Press Release:
CORVETTE RACING AT FUJI: Rising Sun, Rising Corvettes
Confidence growing at TF Sport after strong pace for Z06 GT3.Rs at COTA
DETROIT (September 10, 2024) – The Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R will make its debut in Asia this weekend as TF Sport moves to the Six Hours of Fuji and the seventh round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Coming off a strong performance two weeks ago at Circuit of The Americas, hopes are high for a podium finish – and maybe more – in a deep and highly competitive LMGT3 class.
Corvette factory driver Daniel Juncadella led the No. 82 Corvette, which he shares with Sebastien Bourdais and Hiroshi Koizumi to an eighth-place finish in class.
Both of the team’s Z06 GT3.Rs showed impressive pace with the No. 81 Corvette of factory driver Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom Van Rompuy running as high as second before being hit by another LMGT3 competitor and eventually retiring from the race.
Despite that, momentum is on the side of TF Sport heading to Fuji Speedway. It’s a track the team knows well, having scored two race wins, a runner-up and a pair of pole positions in its previous four trips to the 2.84-mile, 16-turn circuit less than two hours outside Tokyo.
Eastwood was part of a GTE Am victory (2019) and runner-up finish (2018) with TF Sport. In addition, Juncadella contested the GT World Challenge Asia weekend at Fuji last season and scored an overall pole position. His Japanese teammate, Koizumi, is set for his home race and will make his second career WEC start at the circuit having debuted in the series at last year’s event.
From an engineering perspective, TF Sport can lean on learnings from the Corvette C8.R’s previous two appearances including last year when the program finished second in GTE Am after claiming pole position.
The Six Hours of Fuji is scheduled for 11 a.m. Japanese Standard Time (JST) on Sunday / 10 p.m. ET on Saturday. MotorTrend TV will air live television coverage from 9:30-11 p.m. ET on Saturday plus 3-4:30 a.m. ET on Sunday. Full live streaming coverage of Free Practice 3, qualifying and the race will be available on the FIA WEC app and the MAX app in the U.S. Radio Le Mans also will stream audio coverage of Saturday’s final practice and qualifying, plus Sunday’s race.
TF SPORT PRE-EVENT DRIVER QUOTES
CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Fuji is a track and a place that I absolutely love, as was Austin to be fair. I’ve had some good success at here in the past, and my first win in WEC was at Fuji. Both the track and the place are really nice places to be. Car-wise, we were so strong at COTA. It shows the commitment and work that both the team and Corvette Racing are doing in the background to keep this car moving forward. So I’m really hopeful again going into Fuji. Although we haven’t a result we wanted so far this year, I feel one is just around the corner. We’ll be going for that. I think this type of track will suit our Corvette. We just need to start putting the weekends together.”
RUI ANDRADE, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Fuji is a special place. It’s always a pleasure to go to Japan and such a beautiful country. The culture is incredible. A lot of drivers that I know always takes a few days to explore Tokyo, drive around and go to Mount Fuji. It’s that kind of place where you take things in. It’s such a beautiful place. As far as the track goes, it’s incredible and amazing. It has a good complex and combination of corners with a super-long straight and then a really fast first sector. It’s pretty high up on my list of favorites.”
DANI JUNCADELLA, NO. 82 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I was at Fuji last year in GT World Challenge Asia. It’s a track that I really love. I was on pole, and it was just about the time I was having my meetings with Corvette Racing to finalize my contract! So I have a pretty good memory of that weekend because I didn’t have a lot of sleep because I was excited for those new prospects. But those are really good memories from Fuji because it is a track I really enjoy. On top of that, Hiroshi is a Japanese driver and if there is one track where he is going to be very competitive, I think Fuji is the one. He’s going to be excited, and I’m massively pumped. I love Japan. We’ve had a very competitive car the last couple of races. The Corvette has been getting better and better. We seem to be improving reliability-wise and pace-wise. Everything has been going in the right direction. I’m really excited. There has to be a race where we have a chance in the last two hours, and I hope it’s Fuji.”
HIROSHI KOIZUMI, NO. 82 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "It is very exciting for me to race at Fuji Speedway, my home track, with TF Sport and our Corvette. I feel confident for this race because I know the track and our car is very fast. I am hopeful good performance from myself so that we can have our best finish of the year."
SEBASTIEN BAUD, NO. 82 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was my first time racing in America at COTA and this will be my first time in Japan. It’s very nice because we have had a lot of driving and racing in a lot of countries. It’s great because I get to do this in a Corvette as this is my dream to do this in a World Championship. It is the home race for Hiroshi, which is good. I hope we can visit some places with him! But for me it is very important to have a good result at Fuji. I’m a competitor and I think we are better as a team as we have learned more about the Corvette. The car is good, and I think we can definitely be on the podium.”
2024 FIA World Endurance Championship Points
LMGT3 Drivers Standings
1. Aliaksandr Malykhin/Joel Sturm/Klaus Bachler – 118
2. Morris Schuring/Richard Lietz/Yasser Shahin – 90
3. Augusto Farfus/Darren Leung/Sean Gelael – 84
4. Alex Riberas/Daniel Mancinelli/Ian James – 81
5. Alessio Rovera/Francois Heriau/Simon Mann – 50
21. Daniel Juncadella/Hiroshi Koizumi/Sebastien Baud – 14
23. Charlie Eastwood/Rui Andrade/Tom Van Rompuy – 11
LMGT3 Teams Standings
1. No. 92 Manthey PureRxcing – 118
2. No. 91 Manthey EMA – 90
3. No. 31 Team WRT – 84
4. No. 27 Heart of Racing Team – 81
5. No. 55 Vista AF Corse – 50
16. No. 82 TF Sport – 14
17. No. 81 TF Sport – 11
CORVETTE RACING AT Fuji: By the Numbers
• 2: Previous appearances at the Six Hours of Fuji for the Corvette Racing program
• 11: Victories in the first year of the Corvette Z06 GT3.R
• 13: Hours difference between Fuji and Detroit in the Eastern Time Zone. That means this weekend’s race will begin Sunday morning in Japan but late Saturday night Eastern Time
• 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001
• 28: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Barber Motorsport Park (the latest), Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Monza, Portimão, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen
• 38: Hours of racing left in the Corvette Z06 GT3.R season covering WEC, IMSA and GT World Challenge
• 51: Number of drivers in Corvette Racing entries since 1999. DXDT Racing’s Bryson Morris joined the list at Road America in GT World Challenge America
• 71: Years since Corvette was introduced to the world on Jan. 17, 1953 in New York City. A total of 300 cars were produced that year
• 138: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 116 in IMSA, nine at Le Mans, three in the FIA WEC and 10 in GT World Challenge America
• 304: Event starts by Corvette Racing entries since 1999, starting with that year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona. No. 300 came in early August at Road America in IMSA
• 390,295.42: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon and more than halfway back!
Corvette Racing at Fuji Speedway
2022
No. 64 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 5th in GTE Pro
2023
No. 33 Corvette C8.R: Nicky Catsburg/Ben Keating/Nico Varrone –2nd in GTE Am
Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick
