24h Le Mans
Despite being held up in the pits early in the race, Corvette Racing’s #33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R triumphed in the LMGTE Am class that will be replaced by LMGT3 next year.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary did not give the teams an easy ride in any of the classes. In the LMGTE Am class, it became something of a “race for survival” with 12 of the 21 entries failing to make the chequered flag. The first survivor was therefore the #33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in the hands of the Corvette Racing trio of Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Nicolás Varrone. As the LMGTEs bow out at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, this ninth class win brings the story to a happy ending for the American team. However, the race did not get off to the best of starts as the Corvette pit crew had to change a right front damper that put their car two laps in arrears. “I thought we were out of it,” Ben Keating said after the race. “The whole team fought through the entire race to get back in it. I woke up in the morning and had no idea how we got there. I’ll have to go back and watch the race, as it makes no sense to me! The team is just amazing.”
After the early setback, Corvette Racing had visions of the C8.R heading back across the Atlantic empty-handed once again, despite its massive potential. It makes this victory all the sweeter. “We should have had a win already in the years before but we never managed to get it together,” admitted Nicky Catsburg. “Last night, I was like ‘man, it’s happened again!’. But we kept working hard. Nico did a fantastic job in the wet, Ben did some amazing stints and, somehow, in the morning we were back in the game. We just kept putting in good laps, were clearly one of the fastest cars out there and got back to win.”
The win was the third of the WEC season for the #33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R after the 1000 Miles of Sebring and the 6 Hours of Portimão. Corvette Racing leads the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams classification by a healthy 74 points from ORT By TF.
LMGTE Am will give way to LMGT3 in 2024. Chevrolet could well be involved as the American carmaker presented its new Corvette 206 GT3.R at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January.
The LMGT3 class promises to be an outstanding success. The category promises great diversity as it will be open to manufacturers running Hypercar programmes as well as makes without models in the top class. It will then be up to the WEC selection committee to specify the number of cars accepted in the class, and the chosen manufacturers, depending on grid capacity. The teams’ nomination will have to be approved by the manufacturer before they can apply for a place on the grid.
