Corvette Racing Sticking with the C7.Rs Through 2019

Despite all the hype surrounding the C8 mid-engine Corvette and its racing variant, the Corvette C8.R, team sources at Corvette RacingC7.R Corvettes will be back in 2019 to run in IMSA and FIA WEC events including the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Corvette Racing’s Program Manager Doug Fehan alluded to this following the completion of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this summer.

The C7.R was introduced alongside the 2015 Corvette Z06 at the 2014 North American International Auto Show and it started racing that year. It’s not yet known when Chevrolet will debut the C8 Corvette although the 2019 NAIAS appears to be the likely venue once again.

The current race cars are homologated every three years and that was one of the reasons stated as to why Chevrolet didn’t change the homologation of the race car to the new ZR1 street car for 2018. The Racer article also mentions that IMSA and WEC rules forbid teams from changing cars in the middle of a season as well.

Next year will be the C7.Rs sixth year in competition, and while the car may be getting up there in age, Fehan has said previously that he is not concerned. The team continues to develop the C7.R platform by seeking improvements in tires, aerodynamics and the chassis.

“At the end of the day the BoP is designed to be able to level that playing field [so] I’m not concerned with the age of the car at all,” Fehan said last year following Le Mans. “Not at all. Its durability and reliability and performance have been well-proven. We feel pretty confident in bringing them out as we know they’re dependable.”

Source:
Racer.com

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