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Corvette C8.R is only slightly faster in GTE specs than GT3


Image for article titled Corvette C8.R is only slightly faster on GTE specs than GT3

Image: Racing Corvette

In case you were busy with other things this weekend and didn’t pay attention to the racing, there were some big races happening. down to Sebring, Florida. Super Sebring weekend includes the opening round of the FIA ​​WEC on Fridaycalled 1000 Miles of Sebring, and the second round of the IMSA championship on Saturday, called 12 Hours of Sebring. In the GT rankings, only one car qualified to compete in both races, despite running two different specs, the Corvette C8.R.

For a bit of backstory here, the Corvette C8.R is built to GTE class specifications and launches in 2020.. That means the car qualifies to compete in the FIA’s GTE Pro category and the IMSA’s GTLM class. For the 2022 season, however, IMSA has scrapped the GTLM class in favor of a dedicated version of its existing GTD class, which runs to GT3 specs, called GTD Pro. The GTE Pro were soldiers in the FIA ​​competition, but Corvette still wanted to race in IMSA, so it lobbied the series to allow it to run a scrapped version of the C8.R GTE car in the GTD Pro. Since the GTD-spec car has only debuted this year, there won’t be a chance to compare the two until later this week. Same weekend, same route, same weather conditions and two different specs of the same car. How do they compare?

Image for article titled Corvette C8.R is only slightly faster on GTE specs than GT3

Image: Racing Corvette

There is no better comparison than the almighty passage of time. It was clear from the start that the GTE Pro car would be faster in a lap of the Sebring International Circuit, but by how much faster remains unclear. It seems the answer is about two and a half second.

In Thursday’s qualifying session for the WEC race, the GTE Pro Corvette ran in a lap time of 1:57,696, good enough to finish third on the grid, less than half a second behind the Porsche at the pole. During the race, the same Corvette had a lap with a best time of 1:57,734. Although it was slower than the Porsches in qualifying, it really managed lap times in the fastest race in its class.

On Friday, the elimination session for the IMSA-approved 12-hour race, The GTD Pro-classified Corvette C8.R takes third place in the classification at 1:59,957. The race went very smoothly for the Corvette crew, with the yellow 3 taking the win in 12 hours and setting a lap time of 2:01,413 in the process. The team’s driver Nicky Catsburg set that time, just good enough for the GTD Pro’s fourth-fastest lap.

All in all, GTE-spec cars offer a lot more force and a little less power than GT3 cars. To convert the Corvette to GTD, the Pratt and Miller team were also allowed to install driver aids like ABS, but forced to run an unimproved package and a less restrictive V8. There are also differences in the tires and fuel used in IMSA from those used under FIA control. GT3 continues to get faster each year, and much of the GTE development is over. Consider, if you will, that the extreme GTD time for the Sebring race held in 2014 is 2:04.258.

So, what does all this mean? Well, for me that means GTE is dead and GT3 is the future. It could mean the same for Chevrolet, as the company is building a new spec C8-based GT3 racer for 2024. It also means for the FIA, because that series is on the way. kills off the GTE category to replace the specification-based GT3 in 2024, although it has recently been suggested that it could make a change in 2023 if demand is there.

I salute our new GT3 lords. Of course, I called immediately GTE’s death almost two years agoso of course I will say that.



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