Has to burn the hair off the Europe's elite asses as the sole American Sports Car, the Corvette

Lead most of the six-hour race and wins it !

14 cars in the GTE-Am was decided in a nail-biting battle between the No. 33 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Nicky Catsburg and Alessio Rovera’s No. 83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.

The battle between the two drivers went to the final lap, with Catsburg finishing 0.307 seconds ahead in the C8.R he shares with Ben Keating and Nico Varrone.

This is the second WEC race in a row that Corvette is won and lead in series points

GTE Am came down to a duel in the final hour. Corvette Racing’s pole-sitting No. 33 C8.R and the No. 83 Richard Mille Racing Ferrari ended up in a battle for the lead in the final minutes, with Nicky Catsburg putting on a defensive masterclass to keep Alessio Rovera at bay.

“It takes two drivers to put on a show like that,” Catsburg said after the race, “but I have to say hats off to Alessio for driving fair. He was so much faster at the end, but catching is one thing, passing is another.”

Catsburg’s teammate Nico Varrone described the atmosphere in the Corvette garage during the final hour as “stressful.”

“We are so lucky that our team helped us at every stop,” Varrone told RACER. “We were gaining six or seven seconds each time, they kept us in it. Those guys hit the gym multiple times a week and practice every day hard work pays off.”
In the end, Rovera was unable to make the move and Corvette held on for the win, taking a commanding championship lead in the process with its second straight win to start the season.
It was nevertheless a great bounce-back result for Richard Mille Racing, after crashing out of the race in Sebring.
Completing the podium was the No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche, which was in the mix throughout and came home just 25 seconds off the lead.

C8.R Corvette Racing has gone back-to-back in the FIA World Endurance Championship with a stunning GTE Am victory in the Six Hours of Portimão for Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating and Nico Varrone in the No. 33 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

The win was a tense one, as Catsburg held off in an intense final-hour fight with Ferrari’s Alessio Rovera by just 0.260 seconds.
It increased Corvette Racing’s lead in the Driver and Team championships in the GTE Am category heading to the next race at Spa-Francorchamps in two weeks.

Just as in the season-opening victory in the 1,000 Miles of Sebring, Corvette Racing made zero mistakes on the track or in the pit lane. The team’s pit work, especially, was a key difference in the result as it offset a pace difference due to 30 extra kilograms of success ballast due to the Sebring victory and championship lead.

That was never more clear than on the race’s final pit stop with 50 minutes remaining. Catsburg came in with the Ferrari hot on his heels but left with a nearly 10-second advantage after a fast tire change by the Corvette Racing crew and a quick out-lap by Catsburg. As evidenced by the winning margin, every second counted.

Keating began from pole and slid down to third during his first stint on a softer, more worn set of tires. The impact of the Corvette pit crew became evident on the initial stop by picking up a spot to move Keating up to second for his final stint on a better set of tires.
He stopped again at the two-hour mark from fifth place due to higher-ranked drivers getting in their cars during the second hour.
Varrone took over and cycled the C8.R back up to third not long into his first run as the skill levels of the drivers continued to vary mid-race.

That mix plus the amount of inter-class traffic made things tough during Varrone’s opening stint, but he persevered to move up to second place before he brought the Corvette back in just past the three-hour mark. Another stellar stop and another fresh set of tires gave Varrone track position and eventually the lead once the GTE Am field finished its pit stop cycle.

Catsburg got in the car for the final two stints with a little less than two hours to go, and a ferocious fight developed with Rovera and his rapid Ferrari.
The two cars were separated by less than a second before the race’s lone safety-car period bunched up the field.
Both the Corvette and Ferrari stopped one lap after the race resumed, with Catsburg greatly benefitting from the aforementioned strong Corvette pit stop.
He made the most of it, holding off the Ferrari multiple times inside the final five laps for the victory.

Corvette Racing returns to action April 27-29 for the Six Hours of Spa – the final race before June’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

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

“It takes two drivers in order to do that (on the finishing battle). Hats off to Alessio for being a clean racer. He was way faster than we were today and had a big pace advantage. It’s one thing to get close in order to close the gap, but it’s another thing to pass someone.

I noticed he got a little bit of under steer when he got close to me, so luckily we managed to keep him behind. Some of the traffic made it extra-interesting, I would say, in the last few laps. But it’s a mega result for us and unexpected. I really struggled to match the pace that he was doing, but somehow we managed.
The team was amazing today. Every pit stop, we gained six or seven seconds. This is an amazing feeling!”

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

Totally impressed today with the Corvette Racing team.
I was completely blown away by their speed on the tire changes, and they did it all day long.
Everyone on the whole team did an incredible job. I’m obviously delighted of the result, but didn’t expect it. That makes it even sweeter.

“It was an interesting start for me.
I didn’t mind not maintaining the lead with some of the mayhem in the P2 field. I just wanted to stay close up front, which I was able to do for the first 12 or so laps. I struggled with my tire choice after that. I also had four track-limit warnings, so if I had one more, we would have ended up with a penalty.

Furthermore, I was really worried the whole time that I’d have some accidental track limits. I had to really change the way I drove and be a little more conservative, going down a gear. That’s hard for a racer to do. Thankfully, I feel like I did what I needed to do. Unbelievable stops! This team is so incredible. I don’t know how far ahead Sarah (Bovy, No. 85 Porsche) was from me in the first stint, but we came out ahead of them, just an unbelievably great stop and great job by the team.”

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

“I’m really happy. Thanks to Nicky and Ben for a great race and to the Corvette Racing team.
They were the quickest in the pit lane today and was the main difference and why we won in the end.
On every stop, it was like we would have something like six seconds (of a gap) out of the pits, so I’m really happy for them.

The end of my first stint was good, and we got back into the lead. From that on, it was a bit difficult with the tires and the heat.
We struggled a lot at the end of that stint. In the second one, I managed to be more consistent, and the car was feeling better and more balanced.

I managed to build a gap to hand it to Nicky for the end of the race. It was really stressful to watch it from the outside! It was really nervous, but he did a great job, and I was sure he was going to do it. Two wins to start this season is pretty good.”