Corvette wins the Pro-Am class at 24-hour race in Belgium

The Johor racing team from Malaysia won the Pro-Am class on June 28 at the renowned 4.35-mile Formula 1 Spa Francorchamps circuit nestled in the Ardennes Forest in eastern Belgium.

The # 0 Z06 GT3.R was driven by royal brothers Prince Jefri Ibrahim and Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim, teamed up with pros Ben Green (UK) and Jordan Love (AU).  They were ecstatic with the outcome to say the least.

This landmark win was the first for Corvette Racing in the world’s biggest event in the SRO IGT series for GT3 race cars, (no prototypes).  Sixty-nine cars took part in total, divided into Bronze, Gold, Pro, Pro-Am and Silver classes. The JMR Corvette prevailed in Pro-Am over AMG Mercedes, Aston Martin, Audi, Ferrari and Porsches fielded among 9 other teams.

Starting 9th out of 10 in Pro-Am and serving an early-race penalty, the # 0 Corvette moved up to 5th after six hours and 2nd by halfway, just off the lead lap.  Green and Love, the two highest rated drivers, combined to finish first, completing 531 laps, setting the fastest speed in Pro-Am (114.36 mph) and mastering several re-starts after safety-car periods.

The # 24 Z06 GT3.R Corvette fielded by Steller Motorsports from the UK finished seventh in the Gold class, also consisting of 10 cars. The team recovered from a mechanical problem early in the race and survived some bumping in the later going.  

Dennis Lind (Dane), Antione Doquin (FR), Mikkel Pedersen (Dane) and Lenny Ried (GER) combined to complete 485 laps racing against Audi, BMW, Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche.

Photo credit: GT World Challenge Europe