[1]
Corvette Racing will start from fourth and sixth places on the 18-entry strong GTE Pro grid at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team stood pat on times achieved Wednesday night, using the Thursday qualifying sessions to concentrate on preparing for the 24-hour endurance test.
[2]Jan Magnussen qualified the #74 Corvette C6.R in P4 with a 3:59.519 lap time, while Olivier Beretta turned the sixth quickest lap at 3:59.633 in the #73 Corvette C6.R. A BMW M3 GT claimed pole position with a fastest lap of 3:57.592.
After installing their race motor and new brakes during a one-hour break between Thursday night sessions, track time was used to bed in the changes on the #73 car. Similarly, after installing a new transmission, the #74 car used the closing hours of qualifying to break in the new parts.
Corvette Racing team manager Gary Pratt explained. “The track was covered with oil in the final two-hour session, so there wasn’t any reason to try to run quicker. We did a good job on Wednesday night, qualifying the cars fourth and sixth, and those are good starting positions. Now we want to have cars that can run well for 24 hours, so we’ll concentrate on the final prep tomorrow.”
The 24 Hours of Le Mans will run on June 11-12. The race starts Saturday at 3 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET).