Schultis Set for ‘Farewell Tour’ With Callaway Corvette

Photo: John Dagys

Mirco Schultis said he’s hoping to continue enjoying his driving in GT America powered by AWS, in what he’s coined as the ‘farewell tour’ for the Callaway C7 GT3-R in the car’s final year of FIA homologation.

The 60-year-old U.S.-based German owner/driver is kicking off what is nearly certain to be the car’s final year in modern-day GT3 competition this weekend at Sonoma Raceway.

Schultis is coming off a career-best second place finish in last October’s season-ending round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, albeit with a broken wrist, after enjoying a race-long fight with Ross Chouest in the latest-generation, Pratt Miller-built Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

With a crew of four, Schultis’ Mishumotors outfit has yet to define which GT America races the fan-favorite Callaway Corvette will be at this year, after contesting four events last season.

“I don’t know,” Schultis told Sportscar365 on his GTA plans this year. “I’ll decide from race to race if I like it.

“Last year I wanted to do the whole season but I was in Germany and then went to Greece, I just said, ‘I’m not going back to the U.S. for racing. I just stay here.’

“So I ended up staying four months in Europe because I liked it.”

The car, which debuted in GT3 competition in 2015, has most recently been best-suited in colder and changeable weather conditions, particularly when aero doesn’t play a significant factor.

“The car is still good when it’s cold and rainy,” said Schultis.

“The aero of our car, even if you gain a little bit, you lose everything there. It just has limited aero compared to the new Corvette or to the Ferrari.

“I was hoping for rain [this weekend] because last year I had a podium here in the rain and cold.

“Also I’m good on street courses, since I did SRO in 2022 with Nashville, St. Petersburg and Long Beach, the car is always good. I’m always good there, because nobody can go testing there.

“I never go testing. If you don’t test and come here to the track, you’re behind. I have my fastest lap time usually in the second race in the last ten laps.

“It’s sunny this weekend so I have to see and wait what the others do.”

When asked what keeps him going, Schultis said it’s his personal connection with the car and his love of all things GM-engined.

“I just love the car; it’s unbreakable and it’s the only series where you can run it and be competitive,” he said.

“Callaway is building a new car in Germany, based on an old C7 chassis and are engineering it for 700 horsepower for HSR.

“If you start doing HSR with the car [in unrestricted form], what’s the point?”

Schultis said he expects to have enough spare parts to get through the final season of the car’s eligibility, before potentially looking at SRO and Peter Auto’s GT3 Revival Series with his Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 for next year.

However, Schultis is still holding out hope organizers of the new-for-2026 series, which will run on selected GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS weekends, as well as the Le Mans Classic, will extend the eligibility of cars beyond the current 2013 homologation cutoff.

“If I would live in Germany, I would do it,” he said. “I was looking into it, also because cost-wise, it’s less than half of the running costs.

“Everything here [in the U.S.] is expensive. It’s much cheaper over there.

“I have my own shop and truck. I was looking into it, but I’m here. I still have two girls that go to school here. Until the middle of next year we won’t go back.”

Schultis is also holding out hope that he will one day get to at least sample the latest-generation Corvette Z06 GT3.R, which Chouest is set to drive for a second consecutive season.

“It would be nice to drive the new Corvette, at least test it one day,” he said. “Back at Sebring, I could hold on to [Ross Chouest].

“The Indianapolis race was too risky [to challenge for the win]. We like each other, so we would never have contact with each other.”

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