The Chevrolet Corvette C7.R is a

grand tourer A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination of performance and luxury attributes. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either ...

racing car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

built by

Pratt & Miller Pratt Miller Engineering, also known as Pratt & Miller, is an American company involved in the automotive and arms industries. It was founded by Gary Pratt and Jim Miller in 1989. A defense division was added in 2013 and the company was acqu ...

and

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

for competition in endurance racing between 2014 and 2019. It is a replacement for the Corvette C6.R racing car, using the C7 generation

Chevrolet Corvette The Chevrolet Corvette is a two-door, two-passenger luxury sports car manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet since 1953. With eight design generations, noted sequentially from C1 to C8, the Corvette is noted for its performance and distinctive ...

as a base. The C7 road car was noted to incorporate development from the Corvette C6.R, thus those properties also carry over to the race car. The

Corvette Racing Corvette Racing is an American auto racing team established in 1999 by General Motors and Pratt & Miller for the purposes of competing in sports car racing internationally. Corvette Racing is an official racing program for General Motors and t ...

C7.R raced in the

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class.

Development

The Corvette C7.R had its official unveiling at the 2014 NAIAS in Detroit. The car made its first testing appearance, in camouflage, at the Rolex Motorsports Union at the

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and M ...

track. The car's new livery and details were revealed on January 13, 2014.

Successes

2014

In its first year the C7.R competed in a field of 12 cars in a season that included eleven races. The C7.R won four races in a row in the middle of the season (Long Beach, Laguna Seca, Watkins Glen and Canadian Tire Motorsports Park). After that point no more first place victories accrued to Corvette, but the #4 Corvette, driven by Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, accumulated enough points to finish second place in total team points for the season. Because of consistent performance throughout the season, Magnussen and Garcia placed first in the Driver Championship with 125 points. They were followed by the BMW team of Dirk Müller and Joey Hand while third place driver points went to the other Corvette team of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner.

2015

In 2015 the field of competitors dropped to ten, and the number of events also was reduced to ten. Corvette Racing had a total of three wins in the C7.R. The 2015 season started out well for the C7.R as the car won the first two North American Endurance Cup races at the 53rd Rolex 24 at Daytona in January and the 63rd Annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring two months later driven by Jan Magnussen, Ryan Briscoe, and Antonio Garcia in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship. But neither Corvette finished better than third place for the remainder of the season. The C7.R finished the season in third place behind the

Porsche 911 RSR The Porsche 911 RSR and its predecessor GT3 RSR, GT3 RS and GT3 R are a line of GT racing cars produced by Porsche that are used in motorsport for endurance races. They are based on the currently highest class in GT racing worldwide, the GTE cla ...

and

BMW Z4 GTE The BMW Z4 GTE is a racing car which competed in the sports car races such as the American Le Mans Series, Tudor United SportsCar Championship and European Le Mans Series. It competed from 2013 to 2015 and was replaced in 2016 by the M6 GTLM. ...

and ahead of the

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 The Ferrari 458 Italia (Type F142) is a mid-engine sports car produced by Ferrari. The F458 is the successor of the F430, and was first officially unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. It was succeeded by the 488 GTB (Gran Turismo Ber ...

. The Corvette C7.R scored its first Le Mans win at the

2015 24 Hours of Le Mans The 83rd 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 83e 24 Heures du Mans) was an 24-hour automobile endurance event for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 10 to 14 June 2015 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, close ...

, with Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, and Jordan Taylor driving the #64 Corvette to victory in the GTE-Pro class. It is also Corvette Racing's 8th win at the circuit. Corvette Racing won endurance racing's infamous "triple crown" with wins at the 24 hours of Daytona, 12 hours of Sebring, and the 24 hours of Le Mans all in the same year.

2016

Ahead of the season, the car received an update, which included a new diffuser, to comply with the new for 2016 Group GTE regulations, aimed at increasing the performance of the class. On the car's inaugural race of the year, the 2016 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, the Corvette racing team scored a class win with a photo finish between the numbers 3 and 4 cars, driven by Oliver Gavin and Antonio Garcia. The cars finished .034 seconds apart from one another. In that year, the Corvette C7.R scored its second 12 Hours of Sebring win with car #4 driven by Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler in the GTLM Class. The C7.R did poorly in the

2016 24 Hours of Le Mans The 84th 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 84e 24 Heures du Mans) was a 24-hour automobile endurance racing event held for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars from 15 to 19 June 2016 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, ...

, qualifying last in the GTE Pro category and finishing the race 7th and 10th in the GTE-Pro class. The #4 Corvette C7.R went on to win the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship in the GTLM class. They won the drivers', team, and manufacturers' championship, as well as the North American Endurance cup. Corvette Racing also claimed its milestone 100th win for the team with its first-place finish at Lime Rock in the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship series.

2017

Twelve teams competed in the GTLM class for the 2017 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship including four Ford GT entries. The C7.R enjoyed another successful year in 2017 with first place victories at Sebring, COTA, Long Beach, and VIR. The #3 Corvette driven by Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen, and Mike Rockenfeller went on to wing the drivers', team, and manufacturers' championship—a repeat of the 2016 season sweep for Corvette Racing. The #4 Corvette driven by Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, and Marcel Fassler took second place honors.

2018

The field of GTLM teams declined to nine for the 2018 season. Of the eleven races, one or the other Ford GT placed first in five races, one or the other Porsche placed first in three races, one of the BMWs placed first in two races, and the #4 Corvette earned a single first-place finish at Long Beach. The #3 Corvette, without winning a race, accumulated enough points to edge out the #67 Ford GT for the team championship—a "three peat". Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen secured 8 podium finishes out of the 11 race season—a consistency that had become a hallmark of Corvette Racing. The 2018 GTLM scoring was tighter than it had been for the previous four years—a margin of victory of only 6 points. The #3 Corvette finished the season with first place points, followed by the #67 Ford GT in second place and the #4 Corvette in third place.

2019

This was the final year of IMSA competition for the C7.R, another year when nine teams would compete. With an aging platform, neither Corvette team achieved a first-place finish in any race in 2019. Of the 11 races, the #3 Corvette team finished second place three times and third place three times, accumulating enough points to tie the #911 Porsche for second place in the GTLM class of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Debuts in auto shows

The Corvette C7.R was first unveiled at the 2014 North American International Auto Show. It was also a competitor at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Results summary

2014 United Sportscar Championship

GT Le Mans Teams Championship

GT Le Mans Manufacturers' Trophy

2015 United Sportscar Championship

GT Le Mans Teams Championship

GT Le Mans Manufacturers' Trophy

2015 FIA World Endurance Championship

Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams

2016 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship

GT Le Mans Teams Championship

GT Le Mans Manufacturers' Trophy

2016 FIA World Endurance Championship

Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams

2017 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship

GT Le Mans Teams Championship

GT Le Mans Manufacturers' Trophy

2018 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship

GT Le Mans Teams Championship

GT Le Mans Manufacturers Championship

2019 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship

GT Le Mans Teams Championship

GT Le Mans Manufacturers Championship

Gallery

File:2014 Chevrolet Corvette C7R.jpg, At the 2019 Chantilly Concours d'Elegance File:FoS20162016 0624 123543AA (27608392390).jpg, The Chevrolet Corvette C7.R at the 2016

Goodwood Festival of Speed The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hillclimbing, hill climb and other events, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, in l ...

File:Larbre Corvette Shanghai 2015 (cropped).jpg, The Chevrolet Corvette C7.R at the 2015 6 Hours of Shanghai. File:Team AAI - Chevrolet Corvette C7-Z06 -57 (27726961561) (cropped).jpg, The Chevrolet Corvette C7.R at the

References

External links

Corvette RacingCorvette Motorsport
*https://carys-corvettes.blogspot.com/2020/02/corvette-c7r-legacy.html {{WEC cars 2016 C7.R Grand tourer racing cars 24 Hours of Le Mans race cars LM GTE cars