DETROIT (Jan. 6, 2015) – Corvette Racing will head into the opening round of the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship with an impressive GTLM driver lineup for North America’s premier endurance race. Ryan Briscoe returns to the Corvette Racing camp for the second straight year while Simon Pagenaud will make his debut with the team at Daytona International Speedway.
Briscoe will share driving duties of the No. 3 Corvette C7.R with Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, and Pagenaud will join Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in the No. 4 C7.R at the annual Roar Before the 24 starting Jan. 9th. The Roar serves as a three-day test ahead of the 53rd Rolex 24 At Daytona and the start of the TUDOR Championship. In addition, Briscoe and Pagenaud will join the Corvette C7.R team at Sebring.
“Corvette Racing’s driver lineup for the Daytona and Sebring races represents a highly talented collection of drivers who are intensely focused on working together toward the common goal of winning,” said Mark Kent, Director, Chevrolet Racing. “Both Ryan and Simon are world-class drivers who know the kind of preparation, patience and skill needed to succeed in the top levels of endurance sports-car racing.”
Both Briscoe and Pagenaud are known for their successes in both open-wheel and sports car racing. Briscoe appeared in three events for Corvette Racing in 2014 – Daytona, Sebring and Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. The Aussie also made 18 stars in the Verizon INDYCAR Series with one top-five finish and 10 top-10s. He has seven IndyCar victories to his credit to go along with nine prototype wins in the American Le Mans Series.
Pagenaud also boasts a number of victories in both open-wheel and prototype competition. While competing in the IndyCar series, he won two races in 2013 and 2014, and finished third in the 2013 IndyCar championship.
Pagenaud signed with Team Penske and will drive a Chevrolet V6-powered IndyCar for the 2015 season. Previously, he spent four seasons in ALMS prototypes with nine victories as a factory driver.
The 2015 TUDOR United Sports Car Championship begins with the 53rd Rolex 24 at Daytona from Jan. 24-25 at Daytona International Speedway. Live timing and scoring from both the Roar Before the 24 and Rolex 24 at Daytona will be available at IMSA.com.
“It’s such a massive honor to be a part of the Corvette Racing program. To come back this year and be a part of the team for the endurance events, I’m really excited. We’re hoping the pace and everything is there that we need to have to win with one of the Corvettes. We really were strong last year and had a little bad luck. Everyone on the team is extremely hungry and I’m really looking forward to it.”
“It was definitely a new experience for me last year to be racing in the GT class. I thought it went really well. The team brought me on and gave me all the tools I needed to get up to speed and feel comfortable with the racecar. I feel like it’s a comfortable pairing with Antonio and Jan. I really felt like I got really good track time and could put down really good lap times to hold my own. Before you get into it, you really don’t know how it’s going to go. You just want to do your best.”
“Corvette is definitely an icon in American racing and as an American sports car. When I was racing with for another manufacturer, I always noticed the presence of the Corvette and Chevrolet fans. I’ve always said that Corvette Racing is a proper program – well put together with a very impressive presentation, great drivers and a fantastic team. The results speak for themselves. It’s great to be part of it now. It is definitely a very different experience compared to prototypes but I have some good experience in GT cars. I look forward to now being part of the family by driving for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing. The Corvette C7.R is a beautiful piece of machinery with a lot of high-tech development. It’s a great platform for the development of road cars and supercars.”
