2024 Corvette Z06 GT3.R, NASCAR "Garage 56" Le Mans Racer on the track

Three Chevrolet racecars were recently seen testing at Sebring International Raceway in a video posted on YouTube by Corvette Blogger. [Also featured is a NASCAR Cup Series Camaro that Hendrick Motorsports is preparing for next year's 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

The Z06 GT3.R, based on the road car C8 Corvette Z06, will replace the C8.R in IMSA starting with the Rolex 24 At Daytona in 2024 and will be available to customer teams. This change is the result of a rule change by IMSA in response to a downturn in interest in the GTLM class for which the C8.R was designed. IMSA currently uses the globally popular GT3 class as the base for its top class of production car-based racers, and Chevrolet was forced to change to the GT3.R R.

. The 5-liter V8 engine has many similarities to the C8.R engine, and would generally be closer to a street-legal Corvette than the C8.R, which was designed for the more liberal GTLM rules.

The other new racing car shown in the video is the Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Le Mans racer. Essentially a modified version of the NextGen racecar introduced for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, it will compete at Le Mans in 2023 under a special "Garage 56" quota. In addition to the regular 55-car quota, this quota, which allows one car that does not meet the standard Le Mans rules to compete, has been used in the past as a showcase for technology, with cars like the Nissan ZEOD RC Hybrid entering the Garage 56.

Hendrick has not announced a driver lineup, but Jimmie Johnson, the team's seven-time champion, tied for most in history, has postponed his retirement and said he may enter the 24 Hours of Le Mans. from NASCAR after the 2020 season. Johnson, who switched to IndyCar, announced his retirement from full-time racing in September but said in November that he plans to return to NASCAR in 2023 on a limited basis as a driver and part owner of Petty GMS.