Development
The Corvette C7.R had its official unveiling at the 2014 NAIAS in Detroit.[1] The car made its first testing appearance, in camouflage, at the Rolex Motorsports Union at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca track.[2] 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.[3]
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.[4] 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.[5]
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.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11]
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".[12] 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.
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Chevrolet (Pratt Miller)
Larbre Compétition
Antonio García
Jan Magnussen
Ryan Briscoe
Oliver Gavin
Mike Rockenfeller
Gianluca Roda
Yutaka Yamagishi
Marcel Fässler
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