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As of this writing, Corvette Racing has won 120 races, eight of which are class wins at Le Mans, 14 constructors’ championships and 15 team titles. It’s likely the team will find a way to add at least one win this year, with the modesty of that statement stemming from the fact that the Corvette C8.R only won once last year. In 2024, it’s the beast that will have the burden of adding to the trophy case, the 2024 Corvette Z06 GT3.R. The current C8.R was built to GT Le Mans/GT Endurance Pro specifications, then converted to more restrictive GT3 specifications last year when IMSA and FIA eliminated GTLM/GTE. The new race car is the first Corvette to be designed for GT3 competition, and we expect it to put Jake back on the path to regular victory when it competes at the Rolex 24 of the year. next in Daytona.
Despite the entirely changed name, this is a reworked current C8.R, this car having always been a close sister to the production Z06. An aluminum frame from the Corvette assembly line in Bowling Green is shipped to longtime partner Pratt & Miller Engineering to be fitted with the carbon fiber roll bar and bodywork. There’s still a 5.5-liter V8 with a flat crank behind the cab that’s also built in Bowling Green, with the maximum output being a regulation-mandated 600 horsepower. There’s a six-speed sequential transmission like on the C8.R. A double-wishbone suspension shares the same architecture as the Z06 road car but fits motorsport-specific springs and dampers. Six-piston front calipers combine with four-piston rears to push race-specific pads onto race-specific rotors.
The move to GT3 racing means Chevrolet Motorsports is entering a new era of working with customer teams, something not seen in the past 25 years of factory-backed GTLM and GTE cars. GT3 means the ability to race in more series, so in addition to appearances in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the GTD Pro and GTD classes and the FIA World Endurance Championship in the GT3 class, the cars could also appear in the Fanatec GT World Challenge, Intercontinental GT Challenge, SRO America and Intercontinental GT Challenge. Chevrolet Motorsports says it will provide broad support for customer registrations, including a spares truck with full on-track spares on race weekends, and Chevrolet engineers for setup, assistance with pre- and post-race documentation and data analysis. Teams can upgrade to “full engineering, race strategy and other items” in the support menu if teams have the budgets.
By the time customer deliveries begin in the third quarter of this year, the Z06 GT3.R will have two years of development behind it, including one on the track. Chevrolet didn’t mention the price, with that figure likely being made public closer to launch.
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