour, the result of contact with the #88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche of Satoshi Hoshino for which the stewards judged Fassler to blame.

Behind the winning Ferrari, Porsche filled out the remaining spots on the podium, with the #91 car of Gianmaria Bruni, Frederic Makowiecki and Richard Lietz beating the best of the IMSA entries, the #93 of Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber and Patrick Pilet, by under 20s.

Ford’s quartet of retro-liveried GTs filled out the next four places, led by the #68 machine of 2016 class winners Sebastien Bourdais, Dirk Muller and Joey Hand.

Exhaust problems in the night cost the #92 Porsche crew any of chance of defending their 2018 victory, but 10th and fifth among the WEC points-scoring cars was enough to ensure Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen came away with title honours.

Both BMW and Aston Martin had races to forget, BMW’s top finisher finishing six laps down in 11th and both Astons suffering incidents in the night.

Marco Sorensen’s violent crash at Indianapolis in the #95 Vantage GTE, which had started on pole, made it one of three non-finishers in the class, along with the #64 Corvette and the #71 Ferrari, which suffered engine troubles.

Corvette Racing’s hopes for a magical victory in its 20th straight appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans didn’t come to pass, but the effort of the program was never stronger than what the team displayed Saturday and Sunday in the world’s biggest endurance race.

The No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R of Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller finished ninth in the GTE Pro category on a day where the trio was firmly in contention for the first 20 hours.
Three unlucky safety car periods and an untimely late trip to the garage for repairs following a spin put a dent in the plans for a ninth class victory in 20 years.

Le Mans struck hard at both Corvette Racing entries. The No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C7.R retired following a heavy crash for Marcel Fässler near the six-hour mark.
The incident happened in the lightning quick Porsche Curves toward the end of the lap. Fässler – driving with Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner – was hit from behind after making a pass on a slower car with the impact sending the Corvette hard into the wall on driver’s right.

The damage was too extensive to repair and return the car to the race. Fässler was evaluated at the track medical center and was sent to a local hospital for a CT scan, which came back normal.

The No. 64 Corvette was up and down the order early with Gavin climbing from 11th at the start to fourth in class during his opening two stints.
Debris on his tires made it challenging for him to maintain his early pace but he and Milner had relatively calm stints before handing over to Fässler, who was matching the pace of his teammates before in incident.

The No. 63 led early and often. Garcia began the race from the third position but needed less than 20 minutes to move to the point in a frantic start.

All three drivers of the No. 63 Corvette took turns in the lead early.
The first safety car period of the race during the sixth hour brought the top nine GTE Pro entries to within 15 seconds of each other at the six-hour mark.
Another safety car near the 10 hours running split the two lead cars from the rest of the GTE Pro field, effectively taking what had been a nine-car battle down to two with the Corvette part of the second group.

The early-morning period saw the leading GTE Pro entry run into trouble, allowing the remaining Corvette – which had chipped away on the lead pack for a number of hours – to move back into contention.
By the 16-hour mark, the C7.R had moved back into the lead and a strategic game of chess developed between the No. 63 Corvette and the eventual winning Ferrari.

The momentum seemed like it was swinging permanently toward the side of the Corvette when disaster struck with three-and-a-half hours to go. Rockenfeller pitted for fuel, tires and a driver change to Magnussen during a safety car period.
The pit stop was excellent – as they had been all race – but the pit exit was closed, which once again prevented the Corvette from catching the safety car queue that included the GTE Pro leader.

Once under way, Magnussen spun late in the lap at the Porsche Curves on cold tires and contacted the outside wall with the front-left of the Corvette. The crew repaired the suspension on that corner of the Corvette, losing just six minutes but two costly laps.
A final late-race visit to the garage thwarted any hopes of gaining additional positions.

There is little rest for Corvette Racing with the team returning to IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition in two weeks at Watkins Glen International for the Sahlen’s Six Hours at The Glen.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"It was super tough all race, especially for being all the way up at the front for 21 hours.
The early safety car around five hours really put us down, and I got pretty upset about that. For me, I thought the race was lost but you never know at Le Mans. A few more stints in and we were back in the lead.
It’s a shame that we didn’t put it together all the way to the end because I think everyone here deserved to win. The team made a fantastic effort.
The preparation was really good, and we proved that to every other team out there – the preparation of the cars, the pit stops, the brake changes and the way we could go for a win instead of waiting for the race to come to us.
I felt like we had everyone afraid of us. Most of the teams at Le Mans probably feel that we had the car to beat, and I think that’s right. But Ferrari did a perfect run and they won. All we can do is congratulate them. Then we will come back and win it."

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"Up until it all went wrong, we did the best we could and that put us in front. The guys did a fantastic job all race – the crew, the engineers and the drivers… everybody. But the safety car came out there late, we had to pit and effectively that took the win away. P2 was in the cards; that’s not what we came here for but for sure we would have taken that with the win not being on the table any longer.
Unfortunately I clipped a curb on cold tires and hit the wall.
I can’t begin to describe how horrible I feel for the guys and all the hard work they have put in for the past year.
We had the car in front and a mistake like that takes it all away.
I don’t know how to apologize for that but hopefully I can make it up to them someway."

MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"Thanks to Corvette Racing for giving me the opportunity to race here at Le Mans again.
I always love it even though as we saw this weekend it can be one of the toughest races in the world in that you can be a bit unfortunate. We had a really good car… the Corvette was running super nice, especially at the end of the race.
The track and everything evolved in the right direction; when it rubbered in and our car came alive
I think we had everything to fight for victory, but obviously the rules with these safety cars are a bit unfair. We’ve known this since years past and it has been proved it is not the good way of doing it. I think we need to think about it, but that is obviously not our job.

"Again, the car was prepared well and I always enjoy it to race here with Corvette Racing. Personally I was really happy to drive the car.
I felt confident at the wheel, I felt I could get the most performance out of the car and really push hard and fight for it. So personally I was super happy with my own performance, but obviously the results are not what we wanted. Both cars were super unlucky our sister car and Jan on our car, but that’s racing you know

. We always push to the limit and sometimes things go wrong. And this also is something special within the Corvette team: there is no bad word about anything. And I’ve seen it different in my career, I can tell you. Here, from top to bottom, they all work together and they consider it a sport. It’s racing, you try hard, and you win and you lose together. And this is what you feel at Corvette, and this is a good feeling for a driver.
Because one day you make a mistake and it’s not nice if people drag you down when they should say,
’Hey, it happens. we’ve won so much together and sometimes things go wrong,’ which for me again shows I’m in the right team here and I hope we’ll have some more opportunities in the future to win this together."

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"This has without a doubt been a tough Le Mans 24 Hours for Corvette Racing.
On the 64 Corvette side, we had a promising start with good pace. We got ourselves up to fourth place, which ended up being the high-water mark as it turns out. Some little bits and pieces didn’t go our way but the race got reset with a safety car, and we were looking good again. But it wasn’t to be. Marcel had the incident with the GTE Am car it was such a big hit.
We’re all so happy he’s been able to walk away. It’s a testament to the work that Corvette Racing and Chevrolet have done on the C7.R – our driver cell, the impact structure. Those all really helped protect Marcel.
Then it was all eyes on the 63 Corvette and it was looking so well for so long. This race can bite you so hard sometimes and it can be tough to take. Everyone at Corvette Racing put so much into this for months and months.
It’s very special but it does take a lot of preparation. When you that chance of winning taken away, that’s really hard for the guys to take.
They worked so, so hard over the last few months. We can be proud of what we achieved over this race but unfortunately we weren’t standing on the top step of the podium."

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"It definitely was not the 24 Hours that we were hoping for.
We can all be super proud of all the efforts from everyone at Corvette Racing. We had two fast, reliable Corvettes – all ingredients that you need for a good race. Unfortunately what ends up being the most important piece the luck we didn’t have that today.
It’s a cliche but that’s racing.
Everyone is pushing at 100 percent, and when it is this close and the competition is this fierce, the margin for error is razor-thin.
It’s unfortunate to have had our race end early. We can be proud of the effort of this whole team.
We’re all proud to drive for Corvette Racing and Team Chevy."

"We’re happy that Marcel is OK, and that’s one of the reasons I’m proud to drive these cars like we do.
We know things happen sometimes but we know we are safe. I feel bad for the 63 team too.
They showed how competitive we can be with a seven-year old car. It’s just too bad that today was not Corvette Racing’s day."

MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

"It was a tough weekend for us.
It definitely was not what we were hoping for. It was an early end to our day. Everyone did a double stint, and I was on my last lap before I was to hand off to Olly. Unfortunately I got hit by a GTE Am driver that took me out and I hit the barrier quite hard.
For us the race was over.
I’m happy Corvette is the safest GT car we have in the field.
Every system worked well and I have no issues feeling well even though the impact was hard. I’m happy I’m OK but on the other hand I am sad because we were taken out of the race.
For sure we wanted to achieve a good result on Corvette’s 20th year at Le Mans.
For sure that’s kind of racing but it’s still sad for the team that all the preparation we did ended all of a sudden. It is difficult to take."