Insights from team members on last year’s heartbreak, this year’s redemption |
DETROIT (July 6, 2023) – Winning a race as big of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is something special. It’s the culmination of a year’s worth of work, preparation and execution. In the case of Corvette Racing, winning this year’s GTE Am class didn’t just validate all of that effort. It also exorcised some very painful memories of near-misses, most notably the team’s end to the 2022 race. Ahead of this weekend’s Six Hours of Monza in the FIA World Endurance Championship, a few Corvette Racing team members shared their thoughts on a sweet and redemptive victory…NICKY CATSBURG, DRIVER, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “We’ve been trying to win Le Mans with the C8.R for a couple of years. We managed to get P2 in 2021, and last year Alex (Sims), Tommy (Milner) and Nick (Tandy) seemed to have it all sorted before a crazy spell of bad luck took them out of the race. We knew this was our last chance for our car to win it before the end of the GTE category. It’s clear with Ben and Nico that we have a strong lineup, and we had an insanely successful season in WEC going into Le Mans. But that never means winning there is easy. All the ingredients were there, but you still need to make it happen. We lost a lot of time at the beginning of the race, and I really felt like that was the end of it. But this team never gives up. Corvette Racing is an insane team with a lot of young guys so incredibly eager to win races. They were on top of their game! The flawless pitlane work and flawless drives by both Nico and Ben brought us to the top step of the podium. It was the one big 24-hour race that I didn’t have on my CV, and now I do. I can’t begin to thank everyone on this program enough. The whole team has such a good dynamic going on, and the atmosphere is so cool. I’m very thankful and grateful.” |
CORVETTE RACING MEDIA INFORMATION Corvette Racing media information is updated and available ahead of the FIA WEC’s Six Hours of Monza and the Chevrolet Grand Prix for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Materials include: Race advances and quotes, Corvette Racing stats and figures, Corvette Racing racecar comparisons, Corvette Racing Fast Facts, driver biographies and Corvette Racing photography |
The Six Hours of Monza is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. CET / 6:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, July 9. MotorTrend and MotorTrend Plus will provide both live television and streaming coverage, as will the FIA WEC app. Radio Le Mans will stream audio coverage of qualifying and the race. |
2023 FIA World Endurance Championship – GTE Am (After four of seven events)Driver Standings1. Ben Keating/Nicky Catsburg/Nico Varrone – 1332. Ahmad Al Harthy/Charlie Eastwood/Michael Dinan – 593. Michelle Gatting/Rahel Frey/Sarah Bovy – 564. Francesco Castellacci/Thomas Flohr/Davide Rigon – 475. Alessio Rovera/Lilou Wadoux/Luis Perez Companc – 43 Team Standings1. No. 33 Corvette Racing – 1332. No. 25 ORT by TF – 593. No. 85 Iron Dames – 564. No. 54 AF Corse – 475. No 83 Richard Mille AF Corse – 43 CORVETTE RACING AT CTMP & MONZA: By the Numbers• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 25 years of racing: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette• 3: Generations of Corvette Racing entries at CTMP since 2000 – Corvette C5-R (2004), Corvette C6.R (2005-13) and Corvette C7.R (2016-2019). The Corvette C8.R raced at the track for the first time last season.• 3: Number of GTE Am wins in four FIA WEC races this season for Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating and Nico Varrone with the No. 33 Corvette C8.R.• 6: Hours difference between the IMSA team competing at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and the Corvette Racing WEC team competing at Monza on the same days.• 7: Number of drivers who have won races at CTMP for Corvette Racing. Johnny O’Connell (six), Jan Magnussen (five), Oliver Gavin (four), Ron Fellows (three) and Olivier Beretta (two) each have multiple wins there with the team.• 7: Pole positions for Corvette Racing drivers at CTMP. Oliver Gavin leads with three with Antonio Garcia (2016) being the most recent.• 11: Class victories at Corvette Racing at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – all since 2001.• 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001• 27: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Monza, Portimão, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen• 34: Number of drivers for Corvette Racing since 1999. Ben Keating and Nico Varrone joined that list with their participation – and victory – in the 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the World Endurance Championship.• 125: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 113 in North America, nine at Le Mans – including two weeks ago – and three in the FIA WEC.• 275: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999.• 11,080.25: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 20 previous trips to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. That represents 4,506 laps.• 358,144.93: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon… and then some! Corvette Racing at Monza (wins in bold)2022No. 64 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 1st in GTE Pro |