The Chevrolet Corvette C7.R is a grand tourer racing car built by Pratt Miller and Chevrolet for competition in endurance racing between 2014 and 2019. It is a replacement for the Corvette C6.R racing car, using the C7 generation Chevrolet Corvette as a base. The C7 road car was noted to incorporate development from the Corvette C6.R, thus those properties also carry over to the race car. The Corvette Racing C7.R raced in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class.

Development The Corvette C7.R had its official unveiling at the 2014 NAIAS in Detroit. The car made its first testing appearance, in camouflage, at the Rolex Motorsports Union at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca track. The car's new livery and details were revealed on January 13, 2014.

Successes 2014 In its first year the C7.R competed in a field of 12 cars in a season that included eleven races. The C7.R won four races in a row in the middle of the season (Long Beach, Laguna Seca, Watkins Glen and Canadian Tire Motorsports Park). After that point no more first place victories accrued to Corvette, but the #4 Corvette, driven by Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, accumulated enough points to finish second place in total team points for the season.  

Because of consistent performance throughout the season, Magnussen and Garcia placed first in the Driver Championship with 125 points. They were followed by the BMW team of Dirk Müller and Joey Hand while third place driver points went to the other Corvette team of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner.

2015 In 2015 the field of competitors dropped to ten, and the number of events also was reduced to ten. Corvette Racing had a total of three wins in the C7.R. The 2015 season started out well for the C7.R as the car won the first two North American Endurance Cup races at the 53rd Rolex 24 at Daytona in January and the 63rd Annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring two months later driven by Jan Magnussen, Ryan Briscoe, and Antonio Garcia in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship. But neither Corvette finished better than third place for the remainder of the season. The C7.R finished the season in third place behind the Porsche 911 RSR and BMW Z4 GTE and ahead of the Ferrari 458 Italia GT2.

The Corvette C7.R scored its first Le Mans win at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, and Jordan Taylor driving the #64 Corvette to victory in the GTE-Pro class. It is also Corvette Racing's 8th win at the circuit. Corvette Racing won endurance racing's infamous "triple crown" with wins at the 24 hours of Daytona, 12 hours of Sebring, and the 24 hours of Le Mans all in the same year.

2016 Ahead of the season, the car received an update, which included a new diffuser, to comply with the new for 2016 Group GTE regulations, aimed at increasing the performance of the class. On the car's inaugural race of the year, the 2016 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, the Corvette racing team scored a class win with a photo finish between the numbers 3 and 4 cars, driven by Oliver Gavin and Antonio Garcia with Khayman Buff as a back up driver. The cars finished .034 seconds apart from one another. In that year, the Corvette C7.R scored its second 12 Hours of Sebring win with car #4 driven by Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler in the GTLM Class. The C7.R did poorly in the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, qualifying last in the GTE Pro category and finishing the race 7th and 10th in the GTE-Pro class. The #4 Corvette C7.R went on to win the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship in the GTLM class. They won the drivers', team, and manufacturers' championship, as well as the North American Endurance cup. Corvette Racing also claimed its milestone 100th win for the team with its first-place finish at Lime Rock in the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship series.

2017 Twelve teams competed in the GTLM class for the 2017 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship including four Ford GT entries. The C7.R enjoyed another successful year in 2017 with first place victories at Sebring, COTA, Long Beach, and VIR. The #3 Corvette driven by Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen, and Mike Rockenfeller went on to win the drivers', team, and manufacturers' championship—a repeat of the 2016 season sweep for Corvette Racing. The #4 Corvette driven by Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, and Marcel Fassler took second place honors.

2018 The field of GTLM teams declined to nine for the 2018 season. Of the eleven races, one of the other Ford GT placed first in five races, one of the other Porsche placed first in three races, one of the BMWs placed first in two races, and the #4 Corvette earned a single first-place finish at Long Beach. The #3 Corvette, without winning a race, accumulated enough points to edge out the #67 Ford GT for the team championship—a "three peat". Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen secured 8 podium finishes out of the 11 race season—a consistency that had become a hallmark of Corvette Racing.

The 2018 GTLM scoring was tighter than it had been for the previous four years—a margin of victory of only 6 points. The #3 Corvette finished the season with first place points, followed by the #67 Ford GT in second place and the #4 Corvette in third place.

2019 This was the final year of IMSA competition for the C7.R, another year when nine teams would compete. With an aging platform, neither Corvette team achieved a first-place finish in any race in 2019. Of the 11 races, the #3 Corvette team finished second place three times and third place three times, accumulating enough points to tie the #911 Porsche for second place in the GTLM class of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Debuts in auto shows The Corvette C7.R was first unveiled at the 2014 North American International Auto Show. It was also a competitor at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Results summary

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results (key) Races in bold indicates pole position. Races in italics indicates fastest lap. (key) Races in bold indicates pole position. Races in italics indicates fastest lap. +Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship resultsYearEntrantClassDriversRounds12345678910112014 Corvette RacingGTLM Antonio García Jan Magnussen Ryan Briscoe Jordan Taylor3All1-4, 7-10, 12-131-2, 1311DAY10SEB8LBH1LGA1WGL1MOS1IMS4ELK6VIR7COA9ATL83172nd Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Robin Liddell Ryan Briscoe4AllAll1-213DAY5SEB6LBH3LGA5WGL5MOS7IMS5ELK7VIR9COA10ATL42918th2015 Corvette RacingGTLM Antonio García Jan Magnussen Ryan Briscoe3AllAll1-2, 12DAY1SEB1LBH3LGA7WGL4MOS3ELK4VIR6COA6ATL62953rd Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Simon Pagenaud Ryan Briscoe4AllAll1-212DAY3SEB9LBH7LGA6WGL7MOS5ELK7VIR8COA8ATL32618th2016 Corvette RacingGTLM Antonio García Jan Magnussen Mike Rockenfeller3AllAll1-2, 12DAY2SEB9LBH9LGA4WGL7MOS3LIM2ELK6VIR1COA3ATL43193rd Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Marcel Fässler4AllAll1-2, 12DAY1SEB1LBH2LGA7WGL4MOS2LIM1ELK1VIR9COA5ATL33451st2017 Corvette RacingGTLM Antonio García Jan Magnussen Mike Rockenfeller3AllAll1-2, 12DAY4SEB1LBH5COA1WGL3MOS4LIM4ELK4VIR1LGA4ATL23441st Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Marcel Fässler4AllAll1-2, 12DAY9SEB10LBH1COA7WGL5MOS8LIM8ELK5VIR6LGA9ATL42768th2018 Corvette RacingGTLM Antonio García Jan Magnussen Mike Rockenfeller Marcel Fässler3AllAll1-212DAY3SEB8LBH4MOH3WGL2MOS2LIM2ELK3VIR2LGA3ATL83221st Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Marcel Fässler4AllAll1-2, 12DAY4SEB6LBH1MOH8WGL5MOS3LIM4ELK2VIR6LGA5ATL23103rd2019 Corvette RacingGTLM Antonio García Jan Magnussen Mike Rockenfeller3AllAll1-2, 12DAY6SEB3LBH2MOH2WGL2MOS7LIM5ELK4VIR3LGA3ATL43173rd Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Marcel Fässler4All1-4, 6, 9-121-2, 7-8, 12DAY8SEB8LBH3MOH8WGL8MOS8LIM6ELK6VIR4LGA4ATL72758thSources:

Complete World Endurance Championship results (key) Races in bold indicates pole position. Races in italics indicates fastest lap. +Complete FIA World Endurance Championship resultsYearEntrantClassDriversRounds1234567892014 Corvette RacingLMGTE Pro Tommy Milner Ricky Taylor Jordan Taylor65444SILSPALMSCOA7FUJSHABHRSÃO0NC Jan Magnussen Antonio García Jordan Taylor73333SILSPALMS2COAFUJSHABHRSÃO0NC Tommy Milner Oliver Gavin Richard Westbrook74333SILSPALMS4COAFUJSHABHRSÃO0NC2015 Corvette Racing – GMLMGTE Pro Jan Magnussen Antonio García Ryan Briscoe63333SILSPALMSWDNÜRCOAFUJSHABHR0NC Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Jordan Taylor64333SILSPALMS1NÜRCOAFUJSHABHR0NC Larbre CompétitionLMGTE Am Gianluca Roda Paolo Ruberti Kristian Poulsen Nicolai Sylvest50AllAll1-5, 86-7SIL7SPARetLMSRetNÜR5COA7FUJ4SHA5BHR6527th2016 Corvette Racing – GMLMGTE Pro Jan Magnussen Antonio García Ricky Taylor63333SILSPALMS7NÜRMEXCOAFUJSHABHR0NC Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Jordan Taylor64333SILSPALMSRetNÜRMEXCOAFUJSHABHR0NC Larbre CompétitionLMGTE Am Pierre Ragues Yutaka Yamagishi Paolo Ruberti Jean-Philippe Belloc Ricky Taylor Lars Viljoen Romain Brandela50All1-5, 81-2, 435-968-9SIL3SPA3LMS8NÜR3MEXRetCOA3FUJ6SHA5BHR51125th Team AAI Johnny O'Connell Mark Patterson Oliver Bryant57333SILSPALMS9NÜRMEXCOAFUJSHABHR0NC2017 Corvette Racing – GMLMGTE Pro Jan Magnussen Antonio García Jordan Taylor63333SILSPALMS3NÜRMEXCOAFUJSHABHR0NC Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Marcel Fässler64333SILSPALMS8NÜRMEXCOAFUJSHABHR0NC Larbre CompétitionLMGTE Am Romain Brandela Christian Philippon Fernando Rees50333SILSPALMS15NÜRMEXCOAFUJSHABHR0NC2018-19 Corvette RacingLMGTE Pro Jan Magnussen Antonio García Mike Rockenfeller632, 6, 82, 6, 82, 6, 8SPALMS4SILFUJSHASEB8SPALMS80NC Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Marcel Fässler642 4, 82, 4, 82, 8SPALMSRetSILFUJSHA8SEBSPALMSRet0NCSources:

Complete European Le Mans Series results (key) Races in bold indicates pole position. Races in italics indicates fastest lap. +Complete European Le Mans Series resultsYearEntrantClassDriversRounds12345687th2017 Larbre CompétitionLMGTE Romain Brandela Christian Philippon Fernando Rees50222SILMNZ6RBRLECSPAPORSources:

Gallery

References

External links

Corvette Racing Corvette Motorsport https://carys-corvettes.blogspot.com/2020/02/corvette-c7r-legacy.html