BMW and Tesla Crashes Thwart the C8 Corvette Z06’s Nurburgring Timed Hot Lap Attempt

The Corvette team’s bad luck at setting a timed lap at the Nurburgring during the C7 generation is continuing with the C8 Corvette Z06 according to ‘Ring expert Dale Lomas who is the founder of the Bridge to Gantry news site.

In an article for Road and Track, Lomas details two on-track incidents today that kept the Corvette engineering team from attempting a timed hot lap at the famous 12.9-mile German track.

According to Lomas, a BMW M8 prototype was involved in a huge crash at the Kesselchen sector which resulted in the car rolling over at least once and heavily damaging a large section of track barrier. Around the same time, a Tesla Model S Plaid also hit the track barrier at the Klostertal sector. Luckily, both drivers were said to be in “good condition” despite the incidents.

Following the two high-speed crashes, officials closed the track so that the barriers could be repaired and the track cleared of debris. Unfortunately, the clean-up meant that Chevrolet was unable to test its 2023 Corvette Z06 prototypes during the timed hot lap test sessions. Lomas says of the 10 cars in line for the timed session, only the McLaren 765TL and the new Cadillac CT5-V were able to go.

There are only two weeks of testing available for manufacturers in August with the final day coming tomorrow. Of course, rain is now expected in the forecast, further dampening Chevy’s attempt to put down a fast lap.

While Chevrolet is notoriously tight-lipped about making any kind of Nurburgring lap time public, the closed session does deprive the team of putting down a benchmark time for 2023 Corvette Z06.

Source:
Road and Track

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