As the current Corvette Racing program comes to a close, it is satisfying to know that the 2023 FIA World Endurance Champion (WEC) team finished its season on a high note as they completed an eight-hour WEC race in Bahrain. Although the team finished in a disappointing seventh place in class at the final race of the season, their combined victories at the FIA WEC season-opening 1000 Miles of Sebring, the 8 Hours of Portimao, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, combined with their second-place finish at Spa allowed the 2023 Corvette Racing GTE AM team to secure both the driver and team championships. In truth, the team secured these championships at the completion of the historic WEC Monza circuit race on July 9, 2023, but were finally able to fully celebrate their incredible season as they closed out their race season at Bahrain.
For those not in the know, the WEC series uses a “rewards weight” formula which adds or reduces weight on all cars in the competition field based on how they finish at each race throughout the season as well as by tracking their overall standing in the current season championship rankings. Given the Chevrolet’s No. 33 Mobil 1/Sirius XM Corvette C8.R performed at such a high level throughout the 2023 season, the car carried an additional 77 pounds (35 kilograms) of weight for its final run at Bahrain. This added weight included 33 pounds (15 kg) for leading the championship, 22 pounds (10kg) for finishing second in the previous round in Fuji, and another 22 pounds (10kg) for their stellar performance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
If this sort of performance hampering sounds less than sportmanlike, it is a common practice in the WEC and one that has been agreed upon by all teams sanctioned for this event. And “rewards weights” aren’t the only item that adversely impacted the race team. The WEC sanctioning body also mandated that the Corvette Racing team install a smaller restrictor plate than used in previous races, reducing the plate from 41.3mm to 40.7 mm. While a reduction of 1.4mm may not seem significant, its impact to the engine is. The team lost approximately 10 horsepower, which definitely creates a competitive disadvantage when a team utilizes every bit of available power throughout a race event. It’s also worth noting that the C8.R was already competing with less horsepower than the other GTE Am class cars throughout the entire race season.
Based on both these items, it seemed likely that the Corvette Racing team would not perform as well at Bahrain. Despite this, the team remained optimistic about their chances, especially given its overall performance history at Bahrain’s 3.36-mile road course. Corvette Racing finished second in GTE Pro during the 2022 WEC season thanks to the enormously talented team drivers Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy. This year’s Corvette Racing bronze driver, Ben Keating, was also a two-time GTE AM winner at the Bahrain International Circuit. The team’s platinum driver, Nicky Catsburg, posted two top-five finishes in World Touring Car Cup there in 2022, and the squad’s silver-rated driver, Nico Varrone, has previous proved himself behind the wheel of the C8.R at Bahrain during last year’s Rookie Test.
The team recognized the challenges they were facing as Keating, who had previously earned three pole positions in the six races leading up to Bahrain, was only able to secure a fifth-in-class starting position. To make matters worse, the team struggled for position at the start of the race after several prototype cars collided with one another, causing the GTE AM cars to scramble out of position to avoid being struck. While Keating slowed the Corvette and steered clear of trouble, his actions caused the team to fall back an additional four positions from where they started. Fortunately, the team strategists advised Keating to pit early, and this decision allowed Keating time to return to the field and to make up ground for the remainder of his on-track session. In subsequent sessions, he drove the C8.R Corvette to as high as fourth-position in class.
Nico Varrone took over driving responsibilities as the race neared the three-hour mark and he was able to run the car up to fourth position as well. Varrone struggled with tire degradation due to the track’s high temperatures and overall rough surfaces. As the race neared its final two hours, Nicky Catsburg took over driving responsibilites for the final stint of the race. By the time he assumed control of the car, the team had fallen back to eighth place in class. However, given the car’s increased weight and diminished power, Catsburg was only able to advance the car to a disappointing seventh position in class. Although the final race was irrelevant to the team’s championship standings, Varrone, Keating and Catsburg all wanted to achieve the best possible finish for the final race of the season.
Despite their disappointing finish at Bahrain, the WEC Corvette Racing team still ended the 2023 race in style thanks to their championship-winning performance throughout the entire race season. More than that, the WEC and IMSA Corvette Racing programs participated in a total of 82 events since the introductiuon of Chevrolet’s C8.R mid-engine race car in 2020, and earned a total of 20 victories worldwide, including wins at Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans, as well as championships in both race series. While the race at Bahrain marks the end of the Chevrolet-backed Corvette Racing program, the past accomplishments of this amazing race program have also laid the foundation for what’s coming next – the Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Racing program, which will usher in the all-new 2024 Z06 GT3.R Corvette race car at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January, 2024.
Congratulations to Corvette Racing….and THANK YOU SO MUCH for the many years of incredible racing in both IMSA and WEC. We can’t wait for the next chapter to begin!!!
