Corvette Racing will use E20 fuel in the 2016 WeatherTech United SportsCar Championship, Sportscar365 reports. IMSA only recently approved the use of E20 fuel in the race series, which is a blend of 20 percent ethanol and 80 percent gasoline, with IMSA President and COO Scott Atherton saying they wanted to allow teams to use a similar to fuel to what’s used at Le Mans.
“We were approached by some manufacturers that expressed a desire to have E20 added as another fuel option,” Atherton said. “It doesn’t replace anything; it’s an incremental offer.”
“The motivation was to match up the same fuel characteristics in this championship as they use at Le Mans and in some cases the WEC,” he added.
In addition to Corvette Racing and their C7.R, Chip Ganassi Racing has also elected to use E20 fuel in the new Ford GT racecars. Like the Corvettes, the GT will also race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, so using the fuel throughout the year rather than switching for one race could make things easier on both teams.
Atherton told Sportscar365 that he doesn’t hope all GTLM teams make the switch to E20, as he is still a firm believer in E85 as an effective alternative fuel.
“I hope there will be some that will continue with E85 because I think, for us, it’s our fuel of choice in terms of its connectivity to our green racing initiatives,” he said.
“That’s not to say E20 is not an acceptable alternative fuel. It is. And again, we’re utilizing cellulosic ethanol.”
Comments
It is the only wise move as you can tune for one fuel year round and you get more laps per tank.
It will be interesting to see If anyone stays on the old fuel.