Corvette Wins at Le Mans

[Hib Halverson]

Woke up to find that, on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chevrolet brand and the 10th anniversary of the C5.R's first LeMans win Corvette wins LeMans...again.
(sigh)
Good job, Corvette Racing!

Now I'll make some coffee and get ready to go out in the shop and work on my Corvette.

[jrose7004]

[22229stingray81]

They won both of the GT classes. Quite the pleasant surprise!

Anyone else sick of the 90% coverage for LMP1 though? They act as if all the other classes are on the track only as obstacles for LMP1. It quite annoys me.

-Tatortot

[catbert]

They won both of the GT classes. Quite the pleasant surprise!

Anyone else sick of the 90% coverage for LMP1 though? They act as if all the other classes are on the track only as obstacles for LMP1. It quite annoys me.

-Tatortot

[yellow_2002_germany]

They won both of the GT classes. Quite the pleasant surprise!

Anyone else sick of the 90% coverage for LMP1 though? They act as if all the other classes are on the track only as obstacles for LMP1. It quite annoys me.

-Tatortot

I agree, but remember, the coverage was pool coverage. Speed didn't have any control over what was shown. It probably would have been even more P1 coverage had the Peugeot cars been in the lead instead of the Audi.

I was watching a site with live timing and scoring and I also had the Speed Corvette in car cam up watching what was going on.

[Tuna]

The LMP1 battle between the Audi and the Peugeot was the closest battle on the track so it's going to get the most coverage. After 24 hours, they was only about 12 seconds apart. LMP2 leader won by 6 laps.

GTE-Pro gap was half a lap and GTE-AM was bigger. Actually, there was a lot of Corvette Racing coverage considering the nature of the media coverage. With #74 having full control for most of the race until taken out in a wreck, it's no wonder. Then #73 was almost a lap behind the Ferrari late in the race but the 458 started losing speed and with 2 hours to go Milner passed the Ferrari and it was clear sailing from there to the finish.

I DVR'ed the race and fast forwarded through most, stopping to watch any Corvette action, the big wrecks that took out 2 of the 3 Audis in the race, and to catch up on LMP1 battle. The last 3 hours was pretty exciting with the 73 behind and pushing hard to catch up. Then, after the pass for the lead, you have to hold your breath and hope someone doesnt' do something stupid and wreck the race for Corvette Racing.

Doug Fehan said that Corvette Racing never gives up and they proved that again today.

Congratulations Corvette Racing!

[shmann]

I was following it since it started yesterday. I found the twitter coverage helpful for the times I couldn't watch it. The Corvette teams did a great job, and they make me proud to be a Corvette owner. Sorry Jan and the 74 car lost out, but they'll be back next year.

Steve

[Hib Halverson]

They won both of the GT classes. Quite the pleasant surprise!
(snip)

Surprise?
Not to me.
When you have teams in each of the GT classes racing C6.Rs, how could victory be a surprise?

As for the coverage LMP1...well...it really was quite a story with the team favored to win loosing two of their three cars in horrendous wrecks then coming back to win with their remaining car over the 3-car Pugeot team.

Actually, I thought the coverage of GT was adequate and, if I got bored with LMP1, I just went to Speed channel's live internet stream of Corvette Racing's in car.

To finish off the day, Gordon won at Pocono.
Sweet!

P.S. On "Windtunnel" Dave Dispane just reminded me that Corvette Le Mans win today was the seventh in eleven years.
Wow.

[trhao]

Good point about the coverage being pooled. I think Speed knows their audience has an interest in following the GT Corvettes and they do what they can to underscore how Corvette Racing is doing as well as interviewing the folks at P-M etc.

I watched several hours off and on thru Saturday and then made sure I got up early enough on Sunday to catch the final hour. I had just seen Mags crash the lead C6R - sighed and went to bed hoping the other C6 would be able to make up the 2 or 3 places to pick up the lead. (and I noticed the 3rd C6 in GTEAm was in the hunt... hmmm...) I was rewarded in the morning to see #74 in first (w/ a Ferrari on the lead lap too!).

The coverage was great expecially when you consider that there essentially was little to no coverage of LM in the old days. I often tuned into in car camera streaming from #73 w/ the headphones on and volume turned up. I enjoyed watching the car do laps going into sunset and then again at sunrise.

Surprising? Not if you consider the well engineered C6.Rs and the prep work etc the team put into it. But then when you consider they are 1000s of miles away in another country and this is Le Mans where anything can happen including the vagaries of ACO rule interpretations - yeah any win here can be a pleasant surprise for any team.

The GTE Amateur class win was a definite surprise for me - if for no other reason I have little knowledge of this team. I have to respect a European based team successfully racing what is to them a 'foreign' car and I think this was one of their first wins in this series anywhere.

An exciting race to watch, great win for both Corvette teams and I REALLY enjoyed the streaming in-car camera.

[O Vette]

That French team (Larbre Racing) that won the GTE Amat. class also raced at Sebring this year. Their pit was right next to Corvette Racing and Fehan said they help the French team when they can. Actually, the car Larbre was using was a Corvette Racing car from last year. It was also the car Corvette Racing used to qualify for the Lemans race. The French drivers were pretty friendly guys and took lots of pictures with fan down at Sebring.