JOHN DAGYS
The Balance of Performance for the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R has been established ahead of its FIA World Endurance Championship debut this weekend at Circuit of The Americas.
Confirmed in a bulletin from the FIA Endurance Committee, the mid-engined GTE car will run with a 41.3 mm air restrictor and at a minimum weight of 1240 kg.
Additionally, the Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller-driven entry will have a 102-liter fuel tank and run with a declared minimum lambda of 0.88.
It compares to a larger 44.3 mm air restrictor and 1260 kg minimum weight given to the Corvette for its competition debut in last month’s Rolex 24 at Daytona under IMSA’s Daytona-specific BoP, which saw all GTE-spec cars have increased power levels compared to that seen in the WEC.
The WEC utilizes an automatic BoP system for GTE-Pro, which has seen no changes since the last round in Bahrain, including to the GTE-Am class.
Corvette Racing is set to be present for three of the next four WEC races, with Magnussen and Rockenfeller also confirmed for the 1000 Miles of Sebring, which is a prerequisite for the team’s participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari Heaviest GTE-Am Car for COTA
The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 488 Evo will head into Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans as the heaviest car in the GTE-Am class, following the latest round of success ballast implemented since Bahrain.
Emmanuel Collard, Francois Perrodo and newly minted Ferrari factory driver Nicklas Nielsen are tied for the lead of the class championship with the No. 57 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR of Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen.
The Ferrari’s weight has been reduced by 10 kg to 1280 kg while the Project 1 Porsche will run at 1269 kg after getting a 20 kg penalty for its first class win of the season in the Middle East.
Gulf Racing, which claimed its maiden podium in Bahrain, meanwhile, gets 5 kg added to its Porsche, while the two Aston Martin Vantage GTEs sees weight reductions of 30 kg (TF Sport) and 15 kg (Aston Martin Racing), respectively.