Corvette Racing at Bahrain: Closing the Gap

No. 64 Corvette continuing to make progress ahead of season, GTE Pro finale

MANAMA, Bahrain (Nov. 11, 2022) – Corvette Racing will start the final race for the GTE Pro class in the FIA World Endurance Championship fifth in the category. Nick Tandy set a lap of 1:57.539 (103.023 mph) around the Bahrain International Circuit on Friday evening in the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R that he will share with Tommy Milner.

It’s the first trip to Bahrain for the Corvette Racing and the mid-engine C8.R as the team and its fellow WEC competitors close the season in the Middle East.

The single-car team worked throughout Thursday and Friday’s practice sessions to try and come to grips – literally and figuratively – with the circuit layout and racing surface. The high temperatures in the desert present a challenge to tire life with high levels of degradation expected to factor in Saturday’s race.

Corvette Racing’s two manufacturer competitors – Porsche and Ferrari – have the benefit of multiple years of experience at Bahrain, especially having contested a doubleheader a year ago at the circuit. As a result, the gap to the front is considerable – nearly 1.4 seconds – but Corvette Racing engineers were hard at work after the session pouring over data to make further improvements before Saturday’s race.

The goal is to add one more victory in GTE Pro competition to its tally of 32 around the world, taking into account the category in the WEC as well as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) class, which ran from 2014-2021.

The Eight Hours of Bahrain for the FIA World Endurance Championship is scheduled for 2 p.m. Arabian Standard Time (AST) / 6 a.m. ET Saturday from the Bahrain International Circuit. The race will air live on MotorTrend with live streaming coverage of the race on the MotorTrend Plus app and Radio Le Mans’ online audio coverage.

NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED FIFTH IN GTE PRO:

“Obviously the point staring us in the face is that we are slowest in the class, which is sad for everyone. We did a lot of work from Free Practice Three to qualifying, and actually the car was fantastic. My lap in qualifying was one that I was pleased with and probably was one of the best I’ve done this season. The gap to the front, while at almost 1.5 seconds, is the closest we’ve been all weekend. So as a team, we’ve done a terrific job. It doesn’t take away from the fact that we’re going to start from the fifth position. To end qualifying in GTE Pro like this is frustrating. But we can all be proud as a team for continually progressing and making the car better for us drivers. It was really pleasurable to be out there again in this C8.R in qualifying trim and driving fast.”

Source:
Corvette Racing at Chevrolet

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