Corvette Racing at Long Beach: Ready to Roll

Bell, Fidani showing pace, potential of No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R

LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 19, 2024) – AWA’s No. 13 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R is set to make its debut at the famed Long Beach Street Circuit after Friday’s qualifying session for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Orey Fidani piloted the Corvette that he will share with Matt Bell to the eighth row of the GT Daytona (GTD) grid for Saturday’s 100-minute race.

This is the first race on a street circuit for AWA and the Corvette Z06 GT3.R, and the first time at Long Beach for Bell and Fidani, whose best lap in qualifying was a 1:20.072 (88.480 mph).

Friday began well for AWA as Bell set the fastest GTD lap in the opening practice – a 1:18.911 (89.782 mph) lap, good enough to put AWA on the top of the time sheets for the first time with Corvette. Bell backed that up with the fourth-fastest time in the afternoon’s final practice.

The AWA duo is coming off ninth-place class finish in last month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Cadillac. This time around it’s an all-out sprint race for the No. 13 Corvette with close-quarters racing the norm between the concrete barriers along the 1.968-mile, 11-turn Long Beach street circuit.

Chevrolet and the Corvette brand have been a fixture at Long Beach since the Corvette Racing program first visited Long Beach in 2007. In 15 visits, Corvette GT cars have captured eight victories with two others in the Corvette DP era.

Combined with results from the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Chevrolet boasts a total of 22 victories in the Grand Prix’s two premier events.

The Grand Prix of Long Beach for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is scheduled for 4:35 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 20. The race will air live on USA Network starting at 4:30 p.m. ET with full streaming coverage also on Peacock. IMSA Radio will have coverage of the race at IMSA.com with Sirius 211, XM 206, SiriusXM Online 996 also providing radio coverage of the race.

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – QUALIFIED 15TH IN GTD:

“It was a challenging but overall positive day on the demanding streets of Long Beach. I feel like every corner tests the limits of our car. Qualifying was tough but it sets us up for a day of fighting hard, learning and pushing forward. We’re ready to take on the challenges of this iconic urban track. From here, the only way is upwards, and we’re excited to show what we can do in the race tomorrow.”

MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R (after Practice 1):

“The team’s first P1 in the Corvette era, so I’m really happy with that. It’s nice to roll out very competitive. The Corvette Racing guys have given us a lot of help coming into here. They’ve passed on a little bit of their knowledge of this place onto us. They’ve been very successful here in the past, and we’ve rolled out pretty good. I wasn’t expecting that in my first time here. I have heard a lot of stories about how daunting this place is, and on my first couple of laps I was in 100 percent in agreement! But I got a clear lap later on and the car was hooked up and I could put something together. Hopefully we can continue in the vein and find another couple of tenths yet.”

2024 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Points

GTD Drivers Standings
1. Indy Dontje/Philip Ellis/Russell Ward – 725
2. Antonio Fuoco/Giorgio Sernagiotto/Roberto Lacorte – 589
3. Adam Adelson/Elliott Skeer/Jan Heylen – 570
4. Albert Costa Balboa/Cedric Sbirrazzuoli/Manny Franco – 545
5. Francois Heriau/Miguel Molina/Simon Mann – 485
19. Lars Kern/Matthew Bell/Orey Fidani – 347

GTD Teams Standings
1. No. 57 Windward Racing – 725
2. No. 47 Cetilar Racing – 589
3. No. 120 Wright Motorsports – 570
4. No. 34 Conquest Racing – 545
5. No. 21 AF Corse – 485
18. No. 13 AWA – 347

GTD Manufacturers Standings
1. Mercedes-AMG – 751
2. Porsche – 634
3. Lamborghini – 616
4. McLaren – 550
5. Lexus – 527
7. Chevrolet – 505

Source:
CorvetteRacing.com

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