CORVETTE RACING (USA)

Owners: James Miller and Gary Pratt
Project manager: Doug Fehan
Base: New Hudson (Michigan, USA)
www.corvetteracing.com

2015 Tudor United SportsCar Championship results
Daytona 24 Hours: 4th Magnussen/Garcia/Briscoe (DAN/ESP/AUS) no. 3 Corvette C7.R (1st LM GT): 7th Gavin/Milner/Pagenaud (GRB/USA/FRA) no. 4 Corvette C7.R (3rd GT LM),
Sebring 12 Hours: 10th Magnussen/Garcia/Briscoe (DAN/ESP/AUS), no. 3 Corvette C7.R (1st LM GT) 32nd. Gavin/Milner/Pagenaud (GBR/USA/FRA), no. 4 Corvette C7.R . (9th LM GT)
Long Beach: 9th. Magnussen/Garcia/Briscoe (DAN/ESP/AUS), no. 3 Corvette C7.R (3rd GT LM), 14th Gavin/Milne (GBR/USA), no. 4 Corvette C7. R (7th LM GT).
Laguna Seca: 15th Gavin/Milner (GBR/USA), no. 4 Corvette C7.R (6th LM GT), 17th Magnussen/Garcia/Briscoe (DAN/ESP), no. 3 Corvette C7.R (7th GT LM)

     Corvette Racing made its debut in the 1999 Daytona 24 Hours and then raced in the ALMS. One car was prepared by Riley & Scott and the other by Pratt & Miller. Since 2000, they have been looked after by Pratt & Miller in Detroit, a firm which built the Intrepid Chevrolets that raced in IMSA. A year after its debut, Corvette almost won at Daytona where J. Bell-Fellows-Kneifel came home second. The CR.5s, entered for Le Mans for the first time under the works banner, finished third and fourth in GTS behind the Oreca Vipers, which they later defeated in Texas.

     From 2001 onwards, the Corvettes became the benchmark in the category winning the Daytona 24 Hours outright thanks to Fellows-O’Connell-Kneifel, followed up by a double in GTS at Le Mans with Fellows-O’Connell-Pruett finishing eighth overall. They won the ALMS Manufacturers’ title, and in 2002 Fellows-Gavin-O’Connell drove the C5.Rs to victory at Sebring and Le Mans. After winning all the ALMS titles in GTS Corvette Racing began 2003 with another success at Sebring. At Le Mans it was a different story as the Prodrive Ferrari F550 Maranellos defeated the American cars. The team won all three ALMS titles in the USA, and the following year after a lot of hard work, the big yellow cars turned the tables on their Italian rivals at Le Mans, and clinched a double with Gavin-Beretta-Magnussen leading home Fellows-O’Connell-Papis who had finished fourth overall at Sebring winning the GTS category. The Corvettes remained unbeaten in the ALMS and wrapped up their fourth title, while Fellows-O’Connell again topped the drivers’ ratings.

 

     

      In 2005, the new C6.R took over and racked up more victories including a double in the Sarthe. Gavin-Beretta also won the ALMS title, a feat they repeated in 2006. It was a great year for the British and Monegasque drivers who came first again at Sebring and Le Mans with Jan Magnussen (4th overall). The following year the trio scored another success in Florida but retired at Le Mans. O’Connell-Magnussen-Fellows had to make do with second in GT1 beaten by Aston Martin.

     In 2008, the Corvettes continued to dominate in the ALMS with the title going to O’Connell-Magnussen who shared victories at Sebring and the Petit Le Mans with Ron Fellows. At Le Mans they again finished second in GT1 behind the works DBR9. In 2009, O’Connell-Magnussen-Garcia won at Sebring and in the Sarthe in the C6.R’s swansong in works colours. From Mid Ohio onwards, GT2 was the only grand touring car category in the ALMS and the Corvette scored its maiden win at Mosport.

     2010 got off to a difficult start and the team was determined to win at Le Mans to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the make’s first Sarthe appearance. The Americans were unable to achieve this aim as both cars retired with engine failure. In 2011, two new versions of the C6 ZR1 were entered. They were in the vanguard of the battle in the Sebring 12 Hours in the GTE Pro category before being beaten by BMW. The two Corvettes saw the flag in third and fourth places, and then finished second and ninth at Long Beach, the second round of the 2011 ALMS. For the Le Mans 24 Hours Corvette was back thirsting for revenge after its previous year’s setback. After a no-holds-barred battle the American manufacturer scored a thrilling victory thanks to Beretta-Milner-Garcia who finished a lap in front of the second-placed Ferrari. In the ALMS BMW pipped Corvette for the title.

 

 

In 2012 GM, now back in no.1 spot in the world, entered two of the latest C6 ZR1s for the American Le Mans Series and the Le Mans 24 Hours. There was a big change in the driver line-up with the departure of Olivier Beretta for Ferrari: American Jordan Taylor replaced the Monegasque. Corvette, beaten again by a short head by BMW at Sebring, took its revenge at Long Beach and Monterey where it scored a morale-boosting double before tackling the mythic Sarthe circuit. However, the Le Mans 24-Hours race was anything but a doddle for the Detroit team. The Corvettes were in the lead early on until a succession of off-course excursions and gearbox problems put the kybosh on their race. No. 73 finished fifth and last in the GTE Pro category while no. 74 was an unclassified finisher after a race from hell for the American cars. However, the rest of the 2012 season saw a marked improvement in the squad’s fortunes and it clinched another ALMS title.

2013 got off to a flying start for Corvette with victories at Sebring and Laguna Seca in the ALMS with the same line-ups driven by a thirst for revenge in the Sarthe in up-dated versions of the C6 ZR1s. They found themselves up against Porsche making its official comeback to the category via Team Manthey, and Aston Martin, which had made a huge effort to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the make. The American cars lacked top speed and only Ferrari seemed within their grasp. No. 73 confirmed this by leading the Italian cars home. No. 74’s off dropped it behind the two Ferraris. Back home in the USA the yellow cars racked up three victories and as many top-3 finished to win the C6.ZR1’s last ALMS title beating Viper, BMW and Ferrari in GT, a superb end to the car’s career replaced by the new C7 in 2014.

It made its debut at Daytona, the first round of the newly-created Tudor United SportsCar Championship, the result of the merger between the ALMS and Grand-Am. The Corvettes were unable to match the pace of the Porsche 911 RSRs, which had been thoroughly tested in the FIA WEC, and the STR Vipers that continued to evolve. Robin Liddell and Ryan Briscoe were called in as back up in nos 3 and 4 respectively in the two long distance events, Daytona and Sebring. The C7.R scored its first victories in the Long Beach and Laguna Sec sprints in the hands of Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia. This boded well for the Le Mans 24 Hours where Jordan Taylor and Richard Westbrook were called in to make up the same driver line-ups as in 2013. The C7.R was taking up a huge challenge: namely, to beat the Porsches, Ferraris and Aston Martins. Although the American squad was in the mix for a long time, it was unable to beat Ferrari. Magnussen-Garcia-Taylor in no. 73 upheld Corvette’s honours by finishing second in LM GTE Pro a lap behind the winners, which was a great result for what was a brand-new car. Its sister C7.R driven by Gavin-Milner-Westbrook came home fourth in the category. The yellow Corvettes had a more difficult second half of the season although they scored two wins in the TUSCC at Watkins Glen and Bowmanville, which was not good enough to prevent Viper from wrapping up the title.

This year with a car that has been fully tried and tested the American squad will have no excuses if it doesn’t win at Le Mans. They have begun in the best possible manner with no. 3 driven by Magnussen-Briscoe-Garcia clinching victory in both the Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours.

#LEMANS