“We do not want to run in a class by ourselves again, and I doubt I could sell it to management again.” Those were the words Steve Wesoloski, GM’s Road Racing Group Manager, shared with me last month about the challenges they’d face in gaining support to spend a third season without serious competition in the American Le Mans Series GT1 class. After reaching out to rival and potential GT1 manufacturers to gauge interest on joining the rather thin category, a marked lack of positive responses would find GM looking for a new division to call home. 

And so they have. Corvette Racing will enter selected venues for 2009 in the GT1 class as a warm up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which they intend on winning, again. After Le Mans, Corvette Racing will enter a GT2 car to do battle against Porsche and Ferrari.

Corvette Racing will run a limited schedule in the GT1 class in the first half of the 2009 season as it prepares for its 10th Le Mans participation in June. The team will race in the GT1 class in the season-opening Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and the popular Grand Prix of Long Beach. Following its return from the classic 24-hour endurance race in France, Corvette Racing will compete in the GT2 category in selected events in 2009 in preparation for a full-season program under new international GT class regulations in 2010.

The new GT Corvette C6.R race car will be based on the production Corvette’s chassis and body design. A 6.0-liter version of the LS7.R small-block V-8 will power the Corvette GT2 entry in the transitional 2009 season. A new naturally aspirated 5.5-liter version of the production GM small-block V-8 will be developed to meet the new GT regulations that will take effect in 2010. The chassis and powertrain specifications of the new Corvette GT entry will be submitted to the ACO and FIA for homologation approval.

The year 2010 will see a new category in ALMS called “GT”—the regulations will be base don international spec.
(Source: American Le Mans, Speed TV)