The Corvette Racing teams didn’t exactly have the finish they’d hoped for at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans – the tough endurance race wasn’t kind to The Bow Tie brand, but both Vette racers at least managed to finish.
Combined, both Corvette Z06 GT3.R race cars – the No. 82 driven by Hiroshi Koizumi, Sebastien Baud, Daniel Juncadella, plus the No. 81 of Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrande, and Tom Van Rompuy – completed 545 laps (4,616 miles). It was the first stint at Le Mans for the new Vette race car, and it proved challenging for the TF-Sport fielded entries as weather and mechanical issues complicated things, including a four-hour-long safety car period as rains drenched the track, making it unsafe to race at speed.
The No. 82 Corvette Racing machine started 18th and muscled to an 11th-place result during the 24-hour endurance race in France. At around the seven-hour mark, however, clutch issues reared up, putting the Vette off the pace. The No. 82 Vette finished two laps down after a handful of minor miscues that took the race car off-track, but in all, its team was pleased with the result.
“We made it to the end, which is an amazing accomplishment,” said Juncadella. “We lost the clutch six or seven hours in, so that was quite insane. I’m very happy with the result considering some of the difficulties today. We got behind by three laps, but finished two laps back, so that is encouraging.”
His teammate, Baud, added, “We have finished Le Mans in the ‘Rookie Car’ with Dani [Juncadella] and Hiroshi [Koizumi]! So I am happy for this and it is good for my experience and to keep developing the Corvette. Of course I’m a competitor and I would have liked a better result in LMGT3. But P11 isn’t too bad.”
Meanwhile, the No. 81 Corvette Racing team finished 15th after their race car suffered a power system issue. While the problem was eventually fixed, the trio finished more than 10 laps down. Additionally, the No. 81 Corvette underwent a nose change during the first safety car period, which occurred around the eight-hour mark.
“We were just unlucky today, and this is how Le Mans is,” Andrande said. “It usually brings everything at you. I think we had a solid run – no mistakes by the drivers or teams. We weren’t the fastest car in the class, but we were definitely maximizing what we had. Unfortunately these things happen.”
It’s worth noting that Porsche earned the class win.
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Comments
Really not too bad for a first year car. It’ll be fun to watch the Corvette teams improve and become more competitive as time goes on.
Well, the “first year” Mustangs finished 3rd and 4th.
IMHO, they are trying to put a happy face on a dismal performance. It appears that the cars were slower than the competition and weren’t as reliable. Whether being slow was a BoP issue, driver talent or something else is hard to know.
Better luck next year.
And GM wants to race F1 .
The C8 isn’t anywhere near as competitive as the C7 and the C6 before it. Clutch issues, again…… still. And they thought the car would be a class leader if they imitated the other “mid-engine” designs. IMSA Race (sponsored by Chevy) at Detroit was another big failure for the C8 but that was offset by them winning the Pole on that horrific GoKart Track.
Any C7 or C6 competing among the current contenders would be even worse. The competition now is much better, the Corvettes were BOP’d to the point of having less pace on the straights which made it almost impossible to make up lost time. They also are no longer a factory backed team and likely are not getting the benefit of the deep pockets that factory teams enjoy. It is disingenuous to think those out of date chassis would be more competitive given the great differences in the new GT3 racing rules and big increase in very competent competitors now.
Mary will be happy when not a single Chevy has an internal combustion engine. All races will have to double time for pit stop charging.
Lot of shade being thrown in the car by the bucket brigade. Throwing water on a budding campfire is the mark of a marxist.
More clutch trouble. Maybe it’s time to go back to what works.
I was a little surprised when GM didn’t go with the ZF transmission. However, they rarely call me for my opinion on OEM suppliers.