LeMans: Corvettes Take To The Track For Test Day

The Corvette Racing team has been deployed to France for the 24 Hours of LeMans and Sunday’s Test Day was their first and only day for testing on the LeMans course prior to the start of official practice and qualifying sessions beginning June 11th. During the day-long session which featured occasional downpours, showers and red-flags, the team had the opportunity to test a range of Michelin tires as well as evaluating chassis and gearbox setups.

“Mad” Max Papis recorded the fastest time for the Corvette Racing team with a lap around the 8.481-mile circuit in the #64 C6.R at 3:55.520. Johnny O’Connell was right behind him in the #63 Corvette at 3:55.877. Those times were the third and fourth fastest in the LeMans GT1 class following the #009 Aston Martin DBR9 (3:53.531) and the #50 Saleen S7R (3:55.383).

“I think we maximized the opportunities that we had today,” said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. “It certainly wasn’t the test plan we had laid out, but the conditions were the same for everybody. When it’s all said and done, it may actually be to our advantage when a day like this happens because we’re well prepared when we arrive, and more practice time tends to narrow the gap. “The drivers are very satisfied with the development work we’ve done,” Fehan continued. “When we briefly had a dry track this morning, the cars were very stable. I think this is probably the best start we’ve had at Le Mans from the standpoint of having cars that are really good out of the box, and everyone is very encouraged by that.”

The Corvette Racing team will be facing stiff competition at this year’s 24 Hours of LeMans. Here are the 10 entries for the LMGT1 Class:

007	LM GT1	Aston Martin Racing	GB	Aston Martin DBR9
009	LM GT1	Aston Martin Racing	GB	Aston Martin DBR9
50	LM GT1	Larbre Competition	F	Saleen S7R
53	LM GT1	Vitaphone Racing Team	D	Aston Martin DBR9
55	LM GT1	Interprogressbank Spartak	RUS	Lamborghini Murcielago
59	LM GT1	Team Modena	GB	Aston Martin DBR9
63	LM GT1	Corvette Racing	USA	Corvette C6.R
64	LM GT1	Corvette Racing	USA	Corvette C6.R
72	LM GT1	Luc Alphand Aventures	F	Corvette C6.R
73	LM GT1	Luc Alphand Aventures	F	Corvette C6.R

The track opens again on Wednesday, June 11th for 2 days of qualifying and practice sessions. The 24 Hours of LeMans gets underway at 3pm local time on Saturday, June 14th. SPEED TV will be carrying much of the race live.

Source
Le Mans 2007: #63 Corvette C6.R Finishes in 2nd Place
Photo Credit: LeMans.org Arnaud Cornilleau – ACO/Nikon

Related:
Le Mans 2007: #63 Corvette C6.R Finishes in 2nd Place

Technorati Tags:
Corvette | Vette | LeMans | 24 | Racing | ALMS | France