GTE Am campaign for No. 33 C8.R starts at lone FIA WEC American stop
DETROIT (March 9, 2023) – For the second straight year, Corvette Racing begins its globe-trotting venture in the FIA World Endurance Championship at an all-too-familiar place, albeit in an unfamiliar category.

The 1,000 Miles of Sebring on Friday, March 17 kicks off the seven-round WEC season, which sees Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone team in the No. 33 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. It’s the first race together for the trio and the first for Corvette Racing in the GTE Am category, which will feature 14 entries in the event.

The entire class and the 37-car field will take part in this weekend’s two-day Prologue test session ahead of the first official practice session on March 15.
The Corvette program is easily the most experienced team in the WEC paddock at the 3.74-mile, 17-turn Sebring International Raceway circuit.
It has 25 years of racing experience at the historic track, which sits on the site of an Army airbase from World War II.

In addition to two previous starts in GTE Pro at the Sebring WEC round including a runner-up finish last year for Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy Corvette Racing has 13 victories at the track with 12 coming in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

On the driver front, both Catsburg and Keating have previous starts in the Sebring WEC round. Catsburg finished second in GTE Pro in 2019 while Keating placed third a year ago in GTE Am on his way to the class championship. Meanwhile, Varrone will make his first full-season start as a WEC competitor in the 1,000 Miles.

In addition to Sebring, the Corvette lineup will content the full GTE Am championship including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the No. 33 C8.R will be among 21 entries in class for the French endurance classic.

The 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the FIA World Endurance Championship is scheduled for noon ET on Friday, March 17.

MotorTrend and MotorTrend Plus will provide both level television and streaming coverage.
Radio Le Mans will stream audio coverage of all practice sessions, qualifying and the race.

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

I’m massively looking forward to Sebring. It’s the start of a new program for us in GTE Am together with Ben and Nico. I feel like we have a very strong lineup and I cannot wait to get started. We can build on strong results from last year after winning there in IMSA and the guys in the WEC finished P2, so the car obviously has good potential around Sebring.

“The plan is to stay out of trouble and focus on the championship right from the start. I’m looking forward to getting back together with the team and looking forward to going over to the IMSA paddock and see everyone on that side again. It’ll be a big weekend, and I’m ready to get started.”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

I’ve said over and over again how excited I am as an American to drive for an American team in an American brand, and I’m excited to be racing in a brand that I sell. Not only are we going to be racing this American brand with an American team all around the world, but the first race in the USA, which is special.
There is one race in the United States for the World Endurance Championship, and clearly we want to show well on our home soil.
As a team, Corvette Racing has thousands of laps around there during the last 25 years, so I expect the team, the car, the drivers and everyone is going to be well tuned up and ready to go for this race.

My first laps in the Corvette were at the WEC Rookie Test in Bahrain, and it was different enough there that I left thinking that I had a lot to learn about this car. Then we did the test at Sebring and it was a totally different experience. That left me thinking,
‘Wow, this is a really special car.’ Not only is it special from my standpoint of racing it, but the performance level around Sebring is awesome.

Sebring is unlike anywhere else in the world, very flat, very bumpy and very different from a typical FIA circuit that we go to in WEC. This is not that; this is an old, historic circuit, and the Corvette performed amazingly well at the test. It set my expectations really high for the race.
It handles the bumps extremely well, and it’s very comfortable to drive. I don’t know if there’s such a thing as an easy car to drive around Sebring because it’s such a physical track.
It will beat you up a little bit. But “the Corvette is such a delight to drive, and it’s easy on the driver.

This is also the first race for me to do with Nico and Nicky. I’m super excited about my teammates. We’ve all gotten along exceedingly well. There are no egos. No one is out there trying to prove what they’re capable of doing as an individual. It’s a great feeling of being great teammates not just for this race but the whole World Endurance Championship. I couldn’t imagine having a better group of teammates going into the season, and I’m super excited to go racing with these guys.”

NICO VARRONE, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

I’m really excited to start this new program with Corvette Racing. It’s my first time racing for a factory team, so it’s a dream for me, and to do it with this great brand makes it even better!
Teaming up with Nicky Catsburg and Ben Keating is a great chance for the whole team to achieve some good things in the GTE Am class.
Speaking personally, I can learn a lot from them and keep growing as a driver. I simply can’t wait!

“Sebring is really special. I did some laps in the C8.R with Corvette Racing in December and I really enjoyed the track.
I cannot think of a better place for my debut with this team than to do it at this legendary track where Corvette has achieved so much success.”

The 11th season of the WEC will feature nine global manufacturers, highlighting the continued growth of the world’s premier international sport scar championship. The introduction of the Hypercar class has also seen multiple manufacturers (Cadillac, Ferrari, Glickenhaus, Peugeot, Porsche, Toyota and Vanwall) pledging their support to the series.

Saturday will mark the very first time that the aforementioned Hypercars are on track together, with a three-hour test session scheduled for the morning (08:45 – 10:45 local time) followed by a second one in the afternoon (13:30 – 16:30).

Sunday will see two further test sessions (09:00 12:30 and 14:30 – 17:30).

Next week’s race action for the 1000 Miles of Sebring round one of FIA WEC will start with FP1 and FP2 on Wednesday (15 March).
FP3 takes place on Thursday 16 March before qualifying from 18:30 local time later that day. Friday’s race will commence at 12:00 midday local time.

First practice which was three hours long completed

GTE Am, saw the Iron Dames Porsche lead the way. Michelle Gatting emerged fastest with a 1m59.913s; the top three all managing times under two minutes. The sister Iron Lynx Porsche ended up second, driven by Alessio Picariello. The fastest Ferrari completed the top three thanks to a quick time from former AF Corse GTE Pro regular Davide Rigon.

Of the other two brands in the class, Corvette’s C8.R ended up fifth with the three Aston Martin Vantage AMRs occupying the bottom three positions in the class.

Corvette Racing, in its 25th anniversary season, has plenty to look forward to.
In 2023, it will be fighting on two fronts in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship, competing in two very different GT classes, with C8.Rs in two different specifications, with two sets of drivers, run out of two different headquarters.

While its GTD Pro effort in IMSA has a familiar feel to it, running a GTE C8.R modified to compete against GT3 machinery with a full pro driver lineup, its FIA WEC program in GTE Am poses a new challenge for Pratt & Miller. In what will be the final campaign for the GTE spec C8.R in both series, ahead of the launch of the new Z06 GT3.R in 2024, Corvette Racing, for the first time as a factory, is competing in a Pro-Am class.

With the WEC’s GTE Pro class no more after Ferrari and Porsche opted to step up to Hypercar for this season, Corvette has been forced to switch to GTE Am in order to continue competing on the world stage.

It is something that Corvette will need to get used to if it plans to continue making its annual pilgrimage to the Le Mans 24 Hours as a GT manufacturer each year. This is because the WEC and Le Mans as an event will only accept GT3 cars with pro-am lineups once the GTE Am category is removed from the structure in 2024.

With the Hypercar category attracting an abundance of factory teams and GT3 budgets at an all-time high, the new world order in global sports car racing has arrived. Cadillac is already representing GM at the head of the field in GTP and Hypercar, so Corvette, realistically, has nowhere else to turn.

This isn’t bad news, though. Behind the scenes there is a real interest from customer teams, with orders already placed and the potential for programs from left field to emerge in the coming months. At present, RACER understands that a two-car effort in IMSA’s GTD Pro will be joined by up to two customer cars in the first season with the FIA WEC also targeted as a priority program, most likely with a new customer team or teams.

Supporting multiple customer teams around the world going forward, in particular with expansion in sales and support structures expected after 2024, makes both sporting and business sense. It ensures Corvette can continue to have a presence and remain a significant player in the ever-evolving GT racing marketplace, at a time when interest in IMSA and the FIA WEC is at an all-time high.

For this season in the WEC, Corvette Racing has assembled a trio of Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone. They will drive its single No. 33 C8.R in GTE Am, which is being prepped at Larbre Competition’s base in France by Pratt & Miller staff. Interestingly, RACER was told by Corvette that the car is a brand-new chassis and not the Pro car from 2022. Clearly, a lot of resource is being poured into this.

Despite this group having no prior experience competing together, and Varrone and Keating’s time behind the wheel of the C8.R having been limited so far, this group should be considered as potential title contenders.

Keating is the reigning LMGTE Am world champion and Le Mans class winner, who has made the switch to Corvette from British Aston Martin customer TF Sport. The Texan is arguably the most accomplished and talented Bronze driver currently competing in GT racing. He’s driven a slew of GTs and prototypes over the years and the C8.R will be the sixth different GTE car he’s campaigned at Le Mans.

“It’s significantly different from all the others,” Keating explains. “It’s taken a little bit to get used to. I’ve been in a turbocar for the last couple of years, and the big V8 has a lot more torque instantly at low RPMs than having to wait for that big turbo to wind up, so you don’t have that lag which takes a little while to get used to. The year before, I was in the Porsche RSR, and again it doesn’t have the same level of torque that a big V8 has. They all have slightly different handling characteristics.”

To have him joined by Catsburg, another driver with a wealth of experience in different cars and, crucially, with Corvette in recent seasons as a third driver in its Pro efforts is key. Varrone is the only question mark here, but he has impressed in his GT racing career to this point. The WEC will be new to him, but if he can adapt quickly, as he is expected to, this will be a crew that won’t be underestimated by anyone in the Am paddock.

“Last year, I raced in the ELMS and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, so I have experience,” Varrone explains. “I didn’t do a full season in WEC but doing races in both championships helped me quite a lot. I don’t think it will be a big change for me. I feel ready for the challenge.”

Sebring has been a happy hunting ground for Corvette over this year's, with 13 wins over the years, but getting up to speed quick enough to challenge for victory in the season opener will be no easy feat in this company

In amongst the 14-car field, Corvette will have to get the better of entries from an old rival in Aston Martin Racing, Keating’s former team TF Sport (returning with Aston), Ferraris from AF Corse and Kessel Racing and Porsche run by Team Project 1 and future Hypercar outfits in Proton Competition and Iron Lynx.
It would surprise nobody to see a Corvette factory effort win on its GTE Am debut, but you’d do well to find many weak links in the class.
The Prologue test this weekend is therefore crucial because Keating and Varrone’s time behind the wheel has been so limited to this point, having only tested in Bahrain last year and at Sebring.

Both will have to lean on Catsburg to get the most out of the car in the early part of the season. Being the lead driver is something that the Dutchman will not shy away from, though it’s actually a challenge that excites him.

“It’s definitely going to be different,” Catsburg admits. “I was always the third driver at Corvette, so I was filling in for the few endurance races Daytona, Sebring, Petit Le Mans and Le Mans. So this is the first time I’m doing a full season with Corvette Racing with two new teammates.
I’m the one with the most experience in the car, which is a first for me. It’s definitely going to be a change.”

The team members on the pit wall will have plenty to learn too. The strategy and racing itself has a different flavor to the always flat-out, often political GTE Pro class that Corvette was part of last season. Balance of Performance isn’t usually as much of a talking point in Am that’s not to say that there are zero complaints, but the success ballast system does well at keeping the field close and making it extremely difficult to run away with the title.

Corvette’s WEC program in 2023 may not appear as exciting as a full factory bid in a pro class on the face of it, but this is a serious project, and it is being taken very seriously internally. Achieving a Le Mans class win and a world championship title in the final year of GTE racing is the aim.
If Corvette Racing can pull this off, it would feel just as sweet as any of its previous achievements over the past two and a half decades and serve as a fitting GTE swan song for the GM brand.

The FIA World Endurance Championship paddock at Sebring was a hive of activity on Friday as teams and drivers made their final preparations for the start of track action at the Prologue pre-season test.
All 37 cars that are entered into next Friday’s 1000 Miles of Sebring are due to take part in the Prologue, which will consist of four sessions split between Saturday and Sunday and totaling just over 12 hours of track time. Click Here for the list of cars running.

The Prologue will mark the first appearances of the Ferrari 499P and the Vanwall Vandervell 680 in an official WEC session. Ferrari’s new hybrid-powered LMH car completed 24,000 km in testing before March, according to the Italian manufacturer. It then did an endurance test at Portimao earlier this month, but the mileage from that outing is not known.

Porsche Penske Motorsport was also at Portimao in late February, undertaking a three-day session with its pair of WEC-based Porsche 963s.

Both the Cadillac V-Series.R and Porsche 963 are set to run to the same Balance of Performance numbers in the 1000 Miles of Sebring and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, although the cars will have slight aero differences having undergone wind tunnel testing at the Windshear (IMSA) and Sauber (WEC) facilities.
CGR’s global director of competition Mike O’Gara said the biggest change is actually the series-specific data logger systems.
Additionally, WEC Hypercar teams will be allowed to utilize both Michelin’s SHT (soft high temperature) and MHT (medium-high temperature) compounds, whereas only the SHT will be in the GTP class at the 12 Hours.

O’Gara told Sportscar365: “We did the IMSA open test with the 01 car and now we’re doing the Prologue with the 2. It’s just another set of data. With running one car in each series, we have to use it as much as a two-car team as possible. Now we just have to do that in two different paddocks.”

The Cadillac is the only LMDh car that has yet to complete on-track testing in Europe, with CGR hoping to schedule sessions prior to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Axcil Jefferies is testing for NorthWest AMR under the British flag. The experienced GT driver was born in Slough, just outside London, but was brought up in Zimbabwe before settling in Dubai during his racing career. Jefferies drove in last month’s Asian Le Mans Series under the United Arab Emirates flag.

The Vanwall Vandervell 680 was air-freighted to Sebring last Thursday, according to the team’s head of operations Boris Bermes who also said that it underwent an FIA homologation test one week before. The Vandervell 680 at Sebring was used in the testing program as the second chassis that came online.
There are currently two Vanwall LMH cars in existence. The other is back at the constructor’s headquarters in Germany, while the one at Sebring is also set to do the 6 Hours of Portimao.

The first race between LMH and LMDh marks the “start of a new era” in the sport, according to Toyota Gazoo Racing technical director Pascal Vasselon. Despite Toyota making concessions due to regulation changes, Vasselon told Sportscar365: “We are happy about the process, and especially about the fact that this new ruleset has brought many new competitors and high-level manufacturers. We are looking forward to it.”

The WEC recently issued a provisional entry list for the 6 Hours of Portimao, however it contains an error in the United Autosports driver lineups. Filipe Albuquerque and Tom Blomqvist will not race in Portugal due to their GTP commitments with Acura. As previously announced, they will be replaced by Ben Hanley and Giedo van der Garde respectively.

Both of JOTA’s Oreca 07 Gibsons are sporting the ‘Hertz Racing Gold’ livery that was unveiled on the British team’s Porsche 963 last week. The full-season No. 28 Oreca is not entered under the Hertz Team banner, and doesn’t have Hertz stickers, but is carrying the same colors as JOTA’s new primary backer.
Team WRT has gone to matching color schemes for its pair of Orecas, after the No. 41 car last season ran in a blue livery. Hypercar competitor Glickenhaus, meanwhile, has retained the sky-blue design that it rolled out at Monza last year.

WRT’s Robin Frijns is excited by the look of this year’s LMP2 field: “I think we have more competitive cars than last year, even though the field is a bit smaller,” he told Sportscar365. “Look at the two Prema cars, United and JOTA. Prema maybe struggled last year because it was the first time for them, but I do think they will have a big jump of performance this year.”

Frijns is reuniting with his 2021 co-champion Ferdinand Habsburg, who has joined the No. 31 WRT Oreca from the sister No. 41 entry. “He was great in and out of the car,” Frijns said of their previous time together. “And the same for Sean [Gelael] as well. It’s a good team atmosphere within our car.”

Chip Ganassi Racing is on track to move into its new German LMDh facility next month, before the European leg of the season. The shop is in Wendlingen, near Stuttgart. “It’s been a pretty challenging timeline,” said team manager Stephen Mitas. “It’s a facility that has been used by someone else previously, so it has seen some race cars inside.”

Business airline VistaJet has joined Ferrari’s LMH program as a sponsor of the No. 50 Ferrari 499P. The company’s owner Thomas Flohr races in the GTE-Am class. Furthermore, 8six400 has signed a deal to be Ferrari AF Corse’s official clothing supplier.

The No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo racing in GTE-Am has a similar livery to the manufacturer’s LMH cars, with a red base and yellow stripe.
Damien Augier and Justin Taylor are race engineers on the No. 50 and No. 51 Ferrari 499Ps respectively. Both were recruited from roles outside of Maranello: Augier joined from single-seater team DAMS while Taylor previously worked for AJ Foyt Racing in the NTT IndyCar Series.

Taylor has also worked extensively in sports cars, engineering the No. 8 Audi R18 that took a 24 Hours of Le Mans podium in 2016, as well as the Mazda DPi and Rebellion Racing LMP1 programs. Both he and Augier have been at Ferrari since early last year.

Iron Dames has nicknamed its Porsche 911 RSR-19 after the Marvel character Baymax which appears in the movie Big Hero 6. The Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 that races in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup hasn’t been christened yet.

Prologue track action starts on Saturday, with the opening three-hour session scheduled for 8:45 a.m. ET. The second session is due to start at 1:30 p.m.

Ben Keating says the “speed came pretty quick” for him at the wheel of the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R which he will race in the FIA World Endurance Championship GTE-Am class this year.

The Bronze-rated Texan has switched from Aston Martin squad TF Sport to Corvette Racing for his GTE-Am title defense, and will be joined by two new co-drivers in General Motors factory ace Nicky Catsburg and Argentine prospect Nico Varrone.

Keating told Sportscar365 during a video call with reporters that he was initially perplexed after a brief stint in the Corvette during last November’s Bahrain rookie test, however a follow-up test at Sebring later in the year proved to be an eye-opener.

The Corvette C8.R, which has been active since 2020, will be the sixth different GTE car that Keating has driven at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“I got to do a few laps on the rookie test day after Bahrain,” he recalled.
I got to do 10 laps exactly; we were more focused on testing Silvers and watching Nico go fast around Bahrain.
When I first got in the car at Bahrain, I know looking at it that it’s a mid-engine car, so I kept trying [to think about] how I’m supposed to drive this car.
Am I supposed to drive it like a Ford or like the Porsche or like the Ferrari? Those being other mid-engine cars.
I will say that I was quite disappointed with my performance in Bahrain. I came back and looked at the data and realized that you drive this car completely differently than any of those.

“So while I was leaning on my experience of how to go fast in all those other cars, I wasn’t able to find it. Then fast-forward [to when] we went testing at Sebring.”
Keating described the session at Sebring, where the new WEC season kicks off next week, as “incredible” as he gained more mileage in the Corvette alongside his co-drivers.

“The speed came pretty quick for me, I would say,” he recalled.

I felt very comfortable in the car, and I feel like I made some huge steps in learning how this car likes to be driven. It’s significantly different from all the others.
For me personally, it’s taken a little bit to get used to. I’ve been in a turbocar for the last couple of years, and the big V8 has a lot more torque instantly at low RPMs than having to wait for that big turbo to wind up, so you don’t have that lag which takes a little while to get used to.

“The year before, I was in the Porsche RSR, and again it doesn’t have the same level of torque that a big V8 has. They all have slightly different handling characteristics.”
Keating added that the Sebring session gave him a feeling of preparation heading into the 1000-mile WEC season-opener at the Florida circuit.
“After Bahrain I was worried, but after Sebring I’m excited,” he exclaimed.

I made the transition and was really happy with my performance after the test.
“After that, I’ve been testing in the LMP2 there as well, and I feel there is a decent crossover between the two cars at this particular track. I’m ready.”

Second 3 hour practice completed

Out of 14 cars in this class, C 8.R was ninth

1st 3 hour practice today completed

C8.R going backwards, never understand why GM uses mostly non-American drivers, I doubt they care if they win or not :-(


Last practice coming up today

4th and last practice session
Maybe C8.R team is hoping to get a positive BoP from these crappy results ?

First of 2 practices today completed

5th practice completed, Qualify later this PM

Here is how they qualified to start the race tomorrow

The first of the three sessions saw the Bronze-rated drivers battle it out in GTE AM.

After a thrilling 15 minutes, it was Iron Dames’ Porsche 911 RSR 19 that emerged as the pole sitter.
It was achieved after a superb performance in the first qualifying session of the season from Sarah Bovy.

It was a shootout between Bovy and Corvette Racing’s Ben Keating after their tires got up to temperature, Bovy setting the best time and with two minutes to go, a 1m58.949s.
After multiple improvements by both drivers throughout the session, the pair trading the provisional pole position, her time bettered Keating’s best effort in the C8.R by four-tenths.

“It’s amazing, Sarah is doing very well,” said Bovy’s teammate Rahel Frey. “She loves it, but the time to celebrate is tomorrow.”

Third in the running was the ORT by TF Aston Martin, which made it three makes in the top three.

Ahmad Al Harthy, in his first WEC qualifying session, will be full of confidence ahead of his world championship race debut tomorrow. It also marked a significant improvement for the Vantages, which had struggled to find pace until today’s track action.

Making it four in the top four, in fourth, was Luis Perez Companc in the Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari.

In his first qualifying session as part of Corvette Racing Ben Keating qualified second in a stacked GTE Am category Thursday ahead of the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 1,000 Miles of Sebring.

Piloting the No. 33 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, Keating posted a best lap of 1:59.345 (112.841 mph). He will team in Friday’s season-opening race with Corvette Racing veteran Nicky Catsburg and fellow newcomer Nico Varrone.

Only 0.784 seconds separated the four fastest cars in qualifying. Keating was never lower than second and swapped provisional pole position multiple times in the 15-minute session.

The Corvette program is easily the most experienced team in the WEC paddock at the 3.74-mile, 17-turn Sebring International Raceway circuit. It has 25 years of racing experience at the historic track, which sits on the site of an Army airbase from World War II.

In addition to two previous starts in GTE Pro at the Sebring WEC round, including a runner-up finish last year for Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy Corvette Racing has 13 victories at the track with 12 coming in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

On the driver front, both Catsburg and Keating have previous starts in the Sebring WEC round. Catsburg finished second in GTE Pro in 2019 while Keating placed third a year ago in GTE Am on his way to the class championship. Meanwhile, Varrone will make his first full-season start as a WEC competitor in the 1,000 Miles.

The 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the FIA World Endurance Championship is scheduled for noon ET on Friday, March 17. MotorTrend and MotorTrend Plus will provide both level television and streaming coverage. Radio Le Mans will also stream audio coverage of the race.

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED SECOND IN GTE AM:

“It was fascinating. We did mock qualifying this morning, but I had much more grip in the car. I don’t know if our tires don’t like the Carrera Cup tires or what, but I had a lot more grip this afternoon. It was much of a handful than I expected in qualifying. I was really wheeling the car around there. With less grip, it was more work. I thought I may be able to compete with the time that Sarah did to be on the pole.

I did three laps that were almost exactly the same. Furthermore, I think she got ahead of me by four-thousandths, and then I got ahead of her. It was fun to go back and forth. We’re starting on the front row for our home race. I know that the Porsche is really different when it gets full of fuel.
So qualifying is one thing and racing is another. I’m excited to go out there and race with her. We’ve been on the front row most of last season together, so it’s not unfamiliar territory. We’ll be OK.”

Three hours of 8 hour race completed at this time

In GTE-Am, Nico Varrone sat at the head of the class aboard the No. 33 Corvette C8.R, leading the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Julien Andlauer.

Casper Stevenson was third for D’Station Racing, with AF Corse’s Simon Mann and Kessel Racing’s Scott Huffaker completing the top five.

Corvette saw one of its main rivals, the pole-sitting No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche, suffer a significant setback when Rahel Frey damaged the car’s rear bodywork running wide out of Turn 1.

The Iron Lynx squad is now running at the edge of the top ten in class, several laps down on Varrone’s leading Corvette.

With 2 hours to go

C8.R won the pole to start the race and lead almost the whole 8 hours
Finished winning the race, being the only car on lead lap

C8.R Corvette Racing scooped GTE-Am honors in the American team’s first appearance in the Pro-Am class with the lineup of Ben Keating, Nico Varrone & Nicky Catsburg.
Maybe the late BoP helped ?

Acura: -15kg +5L Fuel +Decent amount of boost
Aston: -15kg -3L Fuel - little boost
Bmw: -15kg
Corvette: -15kg
Ferrari: +15kg +5L Fuel + Decent Amount of Boost.
Lamborghini: 2mm bigger restrictor +10L Fuel
Lexus: -15kg
McLeran: No Change
Mercedes: +15kg
Porsche: 5mm bigger retrictors +7L Fuel

GTE Am, The car that looked set to win, hit trouble, changing the race.

In this case, it was the Iron Dames Porsche.
The all-female trio of Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey and Sarah Bovy, who started from pole, benefitted early from being in the pits during an FCY and held a lead of over half a minute when Bovy handed over to Frey.
Unfortunately, the lead wouldn’t last long, as Frey made an error at Turn 1, going off track on the exit, ⁣b] ripping the rear bumper and diffuser off the car.[/b]
(Women Drivers :-)

Frey limped to the pits for repairs, dropping the car down the order, the team forced to switch to recovery mode and spend the remaining hours fighting their way back to eighth. It wasn’t a fairytale first race for Iron Dames with Porsche, but the team looks set to be a force to reckon with.

The No. 33 Corvette Racing C8.R of Ben Keating, Nico Varrone and Nicky Catsburg took the class victory on the US factory team’s home soil and on its GTE Am debut.

Keating set this victory up, the Texan, the class of the Bronze drivers in the field; his performance, in trademark fashion, so strong that the team went almost unchallenged after the drama for Iron Dames in the first half of the race.
Varrone, on his Corvette WEC debut, was also extremely impressive, completing an iron-man triple stint during the race.

“It’s so special to defend home turf.
This is the only home race for us, so it’s special to perform well here,” Keating said after the race.
“All of us didn’t make mistakes, which is great as it’s mayhem out there. Everyone else had some problem or another. It’s a nice way to win.”

The gap to the second place No. 77 Dempsey Proton Porsche was almost 90 sec at the finish.
The SIX Porsche's contingent pushed hard and climbed the order, taking second right at the end.

With six minutes to go, the No. 57 Kessel Racing Ferrari pitted for a splash, dropping to third agonizingly close to the end.
AF Corse’s No. 21 Ferrari finished fourth, with the Iron Lynx Porsche in fifth.

Better is, 6 Porsches could not beat one Corvette !

Corvette Racing made an emphatic statement with a convincing GTE Am class victory in the 1,000 Miles of Sebring to open this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship.

Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating and Nico Varrone drove the No. 33 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to a two-lap victory at Sebring International Raceway to start its new program in the class. It was the 14th win for Corvette Racing at the 3.74-mile, 17-turn rough-and-tumble circuit since 2002.
Friday’s victory also was the second for Corvette Racing as a full-time WEC entrant, the first coming last season at Monza in the GTE Pro class.
The team now has 123 worldwide victories.

That number is easy to understand when looking at the totality of Friday’s race. Each of the three drivers drove error-free stints with no contact and no risks taken. The engineering team rotated the three drivers through consecutively in order of ranking, so neither Keating, Varrone or Catsburg had to get back in the Corvette.

The Corvette Racing crew also was the fastest of the GTE Am teams in the pit lane, with a six-second advantage on the next-quickest team.
“No one at Corvette Racing could ask for a better start to our FIA WEC program than this win at Sebring for Ben, Nicky and Nico,” said GM Sports Car Racing Program Manager.

“All three put in excellent drives, the crew was the best throughout the class in the pit lane, and our engineers called a perfect race strategy. Ben really set the tone for this race with his opening three stints, and the performance continued from there with an incredible mid-race triple stint from Nico and then Nicky’s drive to close it out.
Winning the first race of the season, in the United States and at Sebring is a storybook start that we will remember for a long time!”

The fight of the race early was Keating’s battle with Sarah Bovy in the No. 85 Porsche. Familiar competitors from last year’s WEC, the two swapped the lead in the opening laps before the Corvette settled in to a close second position for the first couple hours.

The Porsche gained a slight advantage by making its second stop near the 90-minute mark during a full-course yellow period, while the Corvette made its second stop under green. Undeterred, Keating clicked off consistent, fast laps to keep the C8.R in the hunt and never dropped lower than second in class.

Last year’s winner in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the reigning GTE Am WEC champion, Keating made quite the debut in his first race with the Corvette program. He drove two hours, 40 minutes before handing over to Varrone for a triple-stint and nearly three hours in the C8.R.

He moved the Corvette into the lead when the 85 Porsche suffered rear damage and lost multiple laps.
From that point on, Varrone increased his pace and more often than not was the fastest driver during his time in the C8.R.
His only challenge came from the No. 77 Porsche, which got as close as 14 seconds to the lead after gaining a similar pit stop advantage under yellow as the No. 85 earlier in the race.

Varrone pressed on and continued to pound out sub two-minute laps, while the Porsche’s pace fell off during its mid-race driver rotation to its Bronze-ranked driver.
By the time of his iron-man three-plus hour stint, Varrone gave Catsburg the No. 33 Corvette and a 90-second lead for the final two hours.

It wasn’t a coast to the end, however. Catsburg had to contend with the usual late-day Sebring sunset and Hypercar entries that attempted to make desperate moves to keep track position in their own race. Like his teammates, he drove clean and measured stints to deliver an undamaged C8.R to victory.
Corvette Racing’s next event in the FIA World Endurance Championship is the Six Hours of Portimão on Sunday, April 15.

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTE AM WINNER:

“There’s so much to say about today. If you look at the execution, it’s not like we were out-pacing everyone by so much. We just made zero mistakes. In the pit lane, I feel like we were by far the fastest team, which is a big credit to the guys. They’re working out so many four days per week.
It pays off. It’s super-nice to start the season off like this. Those guys (Keating and Varrone) in their first race for Corvette and their first win, I think that’s pretty cool. They did a flawless job, so big hats off to everyone!”

More on Keating and Varrone: “This was the plan. But for them to do triple-stints in your first race with Corvette, it’s a lot more difficult than you think. It’s three hours in the car, and it’s going to hurt at some point! But they each did a fantastic job.”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTE AM WINNER:

It was mayhem out there, really. I started in second place, was able to gain the lead, and then gave it up again.
We got the early safety car, that kind of changed the strategy up a little bit for us. It was not easy, for sure. Our car was sliding a lot more than it had in practice, so it was a lot more to handle, and I think that was true for the other GT cars that I was watching while I was either following or looking in my camera to the back.

I’m really proud of the way we won the race today. If you look across the field, and you look at how we got to be two laps up on the field. It wasn’t because we were the fastest car. It was because we stayed out of trouble. Almost everybody had some sort of issue, and it was really tough with all the traffic.

I’m sure (the other winners) would say the same thing. Especially as the race wore on, it really got into one line and the track got more difficult. I’m just really proud of all three of us that we were able to have a clean race.

“It’s really special for me to be driving something I sell and to be representing an American brand and winning the only American race for the World Endurance Championship and taking advantage of what I feel like is a home-field advantage. It was a really great job by everyone at Corvette.”

More on the win:
“This is the only WEC race in the United States, so it’s really special here! The guys, the team, did a great job. All the drivers just didn’t make any mistakes, which is pretty tough to do with all that traffic out there. And like I said with, I guess, five hours to go, I said it’s mayhem. And so we just stayed out of it.
And pretty much everybody else ended up having some problem or another.

And so it’s a nice way to win, and also it’s really special. Hearing the American National Anthem and being under an American flag, I couldn’t ask for more. To all the fans, I would say thank you!”

NICO VARRONE, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTE AM WINNER:

What a dream. At Sebring with Corvette and winning the 1,000 Miles of Sebring, I’m super happy. I couldn’t ask for a better debut with the brand.
A big thank you to all the guys, all the mechanics, all the engineers. Corvette racing did a great job all week long.
Ben did a great job with the start and in his first three stints. He got us to P2.
Then I jumped in the car for three hours, which was tough. Then I handed it over to Nicky, who is a legend.
We all know that he knows what to do. He brought it home safely, and now I can’t be happier!

“This was a very difficult race for me. I had to do a triple stint in the middle.
I’ve had to do a triple stint at Le Mans, but I have to say that Sebring is much more difficult!
Ben did a great job at the start to get the car to me. The track was changing a lot during the whole race, so we had to figure out what was happening.
Corvette Racing did a great job with that. They did a great job all week long. It’s a dream come true.”