Four (4) C8 Z06 GT3R Corvettes debut in IMSA’s biggest race, the Daytona 24

GM introduced four of its newly developed C8 Z06 GT3R, built by Pratt & Miller and entered by 2 customer teams at IMSA’s 24 hours of Daytona on January 27/28.

59 cars from 11 manufacturers and 228 drivers from 32 countries converged on Daytona International Speedway for “the Superbowl” of professional sports car racing.

The # 3 & # 4 Corvettes fielded by the Pratt & Miller team from New Hudson, MI is an offshoot of GM’s wildly successful Corvette Racing team.  Their pro drivers scored 5th and 8th out of 13 cars entered in the GTD PRO class.

Of note, the Z06 GT3 is a new design package in the GTD PRO class that edged out Ford’s new Mustang “Dark Horse” GT3.

The # 13 & # 17 Corvettes fielded by the AWA team from Caledon Ontario Canada were felled by electrical and power steering problems that forced their cars to retire.  Their amateur & pro-rated drivers were classified 21st and 18th out of a whopping 23 cars entered in the GTD class.

2 more C8 Z06 GT3R Corvettes will soon debut with the TF team from Slinfold, West Sussex, England for the WEC series overseas that includes the 24 hours of Le Mans. They will run on Goodyear Eagle tires vs Michelin for the IMSA series.

And 2 more C8 Z06 GT3R Corvettes will debut with the DXDT team from Statesville, NC running on Pirelli rubber in the SRO World Challenge series of shorter duration races at circuits in the US.

  Given the huge fields, consistency over the entire season is critical. GM created a special group to supply parts and technical advice to the Corvette customer teams over the course of the year. 

Both the Pratt & Miller team Corvettes suffered engine gremlins but the cars were fixed in time and ran in the top 3 through 12 hours, only to be set back to repair front brakes & suspension plus a leaky oil tank.

The # 62 Ferrari 296 GT2 entered by the stalwart Risi team from Houston TX won the GTP PRO class, supported by Ferrari. 

Coming up next are the opening WEC race on March 2-3 at Qatar in the Persian Gulf, followed by IMSA’s Sebring 12 hour-race on March 13-16.

Photos courtesy of Kevin Bowman, Mike Waal

Pre race & race 13 minute video: https://youtu.be/O6AVfbWBlLw