In 2009, Chevrolet popularized the Nürburgring lap time as a performance benchmark in the United States. They had been there three years prior, but with the introduction of the C6 ZR1, the marketing wing really started pushing 7:xx times on the public as a signifier of home-grown world-class speed. The remainder of the C6’s run was a back-and-forth battle for ‘Ring superiority between escalating versions of America’s Sports Car, Nissan GT-R, Viper, and Porsche, and the whole thing was a lot of fun to witness! Then, almost as quickly as it showed up, lap reporting disappeared from Corvette launch literature. During this extended off-season, the Cross Flag faithful have had to settle for conjecture, Camaros, and infuriating “segment” times to scratch the gameday itch that the competition of ’09-’12 provided. Bad luck aside, we haven’t heard an official Corvette ‘Ring time since this year’s graduating class was in first grade! It’s been so long that you get the feeling that Chevrolet might just sit on future times to save face after the last twelve years of crickets.