Corvette returns to Le Mans for the eighth time to challenge the worlds top sports cars. This year four C6R Corvettes are entered in the GT1 category. Two are from the US and two are headquartered in France. Corvette Racing will race their familiar Nr 63 C6R driven by O’Connell/Fellows/Magnussen and the Nr 64 driven by Gavin/Beretta/ Papis. Luc Alphand Adventures will race C6R Nr 72 driven by Alphand/Moureau/ Policand and the C6R Nr 73 driven by Blanchemain/Goueslard/Pasquali.
The four Corvettes will compete against six other GT1 cars this year, four Aston Martins, one Saleen and one Lamborghini. Two weeks before the 24 Hour race the organizers conduct a test session so the teams can fine-tune their tire and chassis setups. This provided teams with valuable information prior to the limited qualifying sessions that are available during race week.
This year the test session was held 1 June 2008 under mixed weather conditions. Rain covered parts of the circuit during most the testing. However, early on when the track was dry the Nr 009 Aston Martin DBR9 driven by David Brabham set the quickest time of 3:53.531. The closest anyone was able to get to this scorching lap was FIA Corvette driver Christophe Bouchut in a Saleen with a 3:55.383.
Next, was the Nr 64 Corvette, driven by Oliver Gavin with a 3:55.520 and Ron Fellows was a tick behind with a 3:55.877 in the Nr 63 Corvette. Sixth quickest in GT1 was the Nr 72 Luc Alphand Adventures C6R driven by Luc Alphand with a time of 4:00.633. The Nr 73 C6R driven by Blanchemain was 10th with a 4:11.258.
The Corvette teams reported that they gained valuable setup information from the wet and dry test session. The test will help them setup the cars properly for qualifying and for race day. Stay tuned to CorvetteMotorsport.com for the latest Le Mans Corvette race updated.
