The 2023 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will see a NASCAR stock car take on the endurance race for the first time in history. The NASCAR Le Mans racer will be fielded by Hendrick Motorsports (HMS), and testing is already well under way. Recently, the specially prepared Garage 56 Chevy Camaro ZL1 test car was seen turning laps at Sebring Raceway in Florida.
The NASCAR Le Mans Garage 56 race car is based on the Next Gen Camaro ZL1, which debuted at the Cup Series level for the 2022 NASCAR season. Previously, the vehicle was tested at Virginia International Raceway, providing valuable data to its development team ahead of its 24-hour stint at Le Mans in June 2023. Under the hood, this race car features a hybrid powertrain, although specifications have yet to be revealed, but it certainly sounds mean at speed.
The endurance Camaro’s development is being overseen by Chad Knaus, current VP of Competition at HMS and former championship-winning Cup Series crew chief. The prototype race car was built by IMSA team Action Express Racing. At this time, its driver roster has not been announced, although Mike Rockenfeller, former Le Mans winner, has posted quite a few test laps behind the wheel of the endurance stock car.
The NASCAR Le Mans race car will be a testament to the Camaro ZL1 racer’s durability in an endurance setting. As a reminder, Garage 56 is considered a “showcase” competition slot, and the entry does not compete for points in the championship. Instead, the stock car being raced out of Garage 56 serves to show off innovation at Le Mans.
Additionally, NASCAR CEO, Steve O’Donnell, has stated that he is keeping a close eye on the vehicle’s development for potential influence and improvements on the sport’s Cup Series spec cars.
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Comments
Nice whatever Rick does is always top shelve. Would love to see it run.
THOUGHT 2023 WAS THE LAST YEAR FOR THE CAMARO?
That’s gm for you. Invest racing dollars and promote a car the public won’t be able to buy. Could have a “LeMans” edition Camaro in show rooms as a hook. Oh, well.
Yeah RWD that is the question what will GM use for Nascar after the Camaro is killed off unless they start using Cadillac everything else is suv or truck
Sounds viscous.
It will be great seeing that and the hyper cars at LeMans.
A few NASCAR related thought. ..
Since Mr Hendrick loves using classic Chevy colrs, will this car be painted LeMans blue?
A thousand horsepower and low downforce would really improve Martinsville, Pocono and a few other tracks that are great cures fir Insomnia.
This could be a real game changer.
Imagine NASCAR, The Touring cars in Europe and the Australian series all using similar cars. They then could meet up at Daytona, Lemans, Sebring, Bathurst, etc.
Buy using similar cars they can cut cost and make a global series that has many options.
As for the Camaro. GM has not shown all the cards. Have they announced the plant closing yet? They have only said the car as we know it will be ended in 2024. They have not ended the Camaro to come yet.
Let’s let them play this out as we have yet to see all their plans. GM is not leaving NASCAR.
That doesn’t sound like a LT6 does it.
The car sounds good. I’ll watch the race, just to see this car.
NASCAR became hard to watch. I can’t exactly put a finger on it, but it’s unwieldy. Do the fans want it to be a road race series?