Corvette Wins Final Le Mans GTE-Am Race

Corvette Racing’s Nicky Catsburg, Nico Varrone and Ben Keating recovered from a two-lap deficit to win the final 24 Hours of Le Mans race for the outgoing GTE-Am class.

Catsburg brought the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to the checkered flag two minutes clear of Charlie Eastwood in the No. 25 ORT by TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GTE that was also driven by Michael Dinan and Ahmad Al Harthy.

Ben Barker, Riccardo Pera and Mike Wainwright finished third with the GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 as teams from three different manufacturers ended up on the podium in the last Le Mans for GTE-Am, which is being replaced by LMGT3 next year.

Corvette prevailed after recovering from a two-lap deficit in the opening quarter of the race.

Catsburg started from pole position but after two and a half hours the Dutchman brought the factory-run Corvette back to its garage for a right-front damper replacement.

The lengthy service cost two laps, while an opportunity to regain one of those was squandered when the GTE-Am leader was released from the pits too early during a safety car period, preventing the Corvette from taking a wave-by according to the team.

The American squad only emerged as a candidate for the win shortly after dawn, following a recovery drive through the night.

With six hours to go, Iron Dames driver Rahel Frey led by around 30 seconds from Eastwood and Keating, with the top three cars pitting at different times to each other.

A strong stint from Varrone brought the Corvette into the lead during the 21st hour, followed by the No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche and the TF Sport Aston Martin.

Eastwood then overtook Frey into the Daytona Chicane with just under an hour and a half remaining to put last year’s winning team on the second step of the podium.

A slow final pit stop for Iron Dames contributed to Frey, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy dropping to fourth, as Pera passed by into a three-second advantage that the Italian extended to five seconds by the end.

AF Corse’s No. 54 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Davide Rigon, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr completed the top five, around 90 seconds behind the Iron Dames.

More than half of the 21 cars that took part in GTE-Am retired from the race.

A notable casualty on Sunday was the No. 57 Kessel Racing Ferrari, which was a top-five contender until Daniel Serra spun into the Indianapolis tire barriers with just under four hours to go.

All four of Proton Competition’s Porsches were involved in accidents, including the No. 911 machine which went deepest into the race but crashed out in the hands of Michael Fassbender at Corvette on Sunday morning

Jonas Ried crashed Proton’s No. 88 car at Indianapolis, while the No. 77 had an early collision with an LMP2 car and was later retired.

JMW Motorsport’s Ferrari was an early leader in the mixed-condition opening phase, but a weather-induced trip into the gravel resulted in a loss of time before Louis Prette was involved in a multi-car crash that also took out the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.

The No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari and the GMB Motorsport Aston Martin were eliminated in the second hour after an incident involving the No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R under the Dunlop Bridge.

There was also a spin at Tertre Rouge for Iron Lynx driver Claudio Schiavoni, who veered into the innocent No. 16 Porsche Porsche of Ryan Hardwick, causing both cars to retire on the spot.

Despite getting one of its cars onto the podium, TF Sport saw its D’station Racing Aston Martin fail to finish after an electrical issue, while the No. 72 machine crashed at the Porsche Curves in the sixth hour.

NASCAR Garage 56 Finishes 39th Overall

The NASCAR Garage 56 project, which was not assigned to one of the three classes, reached the checkered flag in 39th overall with its modified NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

The Hendrick Motorsports machine driven by Jenson Button, Mike Rockenfeller and Jimmie Johnson got close to 25th position on Sunday morning but it lost substantial ground due to a brake change at around 11 a.m.

That was swiftly followed by a lengthy stop in the garage due to a drive line issue, ending any hopes of finishing within the GTE-Am pack.

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Johnson completed the Camaro’s run that totaled 285 laps.

RESULTS: 24 Hours of Le Mans