The NASCAR Garage 56 Project will see a race-prepared Next Gen Chevy Camaro ZL1 take the green flag in the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time – and now, the race car has completed its testing phase ahead of its endurance racing debut.
The Garage 56 Camaro wears the No. 24 on its doors appropriately, and features a star-studded lineup of drivers ready to take the wheel at Le Mans. All four drivers – including NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, F1 legend Jensen Button, Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller and IMSA veteran Jordan Taylor – participated in the Camaro’s final test at Sebring. The test served to iron out any remaining bugs and issues ahead of Le Mans, as well as to practice pit stops and driver changes.
“I feel really good about it,” Johnson said in a statement. “We’ve put in many hours, a lot of work, a lot of collaboration and I feel like we’re in a really good spot. This has been a great test this week, really just working on the small details literally down to things like what color are the buttons on the steering wheel and is the black light inside the car bright enough in the right areas that we can see the dayglow buttons to push at the right time.”
The Garage 56 Camaro is fielded by Hendrick Motorsports (HMS), and team owner Rick Hendrick made the trek to Florida to oversee the Sebring run.
“Now we’ve got to go do it,” Hendrick said. “There’s a tremendous amount of pride in this from our organization, Goodyear, Chevrolet, NASCAR, IMSA. You don’t have to talk to [NASCAR CEO] Jim France very long to know what this means to him. And I was honored he asked us to do this.”
The 2023 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is scheduled on June 10th through 11th.
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Comments
I am looking forward to seeing the NASCAR Camaro this June! With the great selection of drivers and race-prepped Chevy #56 should do well!
Best of luck to the Camaro team, also The Corvette and Cadillac teams.
How exactly is this the “ Next Gen Camaro ZL-1” The car is being put out to the pasture once again by the woke GM. They have put all there eggs in the EV basket and will suffer the consequences
They mean Next Gen ZL1, as in the NASCAR Next Gen Cars
Drive train design is the secret we all want to know about in detail. LS3+elec? Nascar 358 OHV+elec,? TT V6+elec? Rear mounted elec motor & trans or attached to the trans, flywheel, or in front from a Vette. There are so many combinations one could go mad trying to figure it out from the computer screen and listening to the video. Would love to watch a total reveal video before the race. If managed correctly could help Corvette, Cadillac and other US Mfg. interest in Le Mans.
This is totally unrelated to the article but I’m hoping you guys know something I don’t. I just ordered a 2023 2SS with the 1LE package. It’s a 6 speed in red hot. When the dealership submitted the order, GM confirmed that those options were accepted and available but apparently that doesn’t mean they’ll pick up the build. I know they’re not taking orders for ZL1’s anymore. What are my chances of GM actually building it, given the car is basically finished? Thanks.