TF Sport aims to continue strong Spa Six Hours history, now with Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs

DETROIT (May 7, 2024) – TF Sport and Corvette Racing will look to continue its strong first year together as the FIA World Endurance Championship moves to legendary Spa-Francorchamps for Saturday’s Six Hours of Spa.

The pair of TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs will look to increase their points total through two races this year and also continue the team’s impressive history in the event. Also looming is the biggest race of the season – the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

Both Corvettes tested at Spa in March and completed more than 2,700 kilometers (1,670 miles) in two days around the 4.35-mile, 20-turn circuit. That data will prove useful when it’s combined with TF Sport’s WEC history at Spa – six consecutive podium finishes including third in GTE Am a year ago.

The trio of past Spa 24 Hours winner and Corvette factory driver Charlie Eastwood, past Spa LMP2 winner Rui Andrade and Belgian driver Tom Van Rompuy lead the TF Sport contingent in championship points and stand ninth in the highly competitive LMGT3 class. Van Rompuy’s point for pole position in the No. 81 Corvette Z06 GT3.R at the season-opening race in Qatar is the difference, and the group led the TF Sport attack in the most recent WEC round at Imola with a seventh-place class finish.

The No. 82 Corvette of factory driver Daniel Juncadella – another previous Spa 24 Hours winner – plus Sebastien Baud and Hiroshi Koizumi have recorded points-paying finishes in both WEC rounds to date and in their first two races with TF Sport.

The FIA WEC’s Six Hours of Spa is set for 1 p.m. Central European Time / 7 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, May 11. MotorTrend will air live television coverage from 6:30-8 a.m. and noon-1:30 p.m. ET. Streaming coverage of the race and plus Friday’s final practice and qualifying will be available through the FIA WEC app and the MAX app in the U.S. Radio Le Mans will stream audio coverage of the race plus final practice and qualifying.

TF SPORT PRE-EVENT DRIVER QUOTES

TOM VAN ROMPUY, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I am very excited to drive the Corvette Z06 GT3.R at my home race this week in Spa. Together with my teammates, we will give everything to fight for a good result. The whole TF Sport crew will provide us again with all the ingredients to aim for a podium finish. Thanks to all the fans for their support and see you in Spa for a great battle in our Corvette Z06 GT3.R!”

DANI JUNCADELLA, NO. 82 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Spa is a super-cool place. I love racing there. The track is super special because you have all sorts of combinations of high- and low-speed corners. It’s a long track so it’s quite a challenge to set up a car properly. It can be very difficult and tricky. The middle sector is a high-speed sector where you need a lot of downforce, but then you have the first and third sectors where there are very long straights. It’s always a compromise of how much aero do you want in the car versus how much top speed do you want to get out of it. It’s very unique in that sense. It’s a special place. I won the 24 Hours of Spa three years ago, and those were great memories. I’ve never raced there in the WEC but it’s always cool to go back there no matter the race or championship.”

SEBASTIEN BAUD, NO. 82 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It’s the third round of the championship at Spa after a rather positive race at Imola where I felt confident with the car by winning the Goodyear trophy. Now at Spa I would like to win a collective trophy with my teammates! We have great pace in the race. Now we have to get on the right track in the race to play at the front. I can’t wait to get to Spa to see the team and this incredible car again!”

2024 FIA World Endurance Championship Points

LMGT3 Drivers Standings

1. Aliaksandr Malykhin/Joel Sturm/Klaus Bachler – 54
2. Augusto Farfus/Darren Leung/Sean Gelael – 37
3. Alex Riberas/Daniel Mancinelli/Ian James – 37
4. Ahmad Al Harthy/Maxime Martin/Valentino Rossi – 36
5. Clement Mateu/Erwan Bastard/Marco Sorensen – 24
6. Charlie Eastwood/Rui Andrade/Tom Van Rompuy – 7
7. Daniel Juncadella/Hiroshi Koizumi/Sebastien Baud – 6

LMGT3 Teams Standings

1. No. 92 Manthey PureRxcing – 54
2. No. 31 Team WRT – 37
3. No. 27 Heart of Racing Team – 37
4. No. 46 Team WRT – 36
5. No. 777 D’Station Racing – 24
6. No. 81 TF Sport – 7
7. No. 82 TF Sport – 6

CORVETTE RACING BY THE NUMBERS: Spa-Francorchamps

• 3: Previous starts for Corvette Racing-affiliated entries at Spa-Francorchamps. Last year’s runner-up finish in GTE Am was the program’s best result
• 4: Generations of Corvette ZR1 (C3, C4, C6 and C7). The eighth-generation Corvette ZR1 will be revealed this summer
• 5: Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs in competition this weekend – Nos. 3 and 4 of Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and No. 13 of AWA at Laguna Seca, No. 81 and No. 82 of TF Sport at Spa
• 6: Consecutive podium finishes for TF Sport in the Six Hours of Spa
• 7: Different drivers to compete for Corvette Racing at Spa since 2021. That number will nearly double to 13 when TF Sport races in WEC this weekend
• 27: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Monza, Portimão, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen
• 47: Number of drivers in Corvette Racing entries since 1999 – Bryan Sellers and Scott Smithson being the latest in GT World Challenge America. Rui Andrade, Sebastien Baud, Hiroshi Koizumi and Tom Van Rompuy joined the list at Qatar to open the WEC season
• 71: Years since Corvette was introduced to the world on Jan. 17, 1953 in New York City. A total of 300 cars were produced that year
• 127: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 115 in North America, nine at Le Mans and three in the FIA WEC
• 290: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999
• 376,569.57: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing entries since 1999. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles

Corvette Racing at Spa

2021

No. 63 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Oliver Gavin – 4th in GTE Pro

2022

No. 64 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 4th in GTE Pro

2023

No. 33 Corvette C8.R: Nicky Catsburg/Ben Keating/Nico Varrone – 2nd in GTE Am

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

MONTEREY, California (May 7, 2024) – The West Coast swing continues for the Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti (WTRAndretti) pair of Acura ARX-06 GTP teams as they head to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the MOTUL Course de Monterey. WTRAndretti’s success runs deep at Laguna Seca as the team has four victories (2006, 2013, 2021, 2022) around the iconic 2.238-mile road course. Along with the team’s success, all four full-season Acura ARX-06 drivers have previously won at Laguna Seca.

On the note of victory at Laguna Seca, the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 team is searching for victory once again after back-to-back wins in 2021 and 2022. Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque notched a top-five result last year and the pair is looking to repeat their prior success come this weekend. Taylor and Albuquerque also have a combined five pole positions, two of which their victories in 2021 and 2022 were scored from.

Although the result may not have ended the Long Beach weekend as anticipated for the No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06 team, Jordan Taylor and Louis Delétraz are eager to reset as the they hit the track at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. In the field of 34 cars, Taylor is tied with his brother, Ricky, for the record number of pole positions with four at the 11-turn road course. Despite 2024 being his first full season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar GTP Championship, Delétraz returns to a track familiar to his resume and has collected a LMP2 class victory in 2022.
The WTRAndretti team will begin on-track preparations at 4:15 p.m. ET (1:15 p.m. PT) with practice on Friday, May 10 and followed by 15-minute qualifying on Saturday, May 11, at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) to set the field. Sunday, May 12, will showcase the traditional 2-hour, 40-minute sprint format see the clock countdown begin at the drop of the green flag at 3:10 p.m. ET (12:10 p.m. PT) with full race coverage on NBC.
Wayne Taylor, Team Principal, WTRAndretti: “After a tough weekend at Long Beach, the team went testing at Laguna Seca and we got our speed back. The test for the two GTP cars went extremely well. The drivers were very excited. The track’s just been resurfaced, high grip levels. I think we can go now to Laguna knowing that we will have a competitive car. We’ve had a lot of success at Laguna, but last year for some reason we were off the pace and don’t know why. Having said that, we were competitive at the test. Now we have two cars, so that always help us because we can try different setups. We can also strategize over the course of the race to maximize the result for both cars. I’m excited for the guys, both GTP and GTD. Unfortunately, this is the one race this year I’m going to miss as I’ll be at the Monte Carlo historics race, racing my F1 car. It’s been a lifelong dream of mine. Of course, I’ll be very anxious while being there to know what’s going during the course of the Laguna Seca weekend.”

No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 GTP Drivers
Ricky Taylor: “We are now in the meat of the season and the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 team has had a tough start to the year. Laguna has been a strong track for the team historically, and with the new pavement, we will see a whole new race dynamic. The test a few weeks ago went very well and I am looking forward to applying what we learned to the race weekend. The track had become very polished and slippery over Laguna Seca’s long history, the new pavement completely revitalized the track. The corners are all much higher commitment, and the cars are now going much faster in every portion of the racetrack. Because of how much the track changed, we learned things about the car that would’ve been very difficult to anticipate without a test, so coming into the race we can have a bit of extra confidence that we have that under our belt along with our competitors.”

Filipe Albuquerque: “Things have been tough for the No. 10 car this season, but when things like this happen, we just want the next race. We were testing at Laguna Seca a few weeks ago; which went pretty well. At the end of the day, it’s not what you think you have, it’s down to how competitive you’re going to be against your rivals. The track’s very different than before – it’s a completely different track in fact – much nicer to drive with a lot more grip. But again, we will only be happy if we win, so let’s go! Second sprint race of year in more normal conditions, 2-hours and 40-minutes, so I can’t wait to go there with Ricky, we’ve won there in the past, so we want to keep that streak going.”

No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06 GTP Drivers
Louis Delétraz: “I’m looking forward to being back in the No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06 at Laguna Seca! It’s a track I really enjoy, with a lot of elevation changes and now a brand-new tarmac with a lot of grip which will make things interesting. We have tested on the new pavement few weeks ago and learned a lot. Since then, everyone at WTRAndretti has been hard at work to get ready for this event.”

Jordan Taylor: “I’ve always enjoyed racing at Laguna. This year is going to be much different to years past with the new pavement they have. We did a two-day test after our Long Beach race and learned a lot as a team. From a driver’s perspective it’s a completely different track. The grip level is much higher and it’s a very narrow margin for error with how high commitment it is. I think with this new track, it’s really going to help our learning curve as a team to be able to gather twice the data once we hit the track on race weekend and explore the different setup options with our two cars. The race itself will be interesting to see how it plays out differently with tire degradation and traffic, but everyone will be in the same boat. Hopefully we can get things sorted out quickly and be battling right up front.”

ABOUT WTRANDRETTI
Andretti Global and Wayne Taylor Racing announced a new, long-term partnership in 2023 that combines the resources of the two championship-caliber teams to compete in IMSA’s top classes. In 2024, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti (WTRAndretti) has expanded to a two-car GTP program as well as competes in the GTD class. Coming off its 2023 championship winning effort, WTRAndretti continues its Driver Development Program competing in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series with a full stable.

WTRAndretti’s global motorsports enterprise boasts two IMSA driver championships (2013 and 2017), and back-to-back IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Championships (2020, 2021) which contributed to nine IMSA manufacturer championships for Acura, Pontiac, Corvette and Cadillac. In its brief 17-year history, WTRAndretti has accumulated multiple victories in sportscar racing’s most iconic events: Rolex 24 At Daytona, Twelve Hours of Sebring, Petit Le Mans, Mid-Ohio, Road America and the Six Hours of The Glen. With its back-to-back PRO Class Championship wins (2022, 2023), WTR also has ten North America Lamborghini Super Trofeo Championship titles and a Lamborghini World Finals title.

Andretti Global, a Championship-winning motorsports organization, competes in additional racing categories worldwide, including the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, Extreme E, Australian Supercars and the Mexico SuperCopa Championship. Additionally, the racing enterprise commits to driver development through competition in INDY NXT by Firestone and through support of Sebastian and Oliver Wheldon’s racing careers.

WTRAndretti’s long term partnerships include Acura, Honda Racing Corporation US (HRC), Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA, DEX Imaging, Harrison Contracting Company and Gainbridge.

No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R returns to the familiar circuit of Spa-Francorchamps

DETROIT (May 7, 2024) – Cadillac Racing heads to the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season at the challenging, albeit familiar, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R, driven by Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber, qualified fourth and placed fifth in the six-hour race last year in Cadillac Racing’s inaugural WEC season in the Hypercar class, and both drivers have competed with success multiple times at the historic venue in the heart of the Ardennes.

“It’s one of my favorite tracks in Europe and I’ve spent a lot of time there. Won one of my first big races in Europe there in Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup, so I really looking forward to going back there especially with this Cadillac,” Bamber said.

The team recently tested at the 7.004-kilometer (4.35-mile), 20-turn road course, which features the fearsome Eau Rouge – a corner of speed, elevation and a blind crest. Concurrently, the sister Cadillac V-Series.R cars in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class will race at Laguna Seca with its signature Corkscrew complex.

Bamber and Lynn drove to 10th place in the most recent WEC race at Imola, advancing two positions from the qualifying position of the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R. Lynn drove the initial stint with a damaged rear wing sustained at the green flag and had a setback because of a right-rear tire puncture from debris in his second stint that forced an unplanned pit stop. Bamber was challenged by mixed track conditions from intermittent rain over the final 2 hours, 23 minutes of the six-hour event.

The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, an important race unto itself on the WEC calendar, is also considered a tune-up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Cadillac Racing will again have three Hypercar entries in France, including Bamber, Lynn and two-time INDYCAR champion Alex Palou in the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R.

Of note

Cadillac Racing driver Sebastien Bourdais teamed with Jean-Christophe Boullion to win the FIA Sportscar Championship race at Spa-Francorchamps in 2002. Bourdais also co-drove to victory in the 2010 Le Mans Series race with Simon Pagenaud and Pedro Lamy.

Cadillac Racing and the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R opened the season with Bamber, Lynn and Bourdais driving to a fourth-place finish in the 19-car Hypercar field March 2 at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar. On March 27, the FIA issued a report that disqualified the Cadillac Racing entry because of a post-race technical inspection irregularity.

The TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps is scheduled for 1 p.m. Central European Time / 7 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Saturday, May 11. MotorTrend, Max and the FIA WEC app will provide coverage of the race in the U.S. Velocity will telecast the race in Canada and FOX Sports 3 will provide coverage in Mexico. Radio Le Mans will have the flag-to-flag broadcast.

What they’re saying

Alex Lynn: “Spa is an amazing racetrack and so historic. The WEC races there always turn out to be dramatic. After Le Mans, it’s probably my favorite WEC event of the year just because it being the dress rehearsal for the big one. You really feel that tension in the year. The circuit itself is a glorious place. So much elevation change, fast-flowing corners. I’ve had a lot of success there in my career, so I’m really looking forward to going there. We tested there a few weeks ago, which was productive. Any test days you get around Spa are valuable. I’m looking forward to myself and Earl tackling this great race and certainly the next two races are going to be exciting.”

Earl Bamber: “Really looking forward to Spa. It’s one of my favorite tracks in Europe and I’ve spent a lot of time there. Won one of my first big races in Europe there in Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup, so I really looking forward to going back there especially with this Cadillac. I think we’re making strides as a team. We’lll have the true test at Spa this weekend. They say Spa is the closest representation with the downforce level ahead of Le Mans.”