Rain and bad luck hit TF Sport hard on the Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of The Americas. The team’s pair of Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs finished outside the top-10 and as a result the points in the lone North American stop of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The No. 81 Corvette of Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom Van Rompuy was the highest-finishing TF Sport entry after six hours of rainy racing. Corvette gained eight spots during a nearly two hours of running behind the safety car and a red-flag stoppage due to an issue with one of the safety cars. However, the 81 trio saw its two-race podium streak come to an end with a 13th-place finish. Van Rompuy led early following the early rainy-race turmoil, but the team lost time in the pitlane having to replace a sensor on the Corvette’s accident data recorder – an FIA-mandated and supplied device – that cost Andrade nearly a lap in the process once the driver change and service finished. The team had elected to run Van Rompuy deep into the stint in hopes of catching a virtual safety car period.

Problems also bit the No. 33 Z06 GT3.R of Daniel Juncadella, Jonny Edgar and Texan Ben Keating. Following a strong qualifying effort and a gain of three spots under the early safety-car period, the entry experienced fuel system and restart issues on the first driver exchange between Keating and Edgar.

From that point, both the TF Corvettes were in catch-up mode. The No. 33’s race ended inside the final two hours with a right-rear suspension problem that ground the car to a halt with Juncadella at the wheel. For the moment, the No. 81 was at a drivetime disadvantage due to the earlier sensor failure. Factory driver Eastwood was one of the last professional drivers to get in the race, and a switch to slick tires with 34 minutes left did nothing to close the gap to the field.