GM Continues to Evaluate Additional GT Racing Series for its Corvette Z06 GT3.R

By
Mitch Talley
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5
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GM Continues to Evaluate Additional GT Racing Series for its Corvette Z06 GT3.R

Photo Credit: Richard Prince for Corvette Racing


You ain’t seen nothing yet.

That sums up the future of the Corvette Z06 GT3.R racing program, enthusiastic GM officials are telling sportscar365.com.

The new GT3 car has already debuted in the Rolex 24 at Daytona with two teams – Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and AWA, and two more programs are in the works – with TF Sports in the FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 division and DXDT Racing in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS.

And that’s just the first season.

AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R


Program Manager Christie Bagne says preparation for the expansion of the Z06 program in 2025 actually began last year with a fact-finding mission by a delegation of Corvette reps to several major endurance races, including the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and the Nürburgring 24 where two current Corvette factory drivers (Earl Bamber and Nicky Catsburg) were winners.

She says more such trips will be made this year, too.

“I think that’s still really important and maintaining the relationships with the sanctioning bodies [and] with the technical personnel at the sanctioned bodies,” Bagne says. “Especially Nürburgring was so unique. That was very valuable to us in terms of seeing the uniqueness of the ways the teams are operating out of their garages and the pit stops are unique. So being able to sit down with the technical committee in person, I found, is much more valuable and efficient than trying to just read the regulations in a vacuum.”

The legwork is all to get ready for an even bigger 2025 season, though Bagne notes that GM isn’t ready quite yet to announce exactly where Corvette teams will be competing.

“So we could do Nürburgring, GT World Challenge Europe is of interest, the Intercontinental GT Challenge is of interest and obviously European and Asian Le Mans Series provide a lot of nice of opportunities to try and get additional cars for Le Mans,” Bagne says.

“So I would say all of those series are on our radar to consider. There’s quite a bit of interest, which is great. We’re very fortunate to have that.

Corvette Z06 GT3.R


Now it’s all about understanding what’s the right model in terms of where can we provide the best possible support in terms of parts and engineering to be successful with those teams.”

Don’t expect more than 10 Corvettes in each of the first two years, GM Sports Car Racing Program Manager Laura Wontrop Klauser has said previously.

Klauser says the plan has always been to keep the numbers low enough “to make the support really, really [good],” and so far GM has been able to meet that goal with feedback from customer teams described as “really good, from AWA and from TF Sport and even DXDT about the initial exercise.”


Source:
sportscar365.com

Related:
[VIDEO] The Build Process of the New Corvette Z06 GT3.R Racers
[PICS] TF Sport Show Off New Corvette Z06 GT3.R Liveries for its 2024 WEC LMGT3 Campaign
[PICS] AWA Racing Takes Delivery of Two Special Corvettes

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5 COMMENTS

  1. I’m surprised that GM continues to throw money at these racing series with the BOP nonsense.

  2. “Klauser says the plan has always been to keep the numbers low enough “to make the support really, really [good],” and so far GM has been able to meet that goal with feedback from customer teams described as “really good, from AWA and from TF Sport and even DXDT about the initial exercise.””

    When did any other OEM GT participant ever make a comment like this? Don’t worry…I’ll wait.

    These are typical comments of a minimalist operation. Either resource properly or don’t do it at all. Daytona was a humiliation. Fix it, get consistent & fast…and win.

    Do better, Laura.

  3. Maybe they think if you flood the racing market with Zs, they might win a race. These current corporate people have to clue.

  5. If this decision is based on the humillating, results of Daytona, then the answer should be no. Klauser should remember all the hype & money that was spent on Cadillac’s first venture into prototypes, with the beautiful ‘Northstar’ engined proto that failed too early and was cancelled too soon. The C8 is a beautiful car but has not matched the power of past iterations; C5, C6, & C7. The new car is struggling more than the experts thought they should. The Canadian team was a complete failure. Sebring will be the ‘tell all’. Hope it’s a good one.

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