Closer to many US hearts Corvette Racing won the 24 Hours of Le Mans again! In the only GT class remaining – GTE AM – Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating and Nico Varrone drove the No. 33 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to the program’s ninth class victory at Le Mans and first for the mid-engine Corvette sports car. Each of the three had spent time in the simulator alongside Antonio Garcia and Tommy Milner from Corvette Racing’s IMSA program in the lead up to the 24 Hours. The victorious trio won for the third time this season in the FIA World Endurance Championship increasing its points to 133 – a lead of 59t with three events and 91 hours of racing remaining in the season.

“Le Mans is a track where you cannot test,” said Varrone prior to the race. “You go there once a year for one test day and then the race week starts. It’s really difficult to get laps in and everything nailed for the race. So these sims sessions make it easier to establish a baseline. From this, we can work on the car as the track develops, the weather gets warmer and other things. There aren’t so many big changes to make because you know what to use from the start. Between the sim and the experience of Corvette Racing at Le Mans, we are in a great place to start and work from there to get the best car possible for the race.”

A large contingent of IMSA drivers and teams throughout the three primary classes at Le Mans were known to stateside audiences. The NASCAR Garage 56 driven by Jimmie Johnson, Jenson Button and Mike Rockenfeller in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet delighted the crowd and the Eurosport Announcers since it was fast on track, consistently putting down lap times that bettered cars in the GT class. The car ran near the top of the GT field for more than 20 hours until a driveline issue sidelined the team for more than an hour. Overall, the car was running at the finish, completed 285 laps on the 8.4-mile circuit and finished 39th in the 62-car field.