This year, C8.R Corvette has split its racing strategy, running one C8.R in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and one in the WEC.
Tandy and Milner currently lie fourth in the latter's GTE Pro class after second in the Sebring 1000-mile race and fourth in the six-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps

Despite Le Mans being worth double points and a poor finish or even worse, a DNF likely to end their title quest, both drivers are prepared to risk running flat-out in order to achieve victory in the WEC’s marquee event.
“Running WEC doesn’t change anything for me in terms of preparation,” said Milner, who won Le Mans with a Corvette C6.R in 2011 and with a C7.R in 2015" (the team’s last win at the track).

No matter what, we finish the race, and we finish as strongly as we can. We race hard to the end no matter what our position is.
Now that we have some concerns for points in the full WEC championship, we’ll race with that in mind.
But it doesn’t change the fact that winning Le Mans would be the crown jewel for this season.

This is how we’ve always raced, and it won’t change. It just means that the points at the end of the weekend will mean a little bit more.

Tandy, who won the race overall with Porsche back in 2015, declared: “Le Mans is Le Mans. It’s always been its own event.
Now it’s a part of our championship and a double-points one at that, so it takes on extra significance now for us this year, at least on the #64 side.

“One of the reasons we entered the [full] WEC is that it gives us more preparation, information and experience of the series’ rules and regulations. It’s things like pit stop sequences, maximizing strategy information and bits and pieces that are different from series to series.
"We have more information about what we can do better going into Le Mans. We’re coming into Le Mans with the best level of preparation that Corvette Racing has ever had.

“It’ll be the first time that we’ll run the low-drag aero kit, so the car will be a little different from what we were used to at Spa.
The other good thing is that we have last year’s experience and data to look back on. We’re not coming into this with a brand-new car.”

Milner and Tandy will be joined in the #64 C8.R by Alexander Sims, while the sister #63 car will be driven by the usual IMSA endurance race line-up of Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg.

With IMSA no longer running the GTLM class (a WEC GTE Pro equivalent) but instead GTD Pro (GT3 cars), it means this trio has to re-adapt to cars with Corvette-specific tires from Michelin, no anti-lock braking system and slightly more power. However, two of them at least aren’t expecting this to be an issue.
Said Garcia: “It would be way different if we were running the GTD Pro spec. We are going back to our regular GTE setup in the C8.R, and I’m looking forward to that. Part of it won’t be ideal as Jordan, Nicky and myself will need to re-adapt to that car a little bit.

"Having the #64 car in the WEC will help the whole team, though. We will need to get up to speed at the start, and maybe the #64 car will start some development early on.
"We’ve done this race so many times and have raced the GTE spec so many years that it won’t take much to get on the pace. To be honest, it is more difficult to drive the IMSA [GTD Pro] car compared to what we have driven for the last 15 years!”

Catsburg added: “The last time I drove a car without ABS was Petit Le Mans in the Corvette.
That’s a bit of a handicap but we’re all more than capable to make that adjustment and be ready for it.
I’ve always been going back and forth between GTE and GT3 whenever I would come race in the States, last year…
“I honestly prefer a car without ABS. We’re all in the same boat, and we can all do this, for sure.”

Taylor, who completed some tire testing in a GTE-spec Corvette in March, sounded a more cautionary note, stating:
I still think it’s going to be a big adjustment for us going back to that, especially with it being such a tight schedule on [Le Mans] race week.

There is such limited time to get three guys through the car with such a long lap and adding in the car development we want to do.
Hopefully we can hit the ground running and get comfortable right off the bat to get into development.”

After first practice

Separate dramas affected the morning run, which was held in gloomy but dry conditions, for both factory-run Porsche 911 RSR-19s running in the GTE-Pro class.
The No. 92 car driven by Michael Christensen stopped with a left drive shaft failure early in the second hour, causing a slow zone at Tertre Rouge.

Around an hour later, the sister No. 91 Porsche went off at Mulsanne, with Gianmaria Bruni rejoining the track before parking up a few turns later at Indianapolis.
The car is understood to have locked up significantly into Mulannse. It was later transported back to the paddock with a deflated left-front Michelin tire.
Porsche placed third and fifth in the GTE-Pro times as Corvette Racing led the way.

Tommy Milner reeled off the 3:54.690 that put the No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R on top and was backed up by Nicky Catsburg who banked a 3:54.766 in the No. 63 machine.
Milner stopped on track in the closing stages due to his car running out of fuel.

Before his incident, Bruni came through in third on a 3:55.467, ahead of the independent Riley Motorsports Ferrari 488 GTE Evo which was Maranello’s quickest car in Pro

End of second practice with the C8.Rs being first and last

Corvette Racing maintained its grip on the GTE Pro class thanks to a late lap from Alexander Sims.

The Briton posted a 3m54.001s to move ahead of Davide Rigon in the the best of the AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evos.

Rigon’s 3m53.037s was two tenths up on Frederic Makowiecki’s 3m54.263s in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR.

Kessel Racing led the way in GTE Am courtesy of a 3m54.827s from Mikkel Jensen, who will form part of Peugeot's Hypercar roster later this year in the WEC.

Track action resumes at Le Mans on Wednesday: practice for the 24 Hours begins at 14:00 local time, with the one-hour first qualifying session beginning at 19:00.

Corvette Racing held station at the top of the GTE-Pro timing screen, the No. 64 and No. 63 Corvette C8.Rs P1 and P2 early on.
Alexander Sims had opened his account with a 3m54.314s to improve the No. 64 car’s best by three tenths over the previous session, and in the last hour of the session and still in dry conditions, the two cars traded times at the top, shaving off a couple of tenths in the process before a 3m54.001s emerged as the best GTE-Pro time of the day for Sims in the No. 64 car. Both Corvette crews had almost uninterrupted running.

Shane van Gisbergen had a spin at the Ford Chicane in the Riley Competition Ferrari, but the No. 74 car had shown well, enjoying being ahead AF Corse program for some while.

AF Corse’s approach was typically uncluttered and stealthy, though.
The No. 52 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo hadn’t seen much daylight, but emerged from its pit in the third hour, when a 3m54.037s from Miguel Molina took the car to the top of the Pro times until Sims brought the No. 64 Corvette back in play.
The No. 51 Ferrari turned just seven laps in the first half of the session, Alessandro Pier Guidi’s best of 3m54.395s improving the car’s pace by more than a second over its morning session best to finish the test fourth in class.

Manthey’s Porsche GT Team was making up for lost time. Laurens Vanthoor stayed aboard the No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR-19, doing all the laps until the safety car period at the end of the second hour brought most of the GTE-Pro field back to the pits.
A 3m54.444 sfrom Kevin Estre would improve the car’s time, but not it’s prominence.
Fred Makowiecki posted a 3m54.263s to place the No. 91 Porsche third.
However, despite this apparent disparity, it should be noted that just half a second covers the whole of the GTE-Pro field’s performance.

LE MANS, France (June 5, 2022)
Corvette Racing’s Alexander Sims set the fastest GTE Pro time in testing Sunday ahead of next weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans the second time at the French endurance classic for the mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

Sims set the fastest GTE Pro time of 3:54.001 (130.239 mph) behind the wheel of the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R during the second of two four-hour sessions. Sims led a GTE Pro category that was separated by a bit more than a half-second, an amazing development around an 8.5-mile circuit. He will drive next weekend with Tommy Milner who was fastest in class during the morning session – and Nick Tandy.

The Milner/Tandy duo are full-season teammates in the FIA World Endurance Championship, of which Le Mans will pay double points toward.
They are third in the championship after two races.
Antonio Garcia was the quickest driver in the No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette at 3:54.504 (129.991 mph). He, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg are racing the GTE-spec C8.R for the first time since last year’s Petit Le Mans in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The WEC Corvette has given the entire Corvette Racing team much-needed insight and data on a wide variety of items that will be key at Le Mans.
Things like pit stop procedures, tire selection and performance, and racing rules will be key to the team’s outcome.

Meanwhile, the Garcia/Taylor/Catsburg trio spent Sunday relearning the GTE C8.R instead of its GT Daytona (GTD) configuration from IMSA, which features less power, an ABS system for driver assistance and a common Michelin tire that is available to all teams, as opposed to the GTE Michelin that is designed specifically for the Corvette.

Corvette Racing is going for its ninth class win at Le Mans since 2001.

Corvette Racing will contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 11-12 with the green flag set for 4 p.m. CET and 10 a.m. ET. MotorTrend TV will air the race live with the Motor Trend App adding coverage of official practices and qualifying on June 8-9. Live audio coverage will be available from Radio Le Mans starting with Wednesday’s first official practice session.

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“It’s nice to be back at Le Mans and back in the Corvette. It was a little bit of a crazy night flying here from Formula E in Indonesia and doing a decent chunk of laps, something I wasn’t able to do last year. It was nice just to get a good feeling of the car and find my rhythm.

We learned a lot about tire longevity; I was fortunate to have a couple of safety cars and slow zones to go through the Le Mans-specific rules and things that can happen in the race, so that was really useful. Things like this and getting to double-stint the tires will prove helpful, too. In general, it was a good day.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“All in all, it was a pretty good day. A lot of work that we did in the off season to improve the car, we felt today, which was great. There were a couple of issues here and there, but they aren’t things we can’t solve.
I’m happy with the progress the team has made since the off season and the progress the team has made today. We came here with a plan of what we needed to learn about the tire here at Le Mans.

It’s a new compound for us here. We accomplished what we needed to. The Corvette is quite comfortable for us, which is a nice improvement from last year. On lap-time, we seem certainly better than last year, which is good since we’ve had some power taken away. So far, so good.”

NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R

“For sure, having everything and everyone ready from doing the previous two WEC races has given us a head start.
Day One here at Le Mans and things went really smooth, and we got through everything we wanted to do. It’s great to have Alex back with us and to get some laps.
The track looks good and it looks clean. The Corvette feels good. Things can change between now and the race, but we’ve definitely started with our best foot forward.”

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“I’m pleased. I was expecting rain, a lot of red flags and all that. At the end of the day, especially compared to last year, we managed to put in a lot of laps. We did 50 laps this afternoon, which around here is plenty. There is a lot of data to see and compare to all the pre-event data we had.
We will look and see what the best way is to start practice Wednesday.
A lot of things have been tested, so now we need to figure out the best package for the race week.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“It’s our first time back since last year, which was our first time here with this car. Obviously since then we’ve done a lot of work in the simulator to make developments and came back with some new setup strategies, so it was nice to put these to the test in real life as opposed to the virtual world.
I think we’re pretty happy with how we rolled off the truck here. The car seemed to be a bit of a step ahead of where we were last year from a balance perspective.

Obviously, it’s good to get all three of us back in the car. For us on the 63 side, we’re racing a much different car in IMSA these days, so adjusting to a different tire and no ABS is definitely an adjustment. It was nice that all of us got a good amount of running today. We can come back tomorrow and Tuesday and look at some data and hit the ground running on Wednesday.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“It was excellent to get back in this spec of the C8.R. The biggest thing between here and IMSA is the lack of ABS, which I like and is nice. It requires more skill and is more of a challenge, so you do have to adjust to that. It was about a bit of that today and getting back into the rhythm of the track

I really loved it today. I always love getting back in the Corvette after a few months away. We made some improvements on the car since last year.
Also doing the WEC season on the 64 side has helped. The car feels nice and is good to drive. I can’t wait for the rest of the week.”

For the first time since 2019, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is fully open to spectators with popular activities such as public scrutineering, pit walks, autograph sessions and the parade of drivers returning to the event.

With these and other fan engagements returning, Le Mans is bound to attract a significant number of new spectators many of whom will go into the event wide-eyed and somewhat overwhelmed by the scope and amount of things to do.
The six drivers from C8.R Corvette Racing can help, however. Each has their own perspective on the reopening of the event and recommendations for newcomers to the 24 Hours

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“Going back to Le Mans with fans being here this year is something we all wanted. Obviously it’s one of the biggest races of the year. Missing a large portion of the fans last year was very unusual for everybody. So it’s great to see them all back at Le Mans.”

Recommendations for first-time fans at Le Mans: “I only have the driver’s view of Le Mans, other than 2015 (the No. 63 Corvette didn’t start). I walked around the track a little bit on Saturday but that was it. The amount of opportunities where you see interactions between fans and drivers are huge. I’ve never seen longer autograph sessions than what you have at Le Mans

That’s on top of scrutineering where you are signing all the time and seeing people everywhere. Those are two of the good things.
So scrutineering downtown and the autograph session before practice then there are the pit walks where you can see the whole team working on the cars.
This year is back to normal, which will be great. As a race fan, I will definitely do the experience more than once after I retire in some years!”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“My first time going, events like the autograph session, scrutineering and the parade were huge events around the race itself. As a kid watching from America, you’d get online and look at the pictures from those things and wonder what it would be like in person.
When you’re there, you understand the magnitude of the event and how special it is not just for motorsport but for the city and how everyone embraces it. Not being able to connect with fans as much as we have in the past was tough. But it’s nice to get back to that normal and makes all the traditions come full-circle.

Recommendations for first-time fans at Le Mans: “I think you have to do the parade.
That’s where you get the energy of the whole city that embraces the event. You see how massive it is and all the traditions that go with it. At the race itself, somehow getting around most of the track gives the perspective of how big the circuit is in itself. It reminds you of the history of the event and guys going around with tiny seatbelts, basically no headlights and things like that.

You can get an idea of how crazy it is when you go down Mulsanne and there are no lights or anything. Think about what those guys in the 60s and 70s were doing at 220 mph and old-style headlights. You feel so alone out there. It’s something you don’t see anywhere else in the world.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“Having the parade and public scrutineering back is big. Drivers always joke that there are some sides of it which give us more work and more time to be away from where we want to be on track. But I think we all love it. The Le Mans parade is a parade unlike anything else. You go through the city with so much history and so many great fans.
Of course Jordan will steal the show so I can’t wait to be next to him and watching him do what he does with the fans. And what would our sport and Le Mans be without fans?

So I’m super happy that Le Mans is going to be back to normal in a way and we can all enjoy the massive amount of fans that are down there. Le Mans and Nürburgring 24 are events that driven by the fans being there, and we’ve missed that the last couple of years. I can’t wait.”

Recommendations for first-time fans at Le Mans:

“I’d do the parade. You also have these little streets around Arnage and in some of the small towns that are just full of fans eating food and drinking beer. The atmosphere is so, so cool even though you are half-a-kilometer from the track. That is something I really like about Le Mans. You can see the whole area is breathing the event for that week. So I would soak up some of that.

At the track, I would recommend that my friends just go walk. Go for a huge hike and leave for a couple of hours. Go around the track and to spots where it might not be so crowded. You can really see the crazy speed differences and approaching speeds into the corners.
You get to see the event from a different point of view than just sitting around in a hospitality room looking at a TV screen. That’s definitely something I would do.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“It’s a big deal for the race and all the fans, sponsors and competitors to get back to normal. While the last two years with the world situation as it is, the bare-bones required people have been there to make the event happen. What makes the event special, as we see with any marquee sporting event, is the atmosphere and ambiance. It’s all the extra stuff and energies that come together and make these events as special as they are.
When you don’t have all those ingredients, there definitely is a different feel to the race.

We had some fans last year, which was great. It adds to the event and makes it feel as special as the race always has been. We’re all looking forward to getting to back to a normal Le Mans.”

Recommendations for first-time fans at Le Mans:

“I’ve never experienced things from the fan side, but there are some awesome things around the event. The parade is always great. The fans look like they’re always having a great time. Some may enjoy just sitting back, having a beer and enjoying the atmosphere that way. The best thing I’d tell someone is to find another fan who has been there multiple times and ask their opinion on what their favorite thing to do on the weekend, where to go, where to watch the race. You’ll definitely get different opinions the more you talk to people.

When I do have friends that come to the track, I can show them the cars up close and talk to them what we experience as drivers. But the best advice I can give anyone is to find and talk with other fans. I’ve always found sports car fans to be super approachable.
They’re all obviously knowledgeable and very much fans of the race. Even at big events like Le Mans, you have people there that understand what’s happening in the race and have a good perspective on how best to enjoy themselves.”

NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“Even comparing Le Mans to other sporting events I’ve been to, Le Mans is one of the top ones in the world. It’s been different the last couple of years.
Yes, we are a racing team and we go to concentrate on our racing. That’s what we’ve focused on the last couple of years. When I first went to Le Mans, I wasn’t prepared for the scale and amount of people that watch and follow it.

People make a holiday out of it. It’s just incredible. For our sport as a whole, it’s great that we have our showpiece back in its normal slot, back open and back where people can see the cars during scrutineering in the city. I’ve not seen a lot of friends and family that are always in the same spots for the driver parade each year. That’s part of the week. It’s great for everyone that we’re back to how it should be. I hope it goes smoothly so everyone can enjoy what we’re doing.”

Recommendations for first-time fans at Le Mans:

“Learning from other people’s experiences from the times they’ve been there is helpful. When you’re open to moving around, that’s ideal. I know people who have made friends in France that are now life-long friends back in the UK. They don’t live near each other but they meet at places like this and have similar vested interests. People go there for the social side of it, meeting and talking and sharing the same passions is just as much of a draw as seeing the cars, the drivers and action on-track.

One of the draws of a 24-hour race is that you don’t have to sit there for an hour-and-a-half to follow it. You can dip in and out. You can go around to different parts of the track. You can go and have dinner in one village and then have breakfast in another to meet other people to get involved with what’s going on. I’ve always said that if I wasn’t driving at Le Mans, I’d definitely go there with friends to have a good time and enjoy the event.”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“To me, this is what Le Mans is about.
The size of the event is enormous. I’ll always remember the first Le Mans I did, I had been in single-seaters to that point and was around Formula One. I knew of Le Mans but it wasn’t until I went there and realized the scale of the event and how it completely surpassed any F1 weekend I had been to. It’s still the same with the times I’ve been to Le Mans. Even last year with limited fans, you still had the sensation of it being an awesome event with loads of people that are coming from around Europe and across the world.

Having done the drivers’ parade, it’s just madness! Fans are standing five- and six-people deep during the parade and well before it! It’s bonkers and you realize how big an event this is. To be a part of that is really cool and an amazing experience of life, much less in motorsport. It’s unrivaled.”

Recommendations for first-time fans at Le Mans:

“The things that stand out are the driver parade in town and I’ve never done it, but my wife has ridden the Ferris wheel.
She went up at night and said it was really cool seeing the cars buzz around underneath you. It really gives you a sense of the enormity of the occasion.
Those are two really cool things to do to soak up some of the atmosphere of Le Mans.”

CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: By the Numbers

• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 21 appearances 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), Corvette C7.R (2014-2019) and Corvette C8.R (2021).
• 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.
• 7: Number of Le Mans victories for Corvette Racing’s lineup.
Antonio Garcia: 3 Tommy Milner: 2 Jordan Taylor: 1 Nick Tandy: 1
• 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.
• 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001.
• 23: Number of drivers to compete for Corvette Racing at Le Mans. That number grew in 2021 with Nick Tandy, Nicky Catsburg and Alexander Sims joining the lineup.
• 25: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, 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, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen.
• 121: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 113 in North America and eight at Le Mans.
• 256: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999.
• 27,557.8: Approximate freight weight in pounds (12,500 kgs!!) sent by Corvette Racing to Le Mans by air and by sea! The first shipment left Detroit in April via rail and sea, and the last left in early-May by air.
• 104,343.44: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 21 previous trips to Le Mans. That represents 12,376 laps… or more than four full trips around the Earth at its equator. The two Corvettes combined to go over the 100,000-mile mark in the 2021 race.
• 340,225.78: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon and part of the way back!
Corvette Racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (wins 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)
2019
No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 8th in GTE Pro
No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 16th in GTE Pro (DNF)
2021
No. 63 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 2nd in GTE Pro
No. 64 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy/Alexander Sims – 6th in GTE Pro

C8.R driver Tommy Milner reckons that Corvette Racing is better prepared for its 2nd 24 Hours of Le Mans with the C8.R thanks to its decision to commit to a full-season FIA World Endurance Championship campaign for the first time, as opposed to running a one-off round prior to the French enduro.

The American manufacturer is in the midst of a full-season tilt in the GTE-Pro category, with Milner and co-driver Nick Tandy driving the No. 64 Corvette C8.R against factory efforts from rival manufacturers Ferrari and Porsche.
In previous years, Corvette would typically run one or two single-car entries in the buildup to Le Mans as a way to prepare for the event.
In 2018, it ran a single C7.R in the 6 Hours of Shanghai, followed by appearances at Sebring (2019), COTA (2020) and Spa (2021).

Now, with more WEC running leading into Le Mans, Milner believes that the team was able to learn the nuances of the series in a way that it was not able to do previously, which has boosted its preparation.
“More than anything, it’s probably the operational side of things that is a benefit for the team,” Milner stated.
“The team has spent a lot of time in the off season preparing for the way the pit stops work, which they do most years anyway, but a lot of the time is also spent practicing IMSA pit stops.
“We saw at Sebring and at Spa as well that there was a bit of time to be gained in the pit lane compared to our competitors. So I think in that sense, it’s been a huge help.”

According to Milner, the extra running has also allowed Corvette to get a better grip on the WEC-specific tire compounds.
This was especially useful as the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship traded the ‘confidential’ Michelin specification for customer-spec Pilot Sport S9M tires when it introduced GTD Pro at the beginning of the year.

That switch meant that Corvette would have been at a disadvantage, had it not committed to the full WEC campaign, says Milner.
“It’s also been helpful for us as we haven’t done as much testing as now this year and with IMSA being on a customer Michelin tire, we normally would have run on the confidential tire [there],” he said.

“So had we not done the WEC this year, we would have been behind the eight-ball a bit on track running on the compound of tires that we’ll use this year.”
“So we have some experience on that and we have a good baseline for that as well.

“It’s always different coming here to Le Mans, with the track being so unique, long straightaways.
“The compounds that we typically use here are a little bit different from what we would normally use in the U.S.

“So all things considered, it has been a good change for Corvette Racing to spend more time here in WEC and understand how the pit stops work and more running on a tire that we wouldn’t normally have run in the U.S.”

Tandy, who is going into his second Le Mans start with Corvette, echoed his co-driver’s sentiment and indicated that the added preparation will allow the team to launch a serious bid for class honors, something Milner agrees on.
“I think we have everything needed to have a really strong run at it,” Tandy said.

“We’ve done the whole WEC season buildup, we know the car, we know the tires, we know from this race last year what we need to focus on.
“So there are no excuses, we’re here to win and anything else will be a failure.”

After first practice Weds

End of Qualify and Le Mans gave gifts to others, but not to C8.Rs as BoP
allows others to have less wing angle which give them higher top end speed

Le Mans BoP update today :

Ferrari, The minimum rear wing angle has been changed from 5.3 degrees to minus 5.3 degrees.

Additionally, a rear wing angle change for all Porsche 911 RSR-19s sees the German manufacturer’s cars shift from 2 degrees to minus 1.8 degrees.

Neither the Pro-class Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs nor the Am-class Aston Martin Vantage GTEs have been affected by the BoP amendment, which was communicated right at the start of the three-hour Free Practice 1 session.

Qualify was interrupted by a red flag due to a crash for the No. 93 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Michael Fassbender.
After the session then resumed, only a handful of drivers were able to post improved lap times until it began raining.

In three classes, the top six drivers in class secured a spot in Hyperpole tomorrow

GTE-Pro saw the six factory-entered cars occupying the top six, with Riley Motorsports eliminated.

Laurens Vanthoor was fastest in the No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 with the best lap of 3:50.999, which was 0.133 seconds faster than the No. 63 Corvette C8.R of Antonio Garcia.

Fred Makowiecki was third in the sister Porsche, with Nick Tandy fourth ahead of the two AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evos of James Calado and Antonio Fuoco.

Corvette Racing led the way in second practice in the GTE Pro ranks as Nicky Catsburg set a best effort of 3m53.492s early on in the quickest of the American marque's pair of C8.Rs, the #63 car.

Next up was the best of the factory Porsche 911 RSR-19s, the #91 example of Frederic Makowiecki, with the #64 Corvette of Tommy Milner a mere three hundredths further back in third.

The quickest Ferrari 488 GTE Evo was the privateer Riley Motorsports entry in fourth with Felipe Fraga at the wheel, ahead of the #92 Porsche of Kevin Estre and the two works AF Corse-entered Ferraris.

CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: C8.Rs Advance to Hyperpole

Garcia, Tandy among GTE Pro leaders in first official practice, qualifying sessions

Both C8.R Corvette Racing entries advanced Wednesday to the Hyperpole final qualifying session for the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the pair of mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs continuing their strong showing from Sunday’s Test Day.

Antonio Garcia, driving the No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, was the second-fastest driver in an ultra-competitive GTE Pro category with a lap of 3:51.132 (131.855 mph).
A three-time Le Mans winner, Garcia was only 0.133 seconds off the class-leading pace of Laurens Vanthoor.
Nick Tandy wasn’t far behind in the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette. His best lap of 3:51.491 (131.669 mph) put him comfortably inside the top-six, as the six fastest cars in each class from Wednesday qualifying advance to Thursday’s 30-minute Hyperpole session.

Wednesday’s five hours of practice saw all six Corvette Racing drivers cycle through the C8.Rs.
Aside from a brief heavy shower during the qualifying session and a couple of slow zones in the two-hour night session, neither of the Corvettes lost significant running time due to technical or mechanical issues.

Corvette Racing will contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 11-12 with the green flag set for 4 p.m. CET and 10 a.m. ET. MotorTrend TV will air the race live with the MotorTrend App adding coverage of official practices and qualifying Thursday.
Live audio coverage will be available from Radio Le Mans starting with Wednesday’s first official practice session.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R SECOND IN GTE PRO QUALIFYING:

“It was a good day and so far the car is good. We had a clean run in free practice to validate a few things we had in mind and putting things together from the Test Day. You always get a little nervous with this new qualifying format because in an hour, anything can happen. We saw that last year when I got caught with a ton of red flags and slow zones.

I knew we had the speed, but you had to put down a lap or two, to be sure. We did it and did it early enough with the unexpected rain. I couldn’t believe that after I went out for my second run that the team told it was raining hard. Even at Pit-In, there were zero drops.
It was another Le Mans qualifying, and tomorrow is the real one. The important thing was to run as much as we could tonight and again tomorrow. We have five more hours of free practice left. Let’s see if we can improve things even more.”

NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R FOURTH IN GTE PRO QUALIFYING:

“Raceweek is always a little bit different from the Test Day.
That’s always the first day when the public roads are opened up to us and the rubber from the tires start going down. We’re pleased to see that the car is still in excellent shape from the test.
We’re continuing to work through and figuring out what tire compounds we want to be running at certain times. So far, the practice is going well. In qualifying, the key aim of course was to get both cars into the Hyperpole. We managed to get some idea of what we need to do to gain a bit more performance for Hyperpole.
From our side, it’s been a pleasing day.
Everything that we have worked on has made sense with what we hoped would happen with the car. Hopefully the rest of the week will go as smoothly as today.”

Third practice completed

C8.R has been the first car in GTD-Pro to break into the 3 minute 49 seconds for a lap and wins the Hyperpole for the start of the race this weekend
Both C8.Rs will start the race up front.

Corvette Racing secured a front-row lockout in GTE Pro, as Nick Tandy set the only sub-3m50s effort in the class at the wheel of the American brand’s #64 C8.R.

Tandy’s best of 3m49.985s compared to 3m50.177s set by Antonio Garcia in the sister #63 car and a 3m50.377s from the best of the works Porsche 911 RSR-19s in third place, the #91 example of Frederic Makowiecki.

Porsche swept the second row of the grid as Laurens Vanthoor took fourth place in the #92 car ahead of the two AF Corse-run Ferrari 488 GTE Evos, Antonio Fuoco leading James Calado.


The story of GTE Pro was domination from Corvette Racing. Its C8.Rs locked out the class front row after strong performances from Nick Tandy and Antonio Garcia. Tandy set the pole time in the No. 64, with a 3m49.985s, the Briton the only driver in a GTE car to set a sub 3m50s time.

“It feels fantastic to have taken pole,” Tandy said. “I’m seeing lots of Corvette flags at the circuit, it’s great for everyone who is here to support us.
Let’s hope we can keep these cars out front for 24 hours. The GTE cars are so fun to drive with fresh tires and low fuel.”

A late improvement from Garcia in the No. 63 was good enough for second, pushing the No. 91 Porsche of Fred Makowiecki to third after he and teammate Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 92 opted to sit out the first half of the 30-minute shootout.

It was a rather quiet run for AF Corse, its pair of Ferraris only capable of fifth and sixth, setting times in the 3:51

To achieve the fastest lap time possible in the Hyperpole session, the competitors make some specific adjustments to their cars.

At 20:00, the 23 cars qualified for Hyperpole will take to the track in a test of sheer speed.
The drivers appointed by the teams will aim to clock the fastest possible lap and secure pole position in their respective classes.
For the manufacturers competing, pole is a matter of prestige as Pascal Vasselon, technical director at Toyota Gazoo Racing explains:

“Taking pole position is not a priority, but we know that it has an impact with the fans and the media.
We’re also competitors at heart, so of course we’re proud to start from pole in an iconic race like the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Which is why we take Hyperpole very seriously, and we use the practice sessions to do a few preparatory runs.”

For this key phase in the proceedings, the cars are tuned for peak performance. “We seek the optimum parameters for each setting,” explains Thomas Tribotté, Hypercar operating engineer with Alpine Elf Team. “The ride height and amount of fuel are kept to the minimum.

The car’s balance is also adjusted.” The weight and grip of the car are different than in a regular race stint. As a result, adjustments also need to be made to the overall configuration. However, there is less scope for changes to the mechanical and aerodynamic parameters in a Hypercar than there was in an LMP1.

To achieve peak speed, you would expect the teams to push their engines at full power. But there are two schools of thought. At Toyota Gazoo Racing, Vasselon says that “when we combine the power of our engine and our hybrid system, we have a maximum potential of almost 1,000 horsepower.

However, the regulations only permit a maximum 677 horsepower at any one time. That means that boosting engine power for a qualifying lap is a thing of the past. We’re all out, at full power, all the time.” There is a different approach at Alpine. “We don't unleash the engine’s full power.
We’re quite conservative because we’re working with the race in mind,” adds Tribotté.

In addition, for Hyperpole the cars are fitted with soft tires, which ensure greater speed but only last a few laps.

Is Hyperpole the most enjoyable session for the engineers?
Tribotté anwsers: “It’s pretty unique. Even though the race remains our priority, we get drawn into the whole thing!”

Driver Jordan Taylor said it only took him a “couple of laps” to adapt back to the GTE-spec Chevrolet Corvette C8.R after spending the first part of the year in the manufacturer’s GTD variant in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition.

The two-time IMSA GTLM champion, who currently sits second in the WeatherTech Championship GTD Pro standings alongside co-driver Antonio Garcia, is again joined by Nicky Catsburg in this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

While it’s the same lineup that claimed GTD Pro class honors in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the trio are in a significantly different-handling car.

The GTD-spec variant features less power, additional weight, the use of anti-lock brakes, customer Michelin tires among other changes to put it in line with FIA GT3-homologated machinery.

“We’re back to driving the car for what it was designed to do,” Taylor told Sportscar365.

“It feels more like the C8.R should feel like, more of a proper race car, more pure, no ABS, the confidential tires.
“It definitely takes time to re-learn the limits of it. It’s harder to find the limit and be on the limit of it and kind of extract everything out of the car.
“I think the ABS hides a lot of issues and masks a lot of problems.
“I’ve enjoyed the challenge, coming back to it. It was a bit of a learning curve to get back into it. Now I feel I’m back home again.”

Taylor said his re-acclimatization to the GTE contender went smoother than initially expected.
“I was worried when I’d get in, I’d just flat-spot the tires on the first laps and have no feel in my foot again for the brakes,” he said. “But it came back quickly.

“I think the biggest thing is understanding the tire again. This is also a different tire that we’ve had here last year.
“Understanding the limits of it, what it likes, what it doesn’t like, what kind of temperature range it works in… That’s been the biggest thing.
“I think that’s been the best part of having the 64 car in the WEC all year is having them develop [the new tire] and understand it so when we get here, the car is pretty close to being where we want it to be.

“Then the drivers can get up to speed and only do fine adjustments.”
With this year’s Le Mans likely the final outing for the GTE-Pro class, and GTE-spec machinery only eligible in GTE-Am until next year, Taylor admitted he will miss the platform;

While IMSA has already made the switch, the FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series will adopt the formula in 2024, with further details to be announced on Friday.
“It’s such a cool class,” he said. “I’ll miss the tire development side of it. The tires are unbelievably impressive how well they work and to see how Michelin develops it and work on it and how we pick a tire.

“That whole process has been an interesting experience.
“I’ve never been a big fan of ABS, especially in professional racing, where I think it takes a huge skill out of the drivers’ hands
“It changes the racing, the race-ability of the races is difficult when you do find an amateur, it’s always hard to pass them because they’re just using the ABS to hold you off.
“For me, that part I don’t love. But I like the aspect of it bringing more cars to the grid, more competition.
“I’d rather have more guys to race against than a small grid with no ABS. For me, it takes away a little bit of the purity of the sport at a professional level.”

Corvette in Good Shape Heading into Hyperpole, Race

Taylor said the Pratt & Miller-run squad has been pleased with the pace of the two Corvettes following the test day and start of official track action on Wednesday.

“I’ve been a little surprised how quick we’ve been,” he said. “The car feels a lot better than it did last year.
“Last year was obviously our first year here with this car, and we didn’t have a lot of time to really adjust it last year while we were here.
“Since then, we’ve spent a ton of time in the simulator and working on the tire development side. I think we’ve made a lot of gains on our own.

“The car at the test day, quite honestly, felt better than it did almost all race week last year.
“We’ve been super happy with it all six drivers are comfortable.
But the fastest car doesn’t always win here. I’m sure everyone else is still working on their programs as well.”

Fifth and final practice completed before the 24-hour race this weekend

In GTE-Pro, Corvette Racing continued to lead the way, with Nicky Catsburg the quickest aboard the No. 64 Corvette C8.R by reeling off a best lap of 3:52.710.

The Dutchman outpaced Tommy Milner’s sister Corvette by 0.021 seconds, leading the two Porsches of Gianmaria Bruni and Laurens Vanthoor.

AF Corse ended the session fifth and sixth with its pair of Ferrari 488 GTE Evos, driven by Miguel Molina and James Calado, respectively.

Question I have is both C8.Rs have been going balls to the walls for the last 3 days, can the C8.Rs though go another 24 hours with no issues, or were the cars used up over these 3 days ?

Nick Tandy led a 1-2 result for Corvette Racing in the Hyperpole session Thursday night ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Tandy set a lap of 3:49.985 (132.538 mph) in the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to give the team its first pole since 2010.

That also was the last time Corvette Racing started Le Mans with two cars on the front row. Antonio Garcia sealed the effort in the No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R with a time of 3:50.177 (132.414 mph). It continued a solid pre-race program for the mid-engine Corvettes, which are at Le Mans for the second time.

Tandy, driving with FIA WEC full-season teammate Tommy Milner and Alexander Sims, claimed his first pole position at Le Mans. He was only 0.192 seconds clear of Garcia, who is driving with IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teammate Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg.

The two Corvettes have shown impressive form since Sunday’s Test Day with the full benefit of running the WEC with the N. 64 Corvette being realized. The next goal is add another 1-2 finish… this time Sunday afternoon for the team’s ninth class win and first since 2015.

Corvette Racing will contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 11-12 with the green flag set for 4 p.m. CET and 10 a.m. ET. MotorTrend TV will air the race live with the MotorTrend Plus adding on-board footage. Live audio coverage will be available from Radio Le Mans.

NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R GTE PRO HYPERPOLE WINNER:

“What a fantastic day and a fantastic car. It’s great to see so many Corvette flags around the track. This is for everyone who is here to support us and here to watch us. Hopefully we can keep these two yellow Corvettes up front for 24 hours. It was great out on track. The car feels fantastic.
These GTE cars are so much fun to drive when you’re out there with fresh tires and low fuel around this circuit it’s a real privilege.”

“The practices have been excellent. Corvette Racing knows how into and race these events. It’s been a long time since they’ve been on the top step at Le Mans.
The plan is always to keep it clean, keep it fast and have a great race. The ultimate thing though is still to end up still on the track and first on Sunday afternoon.”

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R SECOND IN GTE PRO HYPERPOLE:

“You can’t get much closer than that. It’s the first pole and first 1-2 for Corvette in quite a while.
They were good runs. It was pretty difficult to know what the track was going to be like.
This new format for qualifying here is just different for us. It’s the first time I did this, so I’m happy. I’m happy with how the car is running, for sure.

Yesterday we were up front, and we’re still up front now. It’s a nice place to start the race, for sure.”

Another C8.R takes a Le Mans speed record

All the testing, practice and qualifying sessions are in the rearview mirror. Now it’s time for Corvette Racing to take on the 24 Hours of Le Mans and go for a ninth victory in the great endurance race.

The two Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs will roll off first and second from the GTE Pro grid for the first time since 2010. Nick Tandy put the No. 64 Corvette on pole position in the class Thursday, followed closely by Antonio Garcia in the No. 63 C8.R.
With the race beckoning and final prep work being completed, all six Corvette Racing drivers took stock of the week with outlooks heading into Saturday’s green flag

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“Now you need to put everything together… all the laps you’ve done. The last two hours of practice last night was the real warm-up of the race; that’s when you normally go and decide things about the car you will race. We have a good car, for sure. Now we have to see where the others are.”

The outlook and starting at the front: “I’m not nervous. I was way more nervous last year when we weren’t in Hyperpole and were behind seven Am cars. Last year, the pressure was up. The rain at the beginning helped as we were P2 after Lap One. But I prefer it this way!

We know how well the car is running. We can’t ask for a better starting point. This is the good thing about having two cars here. We have two shots in the race, and we need to capitalize on this. It would be great if we could keep it 1-2 all the way, but now there’s not much else we can do and nothing else we can ask for.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“Every year, this race starts and it’s just a dogfight from start to finish. I’m excited to get things started because I know the car is quick and comfortable to drive. All the drivers in our car are happy with it. We’ll be in a good spot,
I think. For us, the name of the game is staying out of trouble, but at the same time you don’t want to lose too much time throughout. We have a good, competitive car. It feels stronger than it did last year when we finished second, so that makes things exciting.

Can you control a race this long from out front?
“The big thing with this race is that it’s always important to be at the front.
You never know when you’re going to get a slow zone or safety car that can separate the field. In America, you can drop back and hope for a yellow to get things back.

Here, you always try to maximize track position. Starting up front, you want to be up there in case one of those things happen. Looking at where we qualified, we definitely want to stay up there as long as possible to control things as much as we can and hope nothing out of our control takes that away.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“I was already more confident at the beginning of this week than last year.
Now, after my first days of driving, I’d say my confidence level is high. It all feels superb. I can feel the team is better prepared, and I can feel that the car is in a better window. But you can never be too comfortable. Let’s see what happens in the first few hours of the race, and then we will have a better picture of what’s going on.

So far, we can only focus on ourselves and I feel like what we are doing is good. The car is good. The team and drivers are well-prepared.
But it’s still a 24-hour race, and lots of crazy stuff can happen. Even when you have a car that is able and capable of winning, you still need to do it.
People sometimes underestimate that; they think that if you have an advantage, or you have the car to win, then just win it.
But it’s not like that. You still have to negotiate traffic and the race for 24 hours. Let’s see, but I’m confident.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“To me, it feels like we are the best prepared we’ve ever been with a car that is the best I’ve ever had at Le Mans.
From that side of things, I’m excited about the race. Now, saying all that, there are years when we didn’t have the best preparation and won, and there are years when we had great preparation and didn’t get the win. We’ve done everything we needed going into this. Like Le Mans always is, the race is its own separate beast.
Having success will require using all the things we’ve learned so far, putting those to the test, not making mistakes and having a good, clean race. We’ve been fast in the practice sessions, but performance in the race is what matters.”

Preparation leading up to the race: “It’s easy to say that the WEC program has helped in the current state because we’ve had a good week.
There are a few areas where you could definitely say, ‘Yes, having done the WEC, we are better.’
Things like pit stops and having the chance to put those to the test at Sebring and Spa we saw there was room to improve there, and the team did a great job to figure out how to make them faster. That’s one area.

There’s a case to be made for a lot of other areas as well, but I hesitate to say that it’s necessary to do WEC to be successful here. In a lot of ways, things feel just like they always have. The attention to detail is the same, but nothing beats experience. In my view, the team is in a good place.
The crew guys are happy with where things are. It’s a good place to start from.”

NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“This year does feel different to last year. We’ve obviously taken a step forward with what we know about this car and this racetrack. But also the basic preparation of the team being in this WEC paddock with this Corvette and these regulations, there is a bit of pressure off. It’s not a new environment anymore. It’s a familiar environment.
We can really concentrate on the job. We have the experience of how to make the most out of the pitstops and with the way the sporting regulations work, which is different from how we normally choreograph pitstops. We have had it pre-organized and practiced.

Furthermore, we know what to do with heated tires these sorts of things with the WEC-specific tire compounds. It’s all these kinds of things that we’d normally experience for the first time. Now it’s in our pocket. You can see from the Test Day onward that it’s been much better preparation than in the past.”

Preparation leading up to the race: “I’m pretty sure we’re the team that has done the most laps and done the most quality running.
The race is still to come. Anything can happen. But looking at how the build-up has been the last week, we couldn’t ask for more.
With qualifying, both cars on the front row and having really good knowledge through practice about all the different conditions as we can experience.

There isn’t a great deal extra that we could have done as a team to prepare us. We have all the basics covered. Now we need to go into the race and perform and hope for a bit of luck. The drivers are ready. The car and the team are ready. Now let’s go out and win a 24-hour race.”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“The preparation has been superb. From the first moment I drove the car Sunday, I could tell there have been improvements in some places over last year. I would say the Corvette feels more hooked up in the Porsche Curves this year, for example.
Last year it was already pretty good, so it’s not like there were massive areas to improve, but that was one area where it feels a little more hooked up.

The running so far has gone very smoothly. We’ve got through a lot of test items and setup work to get to a point where we are pretty happy having optimized what we can. I’m looking forward to getting into it in the race, seeing how the pace develops into the night and into Sunday.”

Can you control a 24-hour race from the front: “With a relatively small field and a 24-hour race, it may make a little less of a difference than a longer race with a bigger field? But hopefully we can stay in front of at least a few stints.
There’s always a chance that a safety car comes out in the middle of the pack, and suddenly being at the front or the back makes a huge difference. You don’t rely on that scenario, but that can happen, and being in the front can only put you in a better situation. It’s always better to be at the front.”

Corvette Racing will contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 11-12 with the green flag set for 4 p.m. CET and 10 a.m. ET. MotorTrend TV and MotorTrend
Plus will air the race live. Live audio coverage will be available from Radio Le Mans starting with Wednesday’s first official practice session.

Corvette Racing heads into its 22nd consecutive 24 Hours of Le Mans seeking its first win for the C8.R and the first since 2015. With the two cars in the hands of Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy and Alexander Sims (No. 64); and Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg (No. 63) starting one-two, Corvette has a good chance to achieve 24 Hours of Le Mans victories for all four generations of car it has taken to Le Mans.

Explore the history of Corvette Racing’s success in the American Le Mans Series and IMSA sports car championships in North America, and at Le Mans, across generations of cars and in different classes. Much of that success comes down to continuous improvement with each generation, General Motors and Pratt & Miller working together taking the lessons learned from one version of the racecar to apply to the next generation of road car to produce a better racecar. Win and repeat.

“The people working behind the program are the ones that really make this happen,” says Garcia. “So when you have GM and Pratt & Miller together, I think it proved to be an excellent combination. Pratt & Miller never stopped improving, and over the years, developing and using year by year the new tools available.

So if you look back to the very first Corvette to the very last one, I mean, all the resources put into each of them over the years have changed a lot.”
Pratt & Miller had a pretty good platform to work with in the C5, but it was far from ideal. Pop-up headlights and the cat-whisker air intakes weren’t what the car needed for success, especially at Le Mans.

“Corvette C5 was a Dave Hill-engineered project, which was the first proper technology, advanced materials and processing Corvette,” says Doug Fehan, the longtime Corvette Racing program manager who now serves in an ambassadorial role. “It was going to be a great car, because it was going to be completely different, clean sheet of paper, ground-up, everything-new kind of thing. And Herb [GM Racing head Herb Fishel] and I had developed a want and willingness to compete at Le Mans on the global stage with Corvette.”

Fehan, who first presented the idea of a racing program that would be much more than a win-on-Sunday, sell-on-Monday proposition in 1996, kept an office at Pratt & Miller, and credits the engineering expertise of Gary Pratt and the business sense of Jim Miller with much of the success of the program over the years. GM had previously worked with the company on the Intrepid GTP program, and Fehan describes the company in the early days as eight guys and a pickup truck.

Now known as Pratt Miller, the company was recently sold to Oshkosh Defense for $115 million. While defense projects will make up a large portion of the company’s work, Corvette Racing is still a key part of the business, and the company will develop the GT3 version of the C8 that will debut in 2024.

With the Intrepid experience in hand, Fehan though Pratt & Miller would be the ideal partners for developing Corvette into a world-beating race car.
But as good a car as the C5 was, and it was a big leap from the C4, Pratt & Miller still had its work cut out for it.

“We inherited a C5, the race team had no input into the design of the C5, it was done when we got it. And it was a great vehicle, but it had some real challenges in making it a racecar.
If you remember C5, you know it had those little cat whisker air intakes in the front grill, and it took in air from underneath the car. It made it really, really challenging to get enough combustion air into the engine, engine-cooling air and brake-cooling air utilizing that body design,” Fehan explains.

Despite that, the team achieved three wins at Le Mans with the car.
Corvette engineer Dave Hill then listened to what the race team had to say about that car, and Fehan notes that Hill thought he could use what was learned in racing to make a better road car, that in turn would be a better race car.
“When C6 was on the pad, which was about the time that we started racing, Corvette Chief Engineer Dave Hill, says, ‘Well, what do you need?’
I said I need a big, single air intake. I need the windshield tipped back as far as you can tip it back.
I need headlights that don’t flip up I need flush mount headlights, which was heresy. He gave us that.”

The flush headlights were a bigger deal than might be imagined. From C2 through C5, Corvette had always had some kind of flip-out or flip-up headlights. But with HID lighting coming, which required transformers and a bunch of other stuff to work, the time was right to do away with that.

C6 was an immediate success, giving Corvette its second and third 24 Hours of Le Mans victory in a row, with four victories overall, and four more consecutive American Le Mans Series championships. The partnership in evolving the Corvette between race team and production team continued.

“C7 had what we call the waterfall hood. Radiators in cars were always straight up and down, which was kind of made it a problem to get the air funneled through. You wanted that radiator canted forward and in C7 we were able to get that radiator canted forward and create that smooth air flow up through that radiator then out through the top of the hood. That was a direct derivative from racing,” Fehan says.

“And then all the stuff that you don’t see the components, the materials, the lightweight bodywork. All those things that we were developing in racing, were being looked at by the production design team. Getting the bottom of the car perfectly flat and smooth, to get the air to move out from underneath it more rapidly, they were learning that in racing.
Pratt & Miller was doing a lot of the computational fluid dynamics on the racecar, and they ended up helping GM do some CFD work on the Corvette bodywork. And that gave us the C7 (main image) which was a pretty kick-ass racecar and a tremendous road car.”

During all this, Tadge Juechter was observing. Not yet the man in charge, he had seen the trials and tribulations as Corvette evolved. But he would be tasked with overseeing perhaps the biggest evolution in the car’s history, the transition from front-mid engine to having the LT2 engine behind the driver. And there is a valid argument to be made that without Corvette Racing’s years of success when the green light was given, that C8 doesn’t exist in its current form.

“Tadge knew that this was going to be a pretty tall mountain to climb, because his goal was that, for the first time, we were actually going to work hand in glove, the race car design guys and the production team guys, were going to work together to design and build this C8.

And we were going to do it at a level heretofore unknown, really by anybody, any manufacturer. Tadge was committed, and he was a just a pitbull, getting stuff done that we needed to have happened. And the results are pretty stunning,” notes Fehan, his enthusiasm for the results clear in his voice.

“Tadge was a guy who was damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. He was going to get this done, and he championed that thing. That’s why the car is just as good as it is. That, for me, from that 1996 presentation, is the car that embodies every single thing I would have ever dreamed or envisioned what a race program could do. It’s really the final distillation of 25 years of tremendous effort on everybody’s part,” sums up Fehan.

For the 2022 season, Corvette is splitting its efforts, running a modified version of the C8.R in GTD Pro in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the C8.R GTE car in the full World Endurance Championship.
Both programs came together at Daytona, and are together again for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Sunday will reveal whether the final version of the GTE car is victorious at Circuit de la Sarthe, and the C8 can count a Le Mans win on its resume, before the GT3 era begins.

C8.R Corvette Racing has split its commitments this year, running one C8.R full-time in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor, and another full-time in the World Endurance Championship for Milner and Nick Tandy.

Then the two cars run together in the respective marquee events of each championship, the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Le Mans.
On Thursday, Tandy (car #64) and Garcia (car #63) secured for Corvette a GTE Pro-class front-row lockout, and then also took first and second in final practice that night.

Milner, who has been with the team since 2011 and has twice won the class at Le Mans, says that the 2022 iteration of team and car are the best he’s experienced there.

“To me, it feels like we are the best prepared we’ve ever been with a car that is the best I’ve ever had at Le Mans,” he said of the C8.R that he will share not only with Tandy but also Alexander Sims. “From that side of things, I’m excited about the race.

“Now, saying all that, there are years when we didn’t have the best preparation and won, and there are years when we had great preparation and didn’t get the win.
“We’ve done everything we needed going into this.
Like Le Mans always is, the race is its own separate beast. Having success will require using all the things we’ve learned so far, putting those to the test, not making mistakes and having a good, clean race. We’ve been fast in the practice sessions but performance in the race is what matters.”

Milner added that running the full WEC schedule has played a vital role in Corvette Racing’s strong preparation for the event, but was reticent to say it was vital for the win, since the team has amassed eight Le Mans victories, despite having never run a full-time WEC campaign prior to 2022.

“It’s easy to say that the WEC program has helped in the current state because we’ve had a good week,” he observed. “There are a few areas where you could definitely say, ‘Yes, having done the WEC, we are better.’

“Things like pitstops and having the chance to put those to the test at Sebring and Spa. We saw there was room to improve there, and the team did a great job to figure out how to make them faster. That’s one area. There’s a case to be made for a lot of other areas as well.
“But I hesitate to say that it’s necessary to do WEC to be successful here. In a lot of ways, things feel just like they always have.
The attention to detail is the same, but nothing beats experience. In my view, the team is in a good place.”

Tandy commented:

“This year does feel different to last year. We’ve obviously taken a step forward with what we know about this car and this racetrack. But also the basic preparation of the team being in this WEC paddock with this Corvette and these regulations, there is a bit of pressure off
It’s a familiar environment.
“We have the experience of how to make the most out of the pitstops and with the way the sporting regulations work, which is different from how we normally choreograph pitstops. We have had it pre-organized and practiced.
We know what to do with heated tires, these sorts of things with the WEC-specific tire compounds.

“It’s all these kinds of things that we’d normally experience for the first time. Now it’s in our pocket.”
Tandy, like Milner, cautioned that nothing can be taken as read, but that the team couldn’t have done a better job.

“I’m pretty sure we’re the team that has done the most laps and done the most quality running,” he said.
“The race is still to come, anything can happen, but looking at how the build-up has been the last week, we couldn’t ask for more.
With qualifying, both cars on the front row and having excellent knowledge through practice about all the different conditions we can experience.
There isn’t a great deal extra that we could have done as a team to prepare: we have all the basics covered.

“Now we need to go into the race and perform and hope for a bit of luck. The drivers are ready. The car and the team are ready.
Now let’s go out and win a 24-hour race.”

Corvette Racing set the quickest time in GTE-Pro in warm up laps as Antonio Garcia set a 3:54.788 in the No. 63 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

The sister car, which will start from class pole position later today, encountered trouble with Nick Tandy at the wheel.

Tandy slowed on track and crawled back to the pits, where the car was diagnosed with a driveline failure. :-(

Three hours completed

Starting fifth hour of race

Corvette Racing maintained the lead in GTE Pro, with Nicky Catsburg having taken over at the wheel of the class-leading #63 C8.R late in the fourth hour and enjoying a lead of 31 seconds.

Porsche's pair of factory 911 RSR-19s ran second and third, with the #91 car of Richard Lietz and the #92 of Laurens Vanthoor having both passed the struggling #64 Corvette, which had been experiencing downshift issues but still ran fourth in the hands of Alexander Sims
.
Occupying fifth and sixth in class were the two AF Corse-run works Ferrari 488 GTE Evos, with the #52 car having moved ahead of the #51 following a drive-through penalty for the latter for exceeding track limits.

Porsche maintained its stranglehold in GTE Am with the #79 WeatherTech Racing car of bronze-rated Thomas Merrill having opened up a comfortable lead of two minutes from the #77 Dempsey-Proton car of Christian Ried.

#64 C8.R took over second place a few minutes into the fifth hour

7th Hour

Nick Tandy was running in second when the car hit trouble, the Briton had to bring it in for a right-rear brake change.
The team, remarkably, opted to change all four brakes and did so in just over two minutes and lost close to a lap
It’s critical lost time, but the No. 64 is only down to fifth in class.

# 63 Corvette had a flat tire at the farthest distance from pit.
Tore up other parts and had to go behind the wall and is several laps down now.

Now reported the Rear suspension broke and car is still out of the race and 14 laps and counting down

End of 11 hours

The GTE-Pro class lead in the 24 Hours has changed hands as both Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs encountered issues with eight hours completed and the dark hours in full flow.

Both Corvette Racing entries, including the leading No. 63 car, suffered mechanical issues in the span of just under an hour which dropped them to the rear of GTE-Pro.

First, Nick Tandy brought the No. 64 car into the garage to clear debris from the wheel arches, followed by a brake change, which dropped it out of the podium positions.

Not much later, Antonio Garcia brought the leading No. 63 Corvette into its side of the garage having suffered a left-rear suspension failure and has remained there since, with the car undergoing lengthy repairs.

With both cars spending time in the box, the No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Michael Christensen assumed the lead in the class.

The sister Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni moved up to second, with Alessandro Pier Guidi third in the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. Tommy Milner took the No. 64 Corvette back out on track and sat fourth after eight hours.

AF Corse’s No. 52 Ferrari dropped to fifth after Miguel Molina suffered a right-front puncture.

C8.R Corvette Racing’s No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R made it back into podium position at the halfway mark of the 24 Hours of Le Mans after an up-and-down, roller-coaster ride in the second quarter of the race.

Nick Tandy was aboard the No. 64 Corvette that ran second in GTE Pro after a couple of early-race setbacks, including an unscheduled stop to change front brakes just shy of the seventh hour. Alexander Sims, driving with Tandy and Tommy Milner, had the class’s fastest race lap in his second time through the rotation.

Four cars were on the lead lap in the class.
Unfortunately, the No. 63 C8.R wasn’t one of those, following a lengthy stay in the garage to repair a broken left-rear suspension.
Just past halfway, Nicky Catsburg switched over to Antonio Garcia, who was at the wheel when the Corvette suffered its major issue.
Corvette Racing’s next update will come after the 18-hour mark.

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“Things are good at the moment.
The car feels nice and is hooked up. The tires stayed very nicely throughout the two stints. The feedback I was getting from the engineers is that the pace was sensible. The gap to the leader is still quite substantial, but we’re still in this race. After a couple of hiccups, it could be better, but it also could be a lot worse.”

Staying in contention:
“The first thing is to not have any major hiccups, any penalties, any contact or anything like that. That in itself is always a huge challenge.
We’re pushing flat-out. We know we’re on the back foot, so we have to take some risks. But at the same time, we have to stay in this race.
Any contact and that’s probably it. We’ve got a bit of step to make already, which might be doable. We’ll see… we have to be smart.”

Corvette Racing’s No. 64 C8.R was battling the #51 Ferrari for the class lead in GTE Pro when it was hit by the #83 AF Corse LMP2 on the Mulsanne straight.
The side by side contact sent Alexander Sims into the barrier, spinning the car around and coming to rest against it. Sims was able to exit the car and thankfully he is fine.
The no. 63 Corvette had just been retired prior to the crash due to “significant mechanical damage” so our race for the year is done.
Our Le Mans is over. We had just retired the 63 when the 64 was involved in an incident that has ended its race. Gutted

To his credit, Francois Perrodo went directly to Corvette Racing and apologized for causing the crash. Race organizers gave Perrodo and the #83 a 3 minute stop and go penalty as well as 2 penalty points for causing a collision with Sims.

Francois Perrodo has gone over to the Corvette garage to apologize to the team.

We are three quarters into the race and the GTE Pro class continues to make headlines, with more drama in the battle for the win during Hour 18.

Corvette Racing’s chances of winning GTE Pro in its final year came to an abrupt end in the final minutes of the hour, when AF Corse LMP2 driver Francois Perrodo made contact with the No. 64 Pro-leading C8.R of Alex Sims. Perrodo hadn’t cleared the C8.R when he was running side-by-side with another LMP2 runner down the Mulsanne Straight. He moved over on Sims, the Briton sent veering off into the Armco after the contact.

It was a heavy impact that caused a retirement on the spot for Corvette.

To make matters worse, it came just moments after the team announced the retirement of the long-delayed No. 63 sister car.
Sims's incident followed hot on the heels of the American marque announcing the retirement of its #63 entry shared by Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg.

The #63 car had been leading in the early part of the race, but lost considerable time with a left-rear suspension failure that sent the car into the garage for lengthy repairs.

Further time was then lost with checks to inspect a vibration and a subsequent diffuser change, before the decision was made to pull the car from the race due to what the team called "significant mechanical damage, seen and unseen at the rear of the car."

GM's response

LEMANS, France (June 12, 2022) – Corvette Racing’s GTE Pro run at the 24 Hours of Le Mans ended with retirements of both Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs on Sunday.
Alexander Sims in the No. 64 Corvette was fighting to regain the class lead just before the 18-hour mark when a prototype competitor moved into him on the Mulsanne Straight.
The contact, with Sims on the far-left with two LMP2 cars going by, pitched the Corvette hard left into the guardrail nose-first.
Sims exited the car unassisted and was fine upon his return to the paddock. He, along with FIA World Endurance Championship teammates Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy, took turns leading in the pole-winning Corvette. Sims earlier set the fastest GTE Pro lap of the race.

Only moments earlier, Corvette Racing had retired the No. 63 Corvette due to significant mechanical damage, seen and unseen at the rear of the car.
It was unclear if this was a continuation from an earlier suspension issue in the race’s first six hours.
Every effort was made to get the car back into the race, but due to safety concerns for the team’s drivers and fellow competitors, the decision was made to retire.

“This isn’t how we wanted our Le Mans race to end,” said Laura Klauser, GM Sports Car Racing Program Manager.
“We’re all proud of the dedication of everyone on the Corvette Racing team to give us the absolute best chance for our ninth class victory

At the end of the day, we’re all proud to be part of the One Team effort that is Corvette Racing.
We’re glad Alexander is OK and that the C8.R kept him safe.
Our focus now is on our two full-season efforts in the WEC and also the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.”

Corvette Racing’s GTE Pro run at the 24 Hours of Le Mans ended with retirements of both Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs on Sunday.

Alexander Sims in the No. 64 Corvette was fighting to regain the class lead just before the 18-hour mark when a prototype competitor moved into him on the Mulsanne Straight. The contact, with Sims on the far-left with two LMP2 cars going by, pitched the Corvette hard left into the guardrail nose-first.

Sims exited the car unassisted and was fine upon his return to the paddock. He, along with FIA World Endurance Championship teammates Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy, took turns leading in the pole-winning Corvette. Sims earlier set the fastest GTE Pro lap of the race.

Only moments earlier, Corvette Racing had retired the No. 63 Corvette due to significant mechanical damage seen and unseen at the rear of the car.
It was unclear if this was a continuation from an earlier suspension issue in the race’s first six hours.
Every effort was made to get the car back into the race, but due to safety concerns for the team’s drivers and fellow competitors, the decision was made to retire.

“This isn’t how we wanted our Le Mans race to end,” said GM Sports Car Racing Program Manager.
“We’re all proud of the dedication of everyone on the Corvette Racing team to give us the absolute best chance for our ninth class victory.

At the end of the day, we’re all proud to be part of the One Team effort that is Corvette Racing.
We’re glad Alexander is OK and that the C8.R kept him safe.
Our focus now is on our two full-season efforts in the WEC and also the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.”