At LeMans

 

 

Corvette Racing defied all odds and broke through to take the win in GTE-Pro. After a dominant run by the No. 64 machine, which led for over half the race, Jan Magnussen, Oliver Gavin and Richard Westbrook’s race ended early after the Dane collided with a Porsche in Hour 16.

Down but not out, the Pratt & Miller squad turned its focus to the No. 63 crew of Olivier Beretta, Antonio Garcia and Tommy Milner, which ran solidly inside the top-three. With three hours to go, Milner was in the lead, thanks to the misfortunes of the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia, which battled electrical issues.

After handing over to co-driver Garcia, the Spaniard took the to the finish, giving Corvette its seventh Le Mans class victory in its 10th anniversary of its first triumph in 2001.

The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella, Gimmi Bruni and Toni Vilander limped home in second, while BMW Motorsport’s Sebring-winning trio of Andy Priaulx, Dirk Muller and Joey Hand, in his Le Mans debut, completed the podium in third after overcoming an early race misfire.

Team Felbermayr-Proton’s Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Wolf Henzler were unable to repeat their class victory from a year ago but were again the highest-placed Porsche entrant in fourth. The No. 76 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 911 GT3 RSR completed the top-five in class.

Larbre Competition scored the GTE-Am class victory, leading a dominant 1-2 for the Jack Leconte-led squad. The No. 50 Corvette C6.R of Julien Canal, Gabriele Gardel and Patrick Bornhauser took a one-lap win over the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, run in conjunction with IMSA Performance Matmut.

The win, Larbre’s second consecutive at la Sarthe after taking top honors in GT1 last year, also marked a double victory for Corvette. It's the first for a manufacturer since 1997 when Porsche scored the overall and GT2 class victory.

 

Watched most of it - a great race and day for Corvette. The #74 car was leading for about 2/3 of the race up until the 16th hour, when it had a mishap with a prototype car in the Porche corners, they both spun and hit the wall hard and both cars were demolished. If it weren't for this, I'm convinced that Corvette would have finished 1-2 in class.

The #73 car, which had been farther back in the pack most of the race, was making its move as the race progressed. They did a great job of racing. It was cool that on Speed's website, you could actually watch the whole race (if you wanted to) from within the Corvette #73 cockpit looking forward out to the race. It was pretty cool to watch as it passed cars, and also gives you an appreciation of how fast those prototype cars are when they pass.

SPEED did a great job with Corvette coverage - the best ever. Maybe sponsoring and giving money to Speed really helps!!!

Last years Corvette C6R also won the GTE AM class - a FANTASTIC showing for Corvette overall. Four classes - 2 Corvette wins at the biggest road racing event of the year!

What I think is the biggest takeaway from this is that what the 24 Hour of Lemans really is all about is endurance. Corvette proved - once again - that this AMERICAN made car is not only a WORLD CLASS car that can stand with anyone, but that (at least in this race) it outlasted and performed better overall (again, would have been 1-2 finish if the crash hadn't occurred) than Porche, Ferrari, BMW, etc., etc.

In the 100th year of Chevrolet - and the 10th anniversary of Corvettes last win at LeMans - THIS is a GREAT DAY!

 

Well said