Corvette C6.R is AMLMS' most successful car.
Saturday’s American Le Mans Series Monterey marks the beginning of the 50th anniversary celebration of Corvette’s first appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The six-hour race will start at 2:30 p.m. PT and televised by CBS Sports on May 29 at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Chevrolet will honor its rich racing history with a special Corvette Legends of Le Mans display at Laguna Seca, and legendary racing drivers Dick Thompson and Dick Guldstrand will attend the race.
California was central to Corvette racing from its earliest days. Corvettes ran on the streets of Pebble Beach until racers found a permanent home with the construction of Laguna Seca Raceway in 1957. Legendary drivers such as John Fitch, Dick Thompson, Dick Guldstrand, Bob Bondurant, among others, enhanced their reputations racing Corvettes in the Golden State.
Chevy designers have also created a unique 2011 Corvette Z06 to celebrate.
Chevrolet designers have also created a unique 2011 Corvette Z06 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Corvette racing at Le Mans. This one-of-a-kind Corvette (VIN 0001) features the same blue and white color scheme as the 1960 Corvette that won its class at Le Mans 50 years ago, and will be sold at auction later this year to benefit the National Corvette Museum.
“For many years we have talked about the legacy of Corvette Racing and the role that the team plays in Corvette’s history,” said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan.
“The reason this is important today is because of the strong foundation that people like Dick Thompson, Dick Guldstrand, Zora Arkus-Duntov, and many others built for Corvette. They set the bar high, and they accomplished so much with so little,” Fehan said.
After the race, the series’ most successful team will be off to France with the Compuware Corvette C6.R racecars, where they will compete in arguably the world’s most famous sports car race on June 12-13.
Winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been the primary objective of the racing program.
“Winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been the primary objective of the Corvette Racing program since its inception, but of equal importance is winning the ALMS GT manufacturers championship,” Fehan added.
“We’re going to Laguna Seca with two clearly defined targets – to race hard in pursuit of our first ALMS victory in 2010, and to hone the entire team for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“There is not a tremendous amount of technical information that will carry over from Laguna Seca to Le Mans because the tracks are so different. However, it will be valuable to gather more data under actual race conditions for six hours. The GT version of the Corvette C6.R is still a relatively new package, so we are still on the learning curve,” Fehan said.
As the only American to win his class four times at Le Mans, Corvette Racing driver Johnny O’Connell understands the impact of the world’s greatest sports car race. “There is nothing that can duplicate Le Mans and the challenges it presents, but a six-hour rehearsal at Laguna Seca will certainly help to prepare us,” he said. “It’s a tight and technical race track that is going to challenge us athletically.
“The No. 3 Compuware Corvette has been in position to win at Laguna Seca over the last few years, but we’ve always had some bad breaks. Jan (Magnussen) and I feel that track still owes us a win. We’re looking at this event as an important part of our ALMS season. We want to run strong and get points,” O’Connell said.