New GT3 model from 2024 for the DTM and ADAC GT Masters: first images of the new Z06 GT3.R.
On the eve of the 24 Hours of Daytona, Chevrolet presented the new Corvette Z06 GT3.R for the GT3 class. Developed by General Motor Competition Engineering and Pratt Miller Engineering, the race car is based on the eighth generation (C8) of the iconic US sports car and is the first GT3 Corvette to come with a mid-mounted engine.
A GT3 Corvette is nothing new for fans in Germany: from 2007 to 2021, Callaway Competition lined up in the ADAC GT Masters with a Corvette that they developed themselves, based on the front-engine C6 and C7 model lines, and were the most successful team in the series. The new mid-engine GT3 Corvette is the first model developed by Chevrolet itself for GT3 customer racing. Corvette Racing will homologate the Corvette according to FIA GT3 regulations, after which nothing will stand in the way of the Z06. GT3.R starting in the DTM and ADAC GT Masters in the future.
The new Z06 GT3.R is powered by a production-based 5.5-litre V8 naturally aspirated engine. The LT6 engine is built in the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, together with the production engines and shares roughly 70% of its parts with its production counterparts – including the crankshaft, cylinder heads, injection nozzles, seals and sensors. The aluminium chassis of the Corvette racer is also built in Kentucky, before Pratt Miller transports it to Michigan, where the race cars are assembled.
The presentation, one year before the first planned race outing at the 24 Hours of Daytona 2024, marks the end of a two-year test and development phase out of the public gaze. The Corvette Racing drivers completed the first simulator tests in spring 2021. The Corvette has been tested at the racetrack since last September. Corvette Racing plans to deliver the first customer cars in the third quarter of this year. For the first racing season next year, Corvette Racing plans to serve the US market and international series. The customer racing programme will be expanded globally in the second year.
