No. 81 Z06 GT3.R takes fourth place in LMGT3 despite late-race contact
GOTEMBA, Shizuoka, Japan (September 15, 2024) – TF Sport’s No. 81 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R posted its best result of the FIA World Endurance Championship season Sunday with a fourth-place LMGT3 finish in the Six Hours of Fuji for Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom Van Rompuy.
The Corvette spent a significant amount of time out front in the class and showed the best pace in its first season of WEC competition. Despite the positive result, the team was left wondering if it could have been more as contact from another competitor knocked the No. 81 from contention for a landmark race win.
Following excellent stints from Van Rompuy and Andrade – each of whom led in class during their time in the Z06 GT3.R – factory driver Eastwood was running fourth inside the final 75 minutes when he was hit and spun at the final corner by the No. 35 Alpine Hypercar.
The race start couldn’t have gone much better for TF Sport. Van Rompuy grabbed the lead at the first corner from his second-place starting position and led twice for a total of 50 laps in his two-hour-plus stint. He handed over to Andrade, who also led toward the end of his time in the Corvette before Eastwood climbed aboard with a little less than two hours to go.
The race’s second safety car period with 1:45 left jumbled the LMGT3 field and swung the advantage away from TF Sport. Eastwood restarted fourth but quickly mounted a challenge for the podium before contact sent him around and down to 11th place. Undeterred, Eastwood gathered himself and the Corvette back up and made up seven positions in the final 75 minutes including a leap from eighth to fourth in less than 25 minutes.
For his performance, Eastwood received the Goodyear Wingfoot Award, which goes to the LMGT3 driver who achieves the best stint average at each race.
A spate of bad luck also did in the No. 82 Corvette of Daniel Juncadella, Sebastien Baud and Hiroshi Koizumi. After Japanese driver Koizumi had his best stint of the season and made his first pit stop from fifth place, the Corvette wouldn’t refire in the pitlane and the team lost 10 laps changing the starter. The No. 82 also stopped on-track with a loss of power inside the final hour and was forced to retire once it returned to pitlane.
TF Sport and the Corvette Z06 GT3.R program closes the FIA WEC season with the Eight Hours of Bahrain on November 2.
TF SPORT POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “What could have been, once again. We were in a really good spot the whole race. The Corvette was really flying and we were in the podium spots. Unfortunately a Hypercar missed his braking into the last corner and spun us around. He got a drive-through for it, but it was no real consolation to what it did to our race. The positive is that we came back from P11 to P4, chased down the podium cars and didn’t give up until the finish. The whole team at this point deserves a great result. A podium at a minimum and probably a win today got away through someone else’s mistake. It’s a frustrating one but we need to keep taking away the positives of the steps we are making and how fast the Z06 GT3.R has become so we can close the season in Bahrain on a high.”
RUI ANDRADE, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It’s a two-edged sword, isn’t it? On one hand, the car was really good. I believe myself, Tom and Charlie ran a really good race. We were there the whole time with really good pace. Safety cars didn’t really help us and brought some of our competition back into it. Even so, Charlie was so on it and so quick. We were incredibly competitive. Unfortunately the contact from the Hypercar ruined our chances at a win. Charlie did amazing going from P11 to P4. We were so close to the podium. So on one hand, I’m really upset because I think the win was there. But in the end, we’re taking big steps. At COTA we took big steps. Today we took big steps. We just have to give everything we have to finish on a high in Bahrain.”
TOM VAN ROMPUY, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “We had a really, really strong race and were in contention to win the race but had contact from one of the Alpine Hypercars, which touched us in the back. We fell back to P11 but it was a fantastic recovery drive from Charlie to bring us back to P4. We were about two laps short to get back to podium position. It was a really strong car and a strong performance by the team. We know it’s there. We just have to grab it in Bahrain.”
DANIEL JUNCADELLA, NO. 82 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Very frustrating weekend because I think we had a really good package. The car was really fast, my teammates were really spot-on and we had a real shot at winning. Hiroshi did an amazing job all weekend. After the first stint, we were P5 when we boxed and all was looking great for a top result but unfortunately we had an issue with the starter at the stop so he couldn’t restart it. We kept driving because it’s good to continue to learn new things. You always take all the experiences for future races and next year. The car was absolutely great. I did one stint and it was fantastic. Then toward the end with Seb back in the car we had to retire the car after he stopped on track. We don’t know what happened yet. It’s an unfortunate result but a lot of positives today.”
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