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 History >> Press Releases
GM Media Press Release
FOR RELEASE: July 30, 2001
CONTACT: Wally Reese, GM Racing Communications
PHONE: (303) 979-1133 wareese@earthlink.net
Corvettes to Make First Visit to Portland
Daytona and Le Mans GTS Winners on a Roll
Portland, Ore., July 30, 2001 - Officials of Corvette Racing
announced today that the team will enter two Corvette C5-Rs in the August 5th
round of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) road race at Portland International
Raceway. It will be the first appearance of the Millennium Yellow
production-based racers in the Pacific Northwest.
Pacific NW Corvette owners want to see ‘their
cars’
"Portland has not been on our schedule," said Doug Fehan,
General Motors Program Manager for the Corvette C5-R, "but we are always
evaluating our program. We have a solid group of Corvette owners up there and
they are eager to see ‘their cars’ in action. It just worked out that we
could make that happen."
Corvette wins in endurance and sprint race formats
Corvette has been involved in the ALMS series since 1999 but has not
competed in every race, focusing instead on the Rolex 24 Hour, the 24 Hours of
Le Mans and Petit Le Mans 10-hour race at Road Atlanta plus selected ‘sprint’
races. The team has now won GTS victories in the three major endurance races
plus three 2 hour – 45 minute sprints, the most recent at Sears Point on July
22.
Sears Point GTS-class winners Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell
will share driving duties in the No. 3 GM Goodwrench Corvette. Andy Pilgrim and
Kelly Collins, who finished second in GTS at Sears Point, will team up in the
No. 4.
Momentum is important to whole team
"I am absolutely delighted that the team is going to
Portland," said Fellows. "We seem to be on a roll this year and it
would be a shame to lose the momentum that the whole team has right now.
Personally, I enjoy the Portland track and have won there in Trans-Am in ’93,
’94 and ’95."
Solid sponsorship from leading companies
Both Corvettes carry sponsorship from GM Goodwrench Service Plus, GMAC.
The UAW, Goodyear, Mobil 1, A.E.R., Action Performance Companies, Bullyhill
Vineyards, BBS Wheels, Hella and Katech engine development.
Corvette C5-R is production based
The Corvette C5-R race program continues Chevrolet’s tradition of
racing production-based vehicles. The engineers working on the Corvette C5-R
race car work closely with their production car counterparts to insure that race
car learnings impact present and future Corvettes and conversely, that
production learnings impact advances in race cars.
More than 1,200,000 Corvettes sold
More than 30,000 production Corvette C5-Rs are built and sold annually
with the total Corvettes sold, dating back to its inception in 1953, exceeds
1.2- million total vehicles.
Related Forum: Corvette Racing
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