2024 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R makes its debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona race.
Chevrolet last year launched the 2023 Corvette Z06, based on the eighth generation of the American sports car, and now the bowtie brand has unveiled a GT3-spec version offered as a customer race car.
The new Corvette Z06 GT3.R racing car will debut at the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona race weekend and will be offered as a turnkey solution for customer teams. Chevrolet has confirmed that the car will be ready in time for the 2024 motorsports season and will be able to compete in multiple events (both sprint and endurance) against other racing cars based on the Aston Martin Vantage and Porsche 911.
It is expected to compete in the GTD Pro and GTD classes of the IMSA Sports Car Championship and the GTE Pro and GTE Am classes of the FIA World Endurance Championship. [This is not the first time we have seen a Corvette-based GT3 customer race car. Callaway Competition of Germany, the European distributor for American Corvette tuner Callaway, has provided GT3 customer race cars for multiple generations of Corvettes. This time, Chevrolet worked with Pratt Miller Engineering to develop the car.
According to Chevrolet, the Z06 GT3.R and the road-going Z06 share chassis and aerodynamics, and the LT6 5.5-liter V-8 engine is essentially the same unit in both cars, sharing about 70% of its components. The Z06 GT3.R also draws on lessons learned from the more hardcore Corvette C8.R.
Major changes from the road car include a steel roll cage, as well as wheels, tires, springs, dampers, and brakes all designed for racing. The aerodynamic package has also been modified to optimize downforce and cooling.
Chevrolet is currently registering signs of interest in the Z06 GT3.R.
As for the C8.R, it will compete a full season in both the Sports Car Championship and the World Endurance Championship before retiring at the end of 2023. Chevrolet, through Corvette Racing, will field one C8.R in each competition and two in the important Le Mans round of the World Endurance Championship.
