LE MANS, France (Aug. 22, 2021) – The mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.R finished on the class podium in its 24 Hours of Le Mans debut Sunday with the trio of Antonio García, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg placing second in the No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R.

The debut of the mid-engine racing Corvette came a year later than originally planned due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. But the wait proved worth it with Corvette Racing showing its usual competitive spirit during its 21st race at Le Mans since 2000.

«Today’s second-place result in GTE Pro for the No. 63 Corvette C8.R and drivers Antonio García, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg is a significant achievement as we debuted the mid-engine Corvette C8.R at Le Mans,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S Vice President, Performance and Motorsports. “To be on the podium at Le Mans with the C8.R is very gratifying. It’s a testament to the hard work and determination of our Corvette production and racing teams.

«The support of Corvette owners and fans from around the world has been incredible,” Campbell added. “This race result is dedicated to our customers and supporters.”

While the No. 63 Corvette ran in contention for the entire race, the No. 64 C8.R of Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy and Alexander Sims seemingly ran into nothing but bad luck. It began on the roll-off from the grid when Milner was hit from behind by the eventual class-winning Ferrari at the beginning of the formation lap.

The contact broke part of the diffuser, but the No. 64 Corvette ran well early and even led in a wet start with Milner going to the fore. He and Tandy cycled through and kept the No. 64 C8.R in contention before the diffuser finally broke in the fifth hour shortly after Sims’ first stint.

It was the first of three visits to the garage for the No. 64 team, which also had to repair part of the gearbox, clutch and the alternator. Milner, Tandy and Sims – who set a GTE Pro record race lap of 3:47.501 – finished sixth in class.

On the No. 63 Corvette side of the garage, all three drivers drove double stints to open the race. Each of the trio led for a time as well as the race began to evolve into primarily a battle between Corvette and Ferrari, although five cars remained on the lead lap in GTE Pro at the halfway point.

Things began evolve into a two-car race into the final six hours between the No. 63 C8.R and No. 51 Ferrari. The Corvette team kept it close and was able to triple-stint its Michelin tires in the late going but couldn’t make up the necessary ground.

The No. 63 Corvette did, however, complete the entire 24 hours without a change of brakes.

Corvette Racing returns to action in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Sept. 10-12 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif.

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTE PRO: «I don’t know if I prefer to be two seconds, 10 seconds, 40 seconds or three laps back. I think it hurts the same! We’ve been in that 30-second range between the two cars pretty much for 24 hours. I must say it does hurt a little bit. When you come so close, it’s difficult. But when you do your best, you run almost a perfect race and someone else does it a little better than you, you have to congratulate them. There is nothing we could do. I think we ran a perfect race regardless of our position. We finished second but very close for sure. They just did it 40 seconds better than us. I’m very happy for the team, the 63 crew, Jordan and Nicky – all six drivers had really, really good drives and helped develop this Corvette and for sure all the engineers. So even if the 64 had so much trouble, getting up to this point we have all been working together to get the most out of the C8.R. For sure, two of our cars up front would have put even more pressure on the 51. We were both alone so it was a one-on-one fight between Corvette and Ferrari. We were close. When you are up on the podium, you always want a tiny bit more. I would have liked to have given Corvette the first Le Mans win in the C8.R. Now we need to wait until next year and work harder.»

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R  – FINISHED SECOND IN GTE PRO: «That’s my fourth podium here. It’s hard to complain with a podium at Le Mans. But when you come this close, it’s difficult to take. The Corvette Racing guys did an amazing job. We didn’t have any issues with our car. We executed really well strategy-wise and in the pitlane and on the track, there were no mistakes. For our first run at Le Mans with the C8.R, we should be pretty proud of that to come home second against some cars that have run here the past few years. We learned a lot as a team and can come back stronger next year.»

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTE PRO: «It’s super nice. This is my third time at Le Mans, and the first two times we finished nowhere. To be in the fight right to the last lap was very cool. It went well. The C8.R was very good. I had some good stints and nothing really bad happened. I will go home with some positive feelings. P2 kind of feels like a loss, but on the way home I’ll be like, ‘We finished P2 at Le Mans. That’s not bad!’ We had a cool fight with the Ferrari, and I think we did well.»

No. 64 Corvette heads team’s Test Day pace; No. 63 recovers after electrical issue.

LE MANS, France (Aug. 15, 2021) – At long last, Corvette Racing sent the mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.R for its first laps around the Circuit de la Sarthe during nine hours of testing Sunday ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Tommy Milner led the Corvette Racing effort in the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R on Sunday with a lap of 3:53.440 (130.550 mph) in a highly competitive GTE Pro field. Less than a half-second separated the top seven cars, which bodes well for a thrilling race in less than a week’s time.

Milner shared the No. 64 Corvette on Sunday with Nick Tandy; the duo will welcome back Alexander Sims into the fold following a prior racing commitment earlier in the day.

The No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R had an up-and-down day that included an engine change following an electrical issue that stranded Antonio Garcia on-course in the third hour of the morning session. Four hours later and after hard and thorough work, the No. 63 re-emerged from the garage to continue its test program. 

Nicky Catsburg, driving with Garcia and Jordan Taylor, was the quickest driver in the 63 entry at 3:54.281 (130.115 mph). The trio are back together after winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona earlier this season.

Corvette Racing will return to the track Wednesday for two free practice sessions and qualifying. 

The 24 Hours of Le Mans on Aug. 21-22 with the green flag set for 4 p.m. CET and 10 a.m. ET. MotorTrend TV will air the race live with the MotorTrend App adding coverage of official practices and qualifying on Aug. 18 and 19. Live audio coverage will be available from Radio Le Mans starting with Sunday’s Test Day.

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “I would have liked to do some more laps for sure since it’s the first year with the C8.R in Le Mans. But mostly out of the box it felt pretty decent, pretty good. We know which way to go; the things we worked on in the simulator seem to be working, which is a good thing. We’ll now try to get as much data as possible from both cars and work our way forward toward this week.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “We didn’t do as many laps as we wanted to get in today, but the guys did a good job to give us as many laps as possible. It’s the first day of the new car at Le Mans, so every lap is important to get our data and to understand where we’ll be next week. Each driver got some laps – in traffic and in clean air – which is important for the race. We probably have a lot of things we want to tick off the list still come free practice, but I think it’s good to get this under our belt, get a couple of days off and look at all the data and understand where we are.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Not an easy day with the issue in the morning session which took a long time to repair, but the guys worked super hard and luckily we managed to get out near the end of the afternoon session. We got some laps in, the car felt pretty good. The sister car was running all day so we’ll be able to get some valuable information from them and we can learn from that. In summary, we survived the Test Day feeling pretty good, so we’re all good for the race.”

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Aug. 8, 2021) – Corvette Racing finished second and third in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) category of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Sunday at Road America as the program now heads across the Atlantic Ocean for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

GTLM championship leaders Antonio García and Jordan Taylor finished second in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, just ahead of Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy in the No. 4 mid-engine Corvette. Shortly after the race, all focus turned to Le Mans with the team traveling over in the coming days with the Test Day set for Aug. 15.

Sunday’s race marked Corvette Racing’s 20th event at Road America, and early on the two C8.Rs were in control. Taylor and Tandy ran 1-2 during the opening minutes. An early-race call to take fuel and tires just 22 minutes in gave the No. 4 Corvette the advantage during the opening hour. Running second, Tandy took fuel and fresh Michelin tires just ahead of a full-course caution period. 

Once the GT pits opened for stops, the No. 3 Corvette side switched to García along with a full fuel fill and fresh tires. Meanwhile, Tandy remained in the No. 4 C8.R and took just enough fuel to top off the tank to move from third to first ahead of the restart at the 40-minute mark.

Tandy continued his good work in traffic on the restart to move five seconds ahead of Garcia before a second full-course caution 20 minutes later. Tandy and Garcia both stayed in with the No. 4 C8.R retaining an advantage.

García stopped the No. 3 Corvette for more fuel and tires with 75 minutes left with the No. 4 coming in less than 15 minutes later for a driver change to Milner. Disaster struck, though, as the car’s wheels spun while on the airjacks. Race officials assessed the No. 4 C8.R a drive-through penalty for the infraction.

Meanwhile, García set out to pressure Matt Campbell in the No. 79 entry late but the pace and gap was too much to overcome.

Corvette Racing next makes its return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which runs Aug. 21-22.

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTLM: “Not bad. It was all about gambling. Before the first yellow, we had decided to split strategies to put pressure on the Porsche and they decided to follow us. I think we probably took a gamble on some tires and it didn’t pay off on that first stint I did. We lost some track position and had to change strategies from that point on to make up one stop. The information I got on my stint probably helped us close the gap. We had to get pushing but they (the No. 79) made it to the end. So we did all we could do – keep the pressure up and pray for a little less fuel in their tanks. They did right and won the race. I’m happy with it considering how the race went. It’s a shame the 4 car had that drive-through (penalty). I think they would have put the Porsche under a lot more pressure and would have to push. Maybe that would have put us more in contention. You never know in these races.” 

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTLM: “It’s not a win, but looking overall with how the day went I think we can be happy. We went a little bit off strategy tire-wise and it didn’t pay off. But we were a little off-strategy with the 79 there at the end. Had there been a yellow at the right time, things could have gone our way. We can’t be too upset with a second-place after winning three in a row.”