The stage was set for an exciting and riveting 24 Hours of Le Mans, as this was TF Sport’s first trip to the French classic and the first Le Mans for the new Z06 GT3.R. And to add to the intrigue, this was just the second 24-hour endurance race for the teething Z06 GT3.R, the first coming at the Rolex 24 At Daytona to open the IMSA season.
In the fourth round of this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship, TF Sport’s Daniel Juncadella’s quote perfectly summed up this grueling race: “We made it to the end, which is an amazing accomplishment…” And you’ll notice in the driver comments below that this was the prevailing sentiment from all the drivers in this year’s 24 hours of Le Mans. In today’s Corvette Racing Recap, we’ll give you a quick recap of the race with notable highlights, share the always-interesting driver quotes, and show you a few of our favorite photos from the busy weekend! Let’s dive in!
Meet the TF Sport Drivers:
- No. 81: Tom Van Rompuy, Charlie Eastwood, and Rui Andrade
- No. 82: Hiroshi Koizumi, Sébastien Baud, and Daniel Juncadella
The Hyperpole Results (with 23 cars in the LMGT3 field):
- TF Sport’s No. 82 started from the fourth row (7th) of the LMGT3 field after Koizumi’s lap of 4:03.681 (125.082 mph),
- The No. 81 Z06 GT3.R started 18th
Race Summary:
The No. 82 Z06 GT3.R of Koizumi, Baud, and Corvette factory driver Juncadella led the TF Sport effort with an 11th-place finish, an impressive result given they started 18th. The team completed 278 laps in the LMGT3 class. The No. 81 sister car of Van Rompuy, Eastwood, and Andrade placed 15th as Porsche took the class win. Both Corvettes combined to complete 545 laps for 4,616 miles in the race.
- Weather played a role in multiple parts of the race, which prioritized limiting mistakes and staying on the track. The most notable was a four-hour-plus safety car period due to heavy rain near the 12-hour mark.
- The No. 81’s only significant issue occurred with Eastwood at the wheel, a power system problem that the team eventually remedied after losing more than 10 laps.
- The only other noteworthy issue for the No. 81 Z06 GT3.R was a trip to the garage to change the nose of the car during the race’s first safety car period near the eight-hour mark.
- The setbacks for the No. 82 included a couple of minor off-track excursions and a clutch system issue, all of which occurred in the first two-thirds of the race.
Comments Directly From The Drivers:
“I’m happy to get to the end of the race. It threw close to everything at us, especially with the weather and conditions. There were a lot of tricky stints. There wasn’t a single stint in full dry conditions, which I can’t believe in a 24-hour race. All in all, I’m super proud of everyone for all of the work that has been happening – both from the GM and Corvette Racing side but also TF Sport. The rate of development that we’ve had with this car in this space of six months has been insane. Hopefully the development continues and we come back here next year even stronger.”
