Larbre Corvette Loses GTE-Am Pole Due to Fuel Cell Infraction

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

Larbre Competition has been stripped of its GTE-Am pole for tomorrow’s Six Hours of Fuji after flunking post-qualifying scrutineering for the sixth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The Paolo Ruberti, Gianluca Roda and Nicolai Sylvest-driven Corvette C7.R was found to have had a fuel cell violation, with the ventilation valve not being in conformity of the technical regulations.

As a result, the class pole, and one bonus point, has gone to the class championship-leading No. 72 SMP Racing Ferrari F458 Italia of Andrea Bertolini, Aleksey Basov and Victor Shaytar.

With it being a safety related violation, the Larbre Corvette will not be allowed to start the race unless the issue is rectified.

It’s unclear the cause of the issue, although the chassis was used by Corvette Racing in two previous TUDOR United SportsCar Championship races with IMSA-approved E85 fuel.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John