Corvette Racing had a very successful day testing at the Le Mans. The #64 C8.R Corvette finished the day at the top of the GTE Pro class with a best lap of 3:54.001 around the 8.45-mile Circuit de la Sarthe at Le Mans.

Alexander Sims setting the best time for the Test Day

This is likely to be Corvette Racing’s final year of competing at Le Mans as the Class in which they compete won’t be around in 2023. Corvette Racing has won its class eight times since 2001 and has competed every year at Le Mans since 2000 apart from 2020 for logistical reasons caused by the pandemic.

The#64 C8.R full-season FIA WEC entry Corvette competing at Le Mans – which is the third round of this year’s FIA WEC World Endurance Championship calendar – is desperate to win as the race scores double points in the championship. Alexander Sims set the fastest time having flown overnight from Jakarta in Indonesia where the previous day he was competing in the Formula-E Championship. Alexander is joining season regulars Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy in the #64.

The other Corvette C8.R the #63 is also competing at Le Mans and the regular IMSA WeatherTech Championship drivers Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor were joined by Nicky Catsburg who arrived from Paul Ricard in the South of France having competed in the 1,000-kilometer race the previous day. All three drivers needed to re-familiarise themselves with the GTE Pro spec. C8.R compared with GTD Pro spec. C8.R they drive in the IMSA championship. The GTE spec. car has more power, no ABS, and a Corvette-specific Michelin tire over the GTD spec. C8.R with ABS and the Michelin control tire is common to all of the cars in the GTD field in IMSA.

All seven cars in the GTE Pro Class set best lap times within 0.5 seconds of each other, the Corvettes bookended the GTE Pro Class with the two factory Porsches and the three Ferraris in between. Interestingly one of the Ferraris – the #74 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo – being run by Riley Motorsports is backed by Bee Safe Storage and Wine Cellar based in North Carolina owned by Roy Carroll.

Both Corvettes will return to the track on Wednesday and Thursday for the start of Free Practice and Qualifying with four sessions plus the Hyperpole half-hour on Thursday evening. The 24 Hours of Le Mans starts on Saturday 11th of June at 4 p.m. CET (10 a.m. Eastern Time) and it will be broadcast live in the USA on MotorTrend TV and radio coverage is also available on Radio Le Mans.