Corvette closes on LM return
Chevrolet has given the clearest indication yet that it will be back at the Le Mans 24 Hours this year by entering the 2021 World Endurance Championship opener at the Algarve circuit next month.
Corvette Racing will field a solo C8.R in the eight-hour race in Portugal over the Easter weekend to be driven in GTE Pro by Oliver Gavin and Antonio Garcia. It looks set to be the first of two appearances in the WEC ahead of Le Mans in June.
A rejig of the IMSA Sportscar Championship calendar means that the mid-engined ’Vette will not be in action in North America after this month’s Sebring 12 Hours until the end of June. That would appear to leave the way clear for at least one Chevy to race at the Spa round on 1 May.
“There will be more to say shortly,” said a Corvette spokesman after the Algarve entry list was revealed last week. “Not everything is in place, but it’s all positive stuff.”
Chevrolet appears to be awaiting clarification on the 2021 WEC calendar at a time when the world health crisis is still raising question marks over the viability of the opening races, Le Mans included, on their current dates. The Pratt & Miller-run Corvette squad withdrew from last year’s 24 Hours when the revised IMSA schedule made its participation untenable.
This isn’t the first time that the General Motors marque has put in an appearance in the WEC outside of its annual foray to Le Mans, which until last year was unbroken since 2000. It fielded a Corvette C7.R at the Shanghai and Sebring rounds of the 2018-19 season, contested last year’s Austin fixture with the C8.R, and would have raced in this month’s Sebring 1000 Miles had the race not been cancelled.
Gavin’s return to the cockpit of a Corvette isn’t a surprise. It was made very clear last year that he was only standing down from the full-time line-up.
Former DTM driver Ferdinand Habsburg is remaining with the WRT squad for its expansion into the WEC this year. The Austrian, who completed his second season in the DTM with the Belgian squad last year, will race its LMP2 ORECAGIBSON 07. Charles Milesi, who raced in Super Formula last year, has also been confirmed in the line-up alongside the already-announced Robin Frijns.