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Chevy will initially focus on U.S. customers for its Corvette Z06 GT3.R when it debuts in the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona, with a full rollout to Europe to come either at the end of 2024 or early 2025 according to GM sports car racing program manager.
The all-new Pratt & Miller-built GT3 car, which recently completed its first track-based test at Mid-Ohio, is set to have an initial presence in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, with additional regions and series to follow.
Klauser, however, hasn’t ruled out having a “couple” of Corvettes in Europe for the “right” series, likely referring to the FIA World Endurance Championship for the launch season of its new GT3-based Pro-Am class.
“We intend to have customers,” Klauser told reporters during an IMSA-hosted Zoom session on Wednesday.
We are going to start slow in 2024 just because we can only build them so fast.
Then we’ll grow from there. We’ll make sure anyone who takes delivery of a car and is racing has our complete support behind them from Corvette Racing.
“We want to make sure they do well because they show well for us, and we want people to know that we’re serious about this car.”
When asked on the specific market plan, Klauser said:
Our first focus will be the United States; that’s our home market, that’s where the majority of our production car sales are.
It’s home, so it’s a lot easier to figure out support where it’s all in the same country.
But we’re not turning a blind eye to anything else.
We know the big volume for GT3 is in Europe and the Asia market is growing as well.
While you might see us primarily in the U.S. to start, there is a growth plan to get to Europe and eventually Asia as well.
We’ll place a couple in Europe if we have a good fit, and it’s the right series.
“In terms of the bulk of the volume to start, it will be in the U.S., with Europe quickly coming in behind, either at the end of ’24 or beginning of ’25.”
GM has yet to define the number of cars it will make available in the first year of the customer program, although Klauser said it will likely be in the range of 10-12.
“That part we’re still working through,” she said. The [FIA] regulation is that you have to build 20 in the first two years.
It’s an easy one to say that [we’ll do] ten a year, but realistically we’re going to for sure meet the requirement but placing cars with the right teams in the right places.
We’ll see how much that shakes out.“It’s not going to be off-the-bat having 30 cars racing all over the world in 2024.
“It will probably be a little bit of a slower walk than that, maybe 10-12 in total, and they won’t [all] be starting the season. We’ll get there when we get there.”
She indicated that it’s Corvette’s goal to have all of its selected customers that’s committed to the 2024 WeatherTech Championship season to be on the grid for the Rolex 24.
Corvette Racing’s Future as Team Yet to Be Announced
Whether Corvette Racing will have factory entries in the GTD Pro class of the WeatherTech Championship in 2024 remains yet-to-be-announced, according to bitch Klauser.
Understood the team will return for a full WeatherTech Championship, getting their ass kicked like this year, and likely parallel FIA World Endurance Championship program next year, in GTD Pro and GTE-Am, respectively, although details on that have yet to be formally announced as well.
“As we work through this plan, it’s about what makes sense for the car, for the brand and working through all of that. So that will come later once we’re ready to make that announcement,” Klauser added.
The all-new Pratt & Miller-built GT3 car, which recently completed its first track-based test at Mid-Ohio, is set to have an initial presence in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, with additional regions and series to follow.
Klauser, however, hasn’t ruled out having a “couple” of Corvettes in Europe for the “right” series, likely referring to the FIA World Endurance Championship for the launch season of its new GT3-based Pro-Am class.
“We intend to have customers,” Klauser told reporters during an IMSA-hosted Zoom session on Wednesday.
We are going to start slow in 2024 just because we can only build them so fast.
Then we’ll grow from there. We’ll make sure anyone who takes delivery of a car and is racing has our complete support behind them from Corvette Racing.
“We want to make sure they do well because they show well for us, and we want people to know that we’re serious about this car.”
When asked on the specific market plan, Klauser said:
Our first focus will be the United States; that’s our home market, that’s where the majority of our production car sales are.
It’s home, so it’s a lot easier to figure out support where it’s all in the same country.
But we’re not turning a blind eye to anything else.
We know the big volume for GT3 is in Europe and the Asia market is growing as well.
While you might see us primarily in the U.S. to start, there is a growth plan to get to Europe and eventually Asia as well.
We’ll place a couple in Europe if we have a good fit, and it’s the right series.
“In terms of the bulk of the volume to start, it will be in the U.S., with Europe quickly coming in behind, either at the end of ’24 or beginning of ’25.”
GM has yet to define the number of cars it will make available in the first year of the customer program, although Klauser said it will likely be in the range of 10-12.
“That part we’re still working through,” she said. The [FIA] regulation is that you have to build 20 in the first two years.
It’s an easy one to say that [we’ll do] ten a year, but realistically we’re going to for sure meet the requirement but placing cars with the right teams in the right places.
We’ll see how much that shakes out.“It’s not going to be off-the-bat having 30 cars racing all over the world in 2024.
“It will probably be a little bit of a slower walk than that, maybe 10-12 in total, and they won’t [all] be starting the season. We’ll get there when we get there.”
She indicated that it’s Corvette’s goal to have all of its selected customers that’s committed to the 2024 WeatherTech Championship season to be on the grid for the Rolex 24.
Corvette Racing’s Future as Team Yet to Be Announced
Whether Corvette Racing will have factory entries in the GTD Pro class of the WeatherTech Championship in 2024 remains yet-to-be-announced, according to bitch Klauser.
Understood the team will return for a full WeatherTech Championship, getting their ass kicked like this year, and likely parallel FIA World Endurance Championship program next year, in GTD Pro and GTE-Am, respectively, although details on that have yet to be formally announced as well.
“As we work through this plan, it’s about what makes sense for the car, for the brand and working through all of that. So that will come later once we’re ready to make that announcement,” Klauser added.