Corvette at Le Mans

[Plasboy]

CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Dress Rehearsal for 20th Appearance Pair of Corvettes set for eight hours of running at famed Circuit de la Sarthe • Corvette Racing seeks ninth class victory in competitive GTE Pro category • Road America, Chevrolet simulator sessions part of intense preparation • Six Corvette Racing drivers with 19 combined Le Mans victories DETROIT (May 28, 2019) – Corvette Racing is back across the Atlantic once again for a landmark appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans – its 20th consecutive appearance at the historic French endurance race. Sunday’s annual Le Mans Test Day serves as a final dress rehearsal for the twice-around-the-clock race on June 15-16. It is the only time that Corvette Racing – and the rest of the 62-car field – can turn laps around the 8.48-mile Circuit de la Sarthe, a mixture of permanent race track and public roads. This is a landmark year at Le Mans for Corvette Racing. No team is on record as having made more than 20 consecutive appearances, and the program has won eight times in 19 tries. What’s more, Corvette Racing’s Le Mans record also includes eight runner-up class finishes and nearly 100,00 racing miles completed. That’s in addition to tens of thousands more miles in Le Mans testing and practice over the years on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, the preparation for a ninth victory has been a year-long process starting shortly after last year’s Le Mans with Corvette Racing’s pair of Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs. The most recent testing took place at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin over two days earlier this month plus sessions at the Chevrolet Simulator near Charlotte, North Carolina. Corvette Racing’s lineup is a carbon-copy of last year’s Le Mans roster and this season’s endurance group. Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller will drive the No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. The trio finished third in class at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring earlier this year in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. In addition, Garcia and Magnussen are coming off a runner-up finish in their last race at Mid-Ohio. In the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette, the trio of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler will team together at Le Mans for the third year in a row. Gavin and Milner have a third-place class finish to their credit at Long Beach in April. Le Mans is the final race in the FIA World Endurance Championship Super Season. There is a total of 17 entries from five manufacturers in the GTE Pro category. Each of the six Corvette Racing drivers own exemplary records at Le Mans: • Antonio Garcia: Three victories in 13 appearances– 2008, 2009 and 2011; runner-up in 2014; third place in 2017 • Jan Magnussen: Four victories in 20 appearances– 2004-06, 2009; runner-up in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2014; third place in 2017 • Mike Rockenfeller: Two victories in nine appearances– 2005 and 2010; third place in 2012 • Oliver Gavin: Five victories in 18 appearances – 2002, 2004-06, 2015; runner-up in 2003; third place in 2001 and 2008 • Tommy Milner: Two victories in 10 appearances– 2011 and 2015 • Marcel Fässler:Three victories in 13 appearances– 2011-12 and 2014 The 24 Hours of Le Mans will air live on the MotorTrend Network with coverage of the Test Day, practice/qualifying and the race on Radio Le Mans. ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “Year after year we have gone to Road America to test, so you can see how the C7.R has developed from the last year. You’ll know if you’ve made any improvements. Knowledge of the Michelin WEC tire is a big thing, and we learned a lot at Sebring in the FIA WEC race. Knowing that, we were able to focus a lot on that. Le Mans is always difficult to predict. Sometimes it can be hot with no rain at all and other years it’s cold and wet all race. We need to be prepared for everything. The good thing for Corvette Racing is we have the same car from past years and we have learned a lot each Le Mans. It’ll be another tight fight in GTE Pro.” JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “The way we are performing in the IMSA championship builds confidence for when we get to Le Mans. Everyone will arrive with high expectations. Everything needs to work that particular weekend. We’ve shown in IMSA that even when we are in a little bit of trouble, we can come together and get the best out of any situation. That’s what we need to do for Le Mans. From the beginning, everyone needs to be at 100 percent otherwise it’s too hard to win unless you are at your best.” MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “The Chevrolet simulator is a great tool from Corvette Racing to help prepare for Le Mans. It was nice. I drove a few laps in Elkhart Lake but it wasn’t easy because of the weather conditions. But I was able to go to the simulator to drive Road America for a little while, which was good to feel how realistic and close it is. Then we switched to Le Mans, which was the main target. Nowadays, simulators are so well-developed that you can really use it properly as a driver to prepare for racetracks or an event. The Chevrolet one, honestly, is a very good one. It is very close to reality, so we are able to truly prepare the Corvette for Le Mans.” OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “This season has been a season of what-ifs for Tommy and I on the No. 4 Corvette. There have been a number of races this year we’ve had the right strategy, the right car setup, we’ve been working well as a team… it seems like we’ve been able to unlock more speed from the car. That’s all encouraging and good. We seem to have a better understanding of this Michelin tire, and we can take that knowledge into Le Mans and try to use it wisely in our test weekend and preparations for the race.” TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “Having raced the C7.R at Le Mans for six years now, we’ve had the chance to improve it year on year. The last couple of years have given us a chance to more fine-tune things. With some of the work we’ve done this year, we’ll have the best Corvette we’ve ever had at Le Mans. In some ways, Le Mans is a bit routine but we are all eager to get there and see how we stack up against our competition. There is work to do; we haven’t been the fastest car there the last few years but that’s not for lack of trying. Everyone at Corvette Racing has done made an extra effort to improve our car in every way possible. So I’m eager to get to the Test Day and see how these changes perform. From my perspective we’re in a good place.” MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “It was good to be back in the Corvette at Road America. The only downside is that the weather was mostly against us. It wasn’t really fully raining nor was it dry; we had some mixed conditions which made it difficult to do a proper test. But I did get some running on the rain tires and on the second day with slick tires. This was still a good test though. At Le Mans, you can have these situations where there is rain coming down and then it starts to dry out. So the better you know the car in those conditions, the easier it is to adapt yourself in the race. So in that sense it was a successful test.” Corvette Racing at Le Mans (Wins in bold) 2000 No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel/Justin Bell – 4th in GTS No. 64 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 3rd in GTS 2001 No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Scott Pruett – 1st in GTS No. 64 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 2nd in GTS 2002 No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GTS No. 64 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 2nd in GTS 2003 No. 53 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Franck Freon – 3rd in GTS No. 50 Corvette C5-R: Oliver Gavin/Kelly Collins/Andy Pilgrim – 2nd in GTS 2004 No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Max Papis – 2nd in GTS No. 64 Corvette C5-R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GTS 2005 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Max Papis – 2nd in GT1 No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1 2006 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Max Papis – 7th in GT1 No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen - 1st in GT1 2007 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT1 No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Max Papis – 14th in GT1 2008 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT1 No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Max Papis – 3rd in GT1 2009 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GT1 No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Marcel Fässler – 4th in GT1 2010 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell/Antonio Garcia – 12th in GT2 (DNF) No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Emmanuel Collard – 10th in GT2 (DNF) 2011 No. 73 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTE Pro No. 74 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen/Richard Westbrook – 14th in GTE Pro (DNF) 2012 No. 73 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 5th in GTE Pro No. 74 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook - 6th in GTE Pro 2013 No. 73 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 4th in GTE Pro No. 74 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook – 7th in GTE Pro 2014 No. 73 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GTE Pro No. 74 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook – 4th in GTE Pro 2015 No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ryan Briscoe – DNS (Qualifying crash) No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Jordan Taylor – 1st in GTE Pro 2016 No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ricky Taylor – 7th in GTE Pro No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Jordan Taylor – 10th in GTE Pro (DNF) 2017 No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 3rd in GTE Pro No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 8th in GTLM 2018 No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 4th in GTE Pro No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 15th in GTE Pro (DNF) About Chevrolet Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world's largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found atwww.chevrolet.com. Ryan Smith Judy Kouba Dominick See what's happening on Team Chevy social sites

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[John]

Thanks Plasboy for finding/posting! Go C7.R’s!

[MikeC8]

Going for # 9 that’s amazing. I hope to see the C8R at Daytona next January. Fingers crossed. I wish I was a fly on the wall at Pratt Miller ...👍🏻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_4pYm7ZMG4

[John]

Thinking the chances of the C8.R racing at Daytons next January are between 99.9% and 100%.

[John]

Great LeMans news we just received from cor123.

The C7.R’s will be receiving a significant weight break, while the Porsches, the Ford GT’s and the BMW will be getting a weight increase. The Corvettes will be the lightest cars in the GTLM class.

Details thanks to Sportscar365 here: https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/...-test-day-bop/

[MikeC8]

Thinking the chances of the C8.R racing at Daytons next January are between 99.9% and 100%.

Yeah but what about Daytona .....😂 and I’m older then you.lol

[ABorC]

#LeMans24 #TestDay complete. We end up P1 (@m_rockenfeller) w/ the 63 #Corvette at 3:54.001 and P3 (@TommyMilner) w/ a 3:54.036 for the 64 #C7R. Overall pretty satisfied with how things went today.

[cor123]

Press Release:
Rockenfeller sets GTE Pro pace, Milner right behind in pair of Corvette C7.Rs

CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Leaving Test Day Satisfied
Rockenfeller sets GTE Pro pace, Milner right behind in pair of Corvette C7.Rs


LE MANS, France (June 2, 2019) – Ahead of its 20th consecutive appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Corvette Racing clicked off eight hours of running on the race's annual Test Day with its pair of Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs. Corvette Racing drivers were first and third in the 17-car GTE Pro category in the only running the Le Mans field will have before official practice and qualifying commence in 10 days.


Mike Rockenfeller was the quickest driver for Corvette Racing during the test session at 3:54.001 (130.240 mph) in the No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C7.R that he will drive with Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen. Perhaps no driver benefitted more from Sunday as Rockenfeller, who missed last year’s Test Day due to a previous commitment.


Teammate Tommy Milner was third-fastest with a lap of 3:54.036 (130.239 mph) in the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette that he shares with Oliver Gavin and Marcel Fässler.


Rockenfeller led a group of 12 GTE Pro cars within one second of each other, an astounding fact around an 8.4-mile circuit. Le Mans is a mix of permanent race track and public roads, and the Corvette Racing teams spent the entire eight hours tuning and setting up the two Corvette C7.Rs for handling and a solid race package – not necessarily ultimate outright pace.


The pair of Corvettes combined to complete 166 laps and covered more than 1,400 miles. The only issue was a minor mechanical one on the No. 64 Corvette C7.R that cost it a minimal amount of time in the garage. Other than that, the Test Day was fairly routine.


This is a landmark year at Le Mans for Corvette Racing. No team is on record as having made more than 20 consecutive appearances, and the program has won eight times in 19 tries. What’s more, Corvette Racing’s Le Mans record also includes eight runner-up class finishes and nearly 100,000 racing miles completed.


Le Mans is the final race in the FIA World Endurance Championship Super Season. There is a total of 17 entries from five manufacturers in the GTE Pro category.


Each of the six Corvette Racing drivers own exemplary records at Le Mans:


• Antonio Garcia: Three victories in 13 appearances– 2008, 2009 and 2011; runner-up in 2014; third place in 2017
• Jan Magnussen: Four victories in 20 appearances– 2004-06, 2009; runner-up in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2014; third place in 2017
• Mike Rockenfeller: Two victories in nine appearances– 2005 and 2010; third place in 2012
• Oliver Gavin: Five victories in 18 appearances – 2002, 2004-06, 2015; runner-up in 2003; third place in 2001 and 2008
• Tommy Milner: Two victories in 10 appearances– 2011 and 2015
• Marcel Fässler:Three victories in 13 appearances– 2011-12 and 2014


The 24 Hours of Le Mans will air live on the MotorTrend Network with coverage of practice, qualifying and the race on Radio Le Mans.

MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FASTEST IN GTE PRO: “It’s always good to be quick but as everyone knows, today doesn’t count. It counts on the Sunday when the flag drops and the race is over. Today was really good for me to get used back to the Corvette. Today I was able to get in a lot of laps and went through a lot of tires to get confidence, which helps. For me personally, I’m very happy. In the afternoon, the track conditions were where they should be so we were able to collect a lot of data. We are very happy with that.
“The Corvette C7.R is the exact same car from last year. In the end, we tried to establish a base setup. We did a little bit of tuning but not much - normal stuff like camber and dampers. Then we really tried to learn about the compounds we have available from Michelin. We tried to learn in which temperature window to use which tire. I was in that program, so that was quite nice!
“The GTE Pro class is really the place where there will be fights among the manufacturers just like years before. We’re all looking forward to that. It’s super hard, and you have to fight for every tenth of a second. There is no margin for error.”


TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – THIRD-FASTEST IN GTE PRO: “Overall, today was good for us. Like everyone here, you have a laundry list of items to go through… things that the engineers come up with that may work. This is our one opportunity to go through some of those options. We certainly found some good things in the Corvette. All of us drivers are generally happy with the car; there are always areas to improve. In the end, we’ve had a pretty smooth Test Day and we were able to check off a few boxes. Obviously we’re quick on the time chart now, but we’ve been in this position in years past when everything seemed to change come raceweek. We’ll focus on ourselves, figure out what’s good for us and see where we stand on raceweek.”


ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “Things were good today. This is one of the few years where weather respected the test, and the conditions were very consistent. Our running time was good; we were close to 100 laps. That means we have a lot of data to analyze. We definitely ran through all our program we had planned and then some. That’s always a good feeling. So I’m happy. We need to gather everything, see what we have, where we can improve and then put everything together for the race. Yes we were fastest today but I don’t think that means anything. I don’t know what the other teams are doing, so we need to wait until raceweek to see where everything is exactly. This is a good starting point. We all hope the package we bring to the race will be enough.”


JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “It isn’t at all important to be quick on the Test Day. We are here testing and going through our program, including knowing the WEC Michelin tires a little better. For us on the 63 Corvette, getting to know the tires at the WEC race at Sebring was a little bit of an advantage. But this is only our second time so we still have a lot to learn. So far so good. I think everyone is pretty happy. We didn’t have any issues on our Corvette throughout the day, which is good. We shouldn’t because this is such a well-proven car.”


OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “It was a pretty good day for us. We got quite a lot covered with Michelin and our WEC tire. We worked through our program well, I think. There was a small issue in the middle of the day where we lost some time. But once we got on top of that, we fell back into our program. There were a number of slow zones and yellow flags that impede the process you are trying to go through. But we did get a lot done. You could throw a blanket over everyone in our class. No one is out of this race and everyone will be in with a chance at winning. We have to be smart and see what the race week brings.”


MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: "It was quite good to be back in the car. I immediately felt good and was good on pace. The Chevy simulator tests we had recently helped a lot in being quick straight away. But today was all about finding a good rhythm and testing different things for the race, try to find the limits, work on the Corvette to tune it in to the circumstances and collect data for next week. All in all I felt pretty good in the car. We can be happy with the work we did today."

[John]

Great news cor123! Thank you very much. Of course all now worry (not paranoia but based on past years’ experience), that some of our competitors could have been sandbagging and also that since we did well on test day, that we will be handed a weight penalty or similar. Hope we are pleasantly surprised this time around.

[C8Driving]

Thank you cor123. I enjoyed reading the driver’s comments. I like where we are now.

[MidEngine]

Thank you cor.

[Plasboy]

More background info. 24 Hours of Le Mans – How are the 62 garages allocated?

At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, each car has its own garage in the pit lane. On what basis are they allocated? Automobile Club de l’Ouest operations manager Anthony Riaudel spills the beans.

© JEAN PIERRE ESPITALIER (ACO)



Pit lane organisation is vital to the smooth-running of race-related operations and is well worth getting just right! Garage allocation is determined to ensure the four classes cohabit successfully. Operations manager Anthony Riaudel is in charge of operations. “Some teams have the same box year after year. Ford, Porsche and Aston Martin, for example. Then it’s a game of musical chairs depending on who wants what”, he explains.

Some teams prefer to be at pit in or pit out, but most have no particular preference. “This year I only had four or five specific requests.” Last year’s winning team Toyota Gazoo Racing likes to be at pit in “because of their refuelling and timing set-up".

This year it took three days to set up the 62-car paddock

Anthony Riaudel, ACO operations manager
The team hospitality structures also influence the decision. “I make sure teams have their facilities as close as possible to their box. It means they don’t have to walk miles. Also, if a team has a hospitality viewing box, we make sure it is the one above their garage."

In the working paddock, where teams park their trucks, special rules apply. We ask them to put a canopy at the end to form a nice straight line. This year it took three days to set up the 62-car paddock.

During Le Mans 24 Hours week, the pit lane is open to the public several times. First on 11 June from 17:00 to 18:30 for the autograph session. Then on Wednesday 12 June, from 10:00 to 15:00 for Pit Walk ticket holders. Lastly, on Friday 14 June from 10:00 to 20:00 for General Enclosure ticket holders.

PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES DU MANS, THURSDAY 30 MAY 2019, TEST DAY. The 43 teams have set up camp in the paddock for Test Day and will remain on site until the race is over.

https://www.lemans.org/en/news/24-ho...llocated/51750

Charley Robertson

[John]

Thanks Plasboy! Lots of good info there. Maybe garage # 56 would be a C8 (jj).