Briscoe, Liddell Join Corvette Racing for Daytona, Sebring

Corvette Racing announced Thursday the addition of Ryan Briscoe and Robin Liddell to its factory lineup, with the two drivers set to contest the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Twelve Hours of Sebring with the new Corvette C7.R.

Newly signed Chip Ganassi Racing IndyCar driver Briscoe will join defending GT class champions Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 entry, while GT standout Liddell will share the wheel of the No. 4 Corvette with season-long drivers Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in the opening two TUDOR United SportsCar Championship rounds.

Both Jordan Taylor and Richard Westbrook, who have full-season Daytona Prototype rides in the TUDOR Championship, will remain Corvette Racing’s endurance drivers for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

“It’s an honor to get the opportunity to run Daytona and Sebring with Corvette Racing,” Briscoe said. “I’ve often been pitted alongside the Corvette team (in the ALMS), and I’ve long idolized them. It’s an amazing group of guys that run two amazing cars. I was always a little envious of the guys driving them, and now I get a shot to.

“This is really my first time racing in the GT-spec class. The competition is going to be unbelievably strong, as it always is in GT. But I’m really looking forward to getting a feel for the new C7.R on the track. It’s a beautiful looking car. Hopefully it’s as strong as it looks.”

Briscoe helped take Level 5 Motorsports to the ALMS P2 title this year, scoring five class wins at the wheel of the team’s HPD ARX-03b. The Australian open-wheel ace will return to full-time IndyCar competition in 2014, driving a Chevrolet-powered IndyCar for Ganassi.

Liddell, meanwhile, is no stranger to the Chevy family, having been part of Stevenson Motorsports’ GRAND-AM effort for the last six seasons, scoring 18 wins and three runner-up finishes in the Rolex Series GT championship.

The North Carolina-based Stevenson squad will focus its efforts on the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge next year, which left Liddell without a full-season ride in the TUDOR Championship.

“To be asked to drive this car for Chevrolet and with Pratt & Miller involved… I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Liddell said. “The new C7.R is a great car, and a real head-turner too.

“We’re all very much looking forward to the first two races of the year at Daytona and Sebring. All the pieces are there to do a fantastic job and achieve great results.”

The Pratt & Miller-built Corvette C7.R has completed extensive pre-season testing in Florida, with the pair of GT Le Mans contenders set to take to the high banks early next month for the Roar Before the Rolex 24 on Jan. 3-5.

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