News Recap: Corvette Chosen Most Iconic; #17 Z06 GT3.R Quits IMSA

I’m on all the notable Corvette forums and social media pages all day, every day, and I’ve done the legwork for you. Here are some compelling stories from the Corvette community, with concise, straight-to-the-point summaries for your busy lifestyle.

1) MotorTrend Readers Voted “America’s Sports Car” as the Most Iconic Car of the Past 75 Years

The term iconic is one of today’s most overused words (I’m guilty), but I think we can all agree there are times when the description hits the nail on the head. Right on cue, MotorTrend readers were recently given a list of the 10 greatest cars in automotive history, and “America’s Sports Car” took the win for the most iconic.

MotorTrend summed up the iconic Corvette perfectly:

“Chevy has sold more than 1.8 million Corvettes over the past 71 years, eight generations, and two powertrain layouts. They’ve come with automatic, manual, and dual-clutch transmissions offering anywhere from two to eight ratios. Under the hood of the various production cars and concepts, there have been pushrod inline-sixes, pushrod and dual-overhead-cam V-8s, superchargers, turbochargers, a hybrid system, and even rotary engines. They’ve been featured in countless movies, TV shows, songs, and magazine covers, and they’ve been owned by more celebrities than we can list up to and including our current president. They’ve been everything from racing champions to world-beating supercars to the preferred ride of the white-tank-top-and-gold-chain set and of white New Balance and jorts aficionados everywhere.”

Here was the MotorTrend-generated list of the 10 greatest cars in automotive history that readers chose from:

BMW 3 Series
Chevrolet Corvette
Ford F-150
Ford Mustang
Jeep CJ/Wrangler
Lamborghini Countach
Mazda Miata
Porsche 911
Tesla Model S
Volkswagon Beetle

CorvSport Corvette Accolades Archives:

Congrats to our beloved Corvette for adding another award to that packed trophy case!

2) Racing Community and Enthusiasts Shocked by IMSA Z06 GT3.R Quitting

News began developing just days ago that one of the four new Z06 GT3.R race cars had officially quit racing after just two races into the new IMSA season and was putting his Z06 GT3.R up for sale. First, a quick summary of the teams and race results, then the Instagram post by the No. 17 AWA car owner that ignited the shock.

IMSA Team Profile Recaps:

♦ GTD PRO: Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports

The No. 3: Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims, and Daniel Juncadella
The No. 4: Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg, and Earl Bamber

♦ GTD: AWA

The No. 13: Orey Fidani, Matt Bell and Lars Kern
The No. 17: Thomas Merrill, Charlie Eastwood, and Anthony Mantella

IMSA Race Results Recap:

♦ Daytona Rolex 24:

No. 3: 5th place finish (after overcoming a cracked oil tank).
No. 4: The 24 hours were completed, but the No. 4 had a poor finish due to replacing a power steering pump within the final six hours.
No. 13: AWA decided to withdraw the No. 13 Corvette due to another power steering issue.
No. 17: Electrical reasons forced AWA to withdraw the No. 17 car as well.

♦ 12 Hours of Sebring:

No. 3: The No. 3 was slammed from behind and spun off track in the final minutes while running second in GTD PRO.
No. 4: The No. 4 Z06 GT3.R lost precious time in the first half of the race while attempting to resolve clutch issues. The team tried to remain in GTD PRO contention and serviced during pit stops, but near the halfway point, they elected to change a clutch component and lost multiple laps in the process.
No. 13: Despite starting from the rear of the field, the No. 13 team methodically worked its way through the field and placed NINTH!
No. 17: AWA’s second Corvette retired early in the race with an electrical problem.

As things finally quieted down after the shift from factory-backed to factory-supported racing sent ripples through the community, the No. 17 owner, Anthony Mantella, posted this on Instagram.

With phrases like “Used very infrequently” and “Hasn’t finished a race,” one has to give a nod to Mantella for keeping a sense of humor during what must have been a very difficult decision. That being said, I think the for sale aspect may be tongue in cheek. As a reminder, AWA Racing was handpicked by GM Racing to field two new Corvette Z06 GT3.R racers in the GTD class for the IMSA 2024 season, and these special Z06s were “said to cost over $750,000 each.” This is in addition to the equipment, training, and other costs AWA Racing had invested in the No. 17 IMSA campaign.

As you’ll note in our racing recap, the first two races yielded disappointing results for the No. 17 Z06 GT3.R. Still, despite this, Mantella is reportedly getting “lit up in the comments of his Instagram post as users reminded him that it takes time to sort out a brand new racer while others called it a garbage move for quitting after two races and taking his car home. One other says that Mantella will never be granted another opportunity to get a first year OEM race car.”

AWA posted a short statement on social media: “Anthony Mantella has elected to step away from the GTD program at this moment in time… The No. 13 car will continue to proceed as planned and will be present at the upcoming round in Long Beach.”

So, CorvSport readers, what do you think about Mantella’s move?

I hope you have found this short but concise recap informative. If you want to keep up to date with all the fresh Corvette news and maintain a pulse on the lifestyle and culture of this exciting, iconic brand, CorvSport has the fastest-growing Corvette community on our Facebook page, with over 173,000 followers (54,000 since January 2023!). Come join other hardcore enthusiasts and say hello, Douglas B.