Corvette Racing at Le Mans: The First Steps

Photo Credits: Corvette Racing

Six hours of trouble-free running on Test Day for trio of Corvettes

LE MANS, France (June 8, 2025) – The three Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs at the 24 Hours of Le Mans all declared themselves satisfied Sunday after six hours of running during the annual Test Day, setting the stage for the first official practice days later this week.

TF Sport and AWA completed both two-hour sessions with only small items to work through in the second year at Le Mans for the Corvette GT3.

Charlie Eastwood was the fastest Corvette driver on the day in TF Sport’s No. 81 Corvette that he drives with Rui Andrade and Tom Van Rompuy. Overall pace and ultimate laptime weren’t the goals for the trio of Corvettes, however. In-race procedures and systems checks were more important going into Wednesday’s three-hour Free Practice 1, which leads into the first qualifying session.

The TF Sport squad is going for its third class win at Le Mans, AWA is making its race debut, and the Corvette Racing program is attempting to score its 10th class victory in the race since 2001.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET / 4 p.m. CET on Saturday, June 14. MotorTrend will air the full race live in the U.S., with full live streaming coverage of all on-track sessions – including qualifying and Hyperpole – will be available through the MAX app in the U.S., and the FIA WEC app internationally. Radio Le Mans also will provide live streaming audio coverage of all sessions as well.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER TEST DAY QUOTES

DANI JUNCADELLA, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“We ticked off a lot of boxes. It’s very cool to be back at this place. It’s very special, and I still am kind of a rookie even though it’s my second year. It was good to have everything back on track, and our Corvette is pretty much in the right window. I’m confident we can get the best out of what we have right now, so let’s see.”

JONNY EDGAR, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“My first laps were actually in the safety-car procedure. The team wanted to put me in then since it’s a different procedure here. That as useful to understand how it works. And also it was quite good to see the track then, driving over some curbs slowly to get a bit of an idea before pushing. I just took it slow building up to the pace in a few corners. It’s a fun track and I enjoyed driving it. By the last four or five laps, I felt like I was starting to get close to the limit in a lot of areas. So I really enjoyed that and the car feels good.

“I think the in cornering speed, the LMP2 is probably faster than the Hypercars or very similar. So it’s more that they take long to pass on the straight. I think the track is so much longer that you probably see less traffic per lap, or you get blocked in the corners less here than you would on a normal track. So it’s it’s not too difficult to manage.”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“To get through a Le Mans Test Day without any extended time in the garage or on the back of a flatbed is a good Test Day. The team again has done an amazing job. I’d like to be middle of the pack, and I wish we were. There is a lot of energy, emotion and money that go into being here. It’s my hope that everyone can be competitive.”

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“Very much like a lot of events this year, internally our Test Day went very well. The pace from both Rui and Tom has been super-strong compared to the other Corvettes and the delta to myself. The car feels really good. We arrived with how we finished at the race last year, and it came out feeling great. The gap is too big, though, to the front guys that no setup change can bridge that gap.”

RUI ANDRADE, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“I felt a lot more confident coming into today knowing what to expect from the car on this track. We started Test Day with not a lot of information that we needed, so we could start pushing right from the get-go. The Corvette felt good and I felt confident right away. Obviously on the Test Day the track is a bit dirty, but from my experience in the past the track now seems really quick and times are already competitive. So I’m happy to have gotten back on track. Six hours looks like a lot of time on a schedule but once you get into the program it goes away pretty quick. I’m happy to get some testing done on both cars and we can now compare data from both cars to analyze where we can find time for qualifying and the race. Most importantly both cars ran faultlessly again and there were no issues from anyone, which is always a good sign.”

TOM VAN ROMPUY, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“Again this year there is a bit of familiarization to get into the rhythm of the track, let’s say. But straight out the car felt quite good in some parts of the track. For the moment, it looks like on the straights we lack a bit. But on the rest of the track the car feels great and I think we are in a good position. But hopefully we can find or make another step on overall speed.

(On being at Le Mans with carry-over people and equipment from 2024) “I think that’s a pretty big thing. Because you come here, you know the track, you know the team, you know your teammates. Nothing is actually brand new. So the confidence is there from Lap One or Lap Two. That helps mentally, too, in order to be in a really good place with a bunch of people who you know and are super-motivated, as well. So, I think that’s for sure a plus to do a second year with the full same team.”

MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“We’ve planned for this day for a long time. These guys know IMSA inside and out, but we’re still learning a lot of running at Le Mans and in WEC. I think we’re the only GTD team in IMSA to have no penalties so far this season, and we aim to get to that level of smoothness by the time we get to the race. Everyone is learning the very different regulations here, and it’s always harder to do it when it’s a hot session. It’s a huge learning day on that front, and the guys are getting on top of it really well. In racing there are a million different scenarios that can crop up; you can’t talk about a million otherwise it would take you 10 months to have the conversation! The learning side of things today has been good. We’ve been focusing on all the processes of things. We’ve been collecting laps and not done a lot of setup work. But we’ll do a big debrief with the TF and Corvette guys to come up with some improvements as we go into Wednesday. It’s a matter of collecting mileage and trying to work out the errors.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“Today was all about the comfort level and getting my bearings in the first couple of laps, just pushing deeper and deeper in the corners to figure it all out. I’d say the car was pretty decent to start with. There are always a few things to work on to make it a little better, and I know we will get there. I’m just happy to be here and super excited. Those first laps, driving my own car around here unlike last year… The team is on-point and it does feel like they’ve been here before. We’ll keep getting laps in, get this car dialed in 100 percent for the race and keep pushing and digging.”

LARS KERN, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“I’m just super happy that everything went smooth. It feels like the team has been here forever. Everything works really, really smooth and easy. And for us, it’s just about dialing things in. I’m not too stressed about pace or anything. It’s just about getting comfortable. So, yeah, we wanted to just ease in and soak up every second. The car feels great.

“Physically, it’s not the first laps we’ve done here but it’s the first laps we’ve done with the Corvette. And it feels good. Also knowing that the car already became like a fan-favorite this week is really cool. Let’s hope things keep performing well and see where we are in the next sessions this week.”

Source:

CorvetteRacing.com

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