Corvette Racing locked out the front row of the GTE Pro field for the 24 Hours of Le Mans during yesterday afternoon’s Hyperpole qualifying session.
British driver Nick Tandy posted an impressive best lap of 3:49.985 around the 8.4-mile Circuit de la Sarthe, beating longtime Corvette Racing ace Antonio Garcia to pole by a scant 0.192s. The result marked the first time Corvette Racing has locked out the front row for Le Mans since 2010 – which was also the last time it started from pole position.
They. Did. This! Way to go team!! #Corvette #C8R #Z06 #LeMans24 @TeamChevy @24hoursoflemans @FIAWEC pic.twitter.com/yKbAlnHWvc
— Corvette Racing (@CorvetteRacing) June 9, 2022
Corvette Racing has shown strong pace since practice began for the one-around-the-clock endurance race last Sunday, with drivers beaming about the pace and drivability of the mid-engine Corvette C8.R.
”What a fantastic day and a fantastic car,” Tandy said. “It’s great to see so many Corvette flags around the track. This is for everyone who is here to support us and here to watch us. Hopefully we can keep these two yellow Corvettes up front for 24 hours. It was great out on track. The car feels fantastic. These GTE cars are so much fun to drive when you’re out there with fresh tires and low fuel around this circuit. It’s a real privilege.”
“You can’t get much closer than that,” Garcia added. “It’s the first pole and first 1-2 for Corvette in quite a while. They were good runs.”
“I’m happy with how the car is running, for sure. Yesterday we were up front and we’re still up front now. It’s a nice place to start the race for sure.”
American driver Tommy Milner, who will share the No. 64 car with Tandy and Alexander Sims, said this year’s car is the best he’s “ever had at Le Mans,” but acknowledged that execution in the race will still be extremely important.
“Having success will require using all the things we’ve learned so far, putting those to the test, not making mistakes and having a good, clean race,” Milner said. “We’ve been fast in the practice sessions but performance in the race is what matters.”
While the No. 51 and No. 52 Ferrari 488 GTE entries of AF Corse qualified fifth and sixth in GTE Pro, Tandy believes the race pace of the Italian team will make it the biggest threat come Saturday.
The 90th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will go green on Saturday, June 11th at 10:00 am EST.
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Comments
Go Team Corvette! I will be listening to the race on the radio, since no major cable TV channel shows them. Which sucks because it always so great binge watch no stop.
Motor trend has the entire race today. Or so I read.
Yes, they do.
Probably a dumb question: Does this racecar have a manual gearbox?
I believe only NASCAR still uses a manual transmission
Common practice to “sandbag” lap times at LM. Competitors don’t want Balance of Performance restrictions from the Euros dumped on them between qualifying and the loooong race.
Neither Corvette finished the race today, which is a tough break because they were both running very strong for much of it. When the #64 was taken out by the LMP2 car, he was leading GTE Pro by over a minute.
Oh well, back to IMSA. Let’s go Team Corvette!