The wait is almost over. The long-rumored 2027 Corvette Grand Sport has broken cover, making its surprise public debut at Sebring International Raceway during this weekend’s 74th annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The full reveal is scheduled for Thursday, March 26.
In an exclusive report by Steven Cole Smith for Hagerty Media, the new C8-generation Grand Sport was officially confirmed to exist, and it’s packing a brand-new V-8 engine. According to Hagerty, Chevrolet executives on site were authorized to confirm exactly two things: yes, the car is real, and yes, it has a new V-8 under the hood.
A New Grand Sport Worth Getting Excited About
If Hagerty’s earlier December 2025 reporting holds true, the Grand Sport will be motivated by a 6.7-liter pushrod V-8 dubbed the LS6, the sixth-generation of Chevy’s legendary small-block, displacing the flat-plane-crank 5.5-liter LT6 V-8 found in the Z06. No manual transmission is expected to be offered, reportedly due to the difficulty of sourcing a suitable gearbox. The car photographed at Sebring was definitively an automatic.
Visually, the Grand Sport follows the wide-body formula established in the C6 and C7 generations, fitted with massive 21-inch rear wheels and 20-inch fronts to fill out the wider bodywork. Notable styling details include the absence of a large rear wing, a clean and aggressive stance, and, in a subtle but meaningful detail for Corvette fans, the twin red hash marks have moved from the front fenders to the rear. Hagerty described it as potentially the most handsome C8 Corvette yet. Pricing rumors have circulated around a sub-$100,000 starting figure, though nothing official has been announced.
Penske Ties Past to Present
The reveal setting was no accident. The Grand Sport was photographed alongside the legendary C2 Grand Sport chassis #001, one of only five ever built, which Roger Penske’s team raced at Sebring 60 years ago, almost to the day. Penske himself was on hand for the photo shoot, wearing a Chevrolet hat and leaning against the historic car he helped make famous.
In the 1966 Sebring 12 Hours, Penske’s team famously shoehorned a 427-cubic-inch V-8 into chassis #001, even fabricating a taller hood to fit it. The parallel to a new Grand Sport built around a bigger, pushrod V-8 is hard to miss.
The new Grand Sport actually made its first track appearance Saturday morning at 8:50 a.m., quietly completing a single lap of the Sebring circuit alongside chassis #001 and several other historical Grand Sport models, unannounced and with no fanfare.
What’s Next
Chevrolet has yet to make an official announcement, but with the car now confirmed and photographed in public, a full reveal is likely imminent. Stay tuned to Corvsport.com for the latest updates as more details emerge on the 2027 Corvette Grand Sport.
