WEC title still within reach for Corvette after 7th round in Spain

The TF Sport # 33 Z06 GT3.R Corvette piloted by Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Jonny Edgar is still in the lead for the title having finished 7th in LMGT3 class after 6 hours of racing.

Slicks were needed as the track dried out in the first hour but Keating got held up by pit traffic during 3 laps and lost time running on clunky rain tires.

Race strategy was also disrupted when Edgar served a 10-second drive-thru penalty for bumping a Mercedes; and for extra stints vs stopping for a sudden caution flag would fall short of his minimum driving time.  Who says rules are simple these days?

 The Team Turkey by TF Corvette # 34 Z06 GT3.R Corvette piloted by Charlie Eastwood, Salih Yoluc and Peter Dempsey fared better to place 4th, just shy of its second straight podium finish.

It helped that Pit strategy for the # 34 Corvette went as planned (vs for the # 33).

Discovering the optimum set-up also helped both Corvettes qualify in the top 10 however rapid tire degradation slowed their pace from the winning team Manthey # 92 Porsche 911 GT3.R piloted by Yasser Shahin, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz.

It so happens that the 2.91-mile track, known as the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in the municipality of Montmeló is entangled in a long-running quest to succeed from Spain.  Now Spain in October is hosting Qatar’s WEC opening round that was postponed from March to escape bullets flying around the Persian Gulf.

Heading into the finale at Monza on November 6, the yellow # 33 Corvette leads the LMGT3 standings by 18 points over the # 92 Porsche while the deep red # 34 Corvette stands third, 22 points behind its sister car.