Corvette Programme manager Dough Fehan took a few minutes to speak with Racing24-7.net at Le Mans.
The team puts Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Mike Rockenfeller in one car, whereas Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler run in the other car.
A lot of the Corvette drivers has been in the programme for a lot of years now, so it must be good to have a set team for so many years?
“Yes, continuity is something that we set out to achieve, when we set up the programme. So when you look around, it’s the same guys in the pitlane, same guys that are driving, same guys that are doing engineering. There are huge benefits to have that level of continuity in the race programme.”
There has a bit of mixing and matching between the drivers before.
“Yes, although the last few years we have got that pretty well solidified.”
The main focus is still on IMSA and this single event. Do you have any consideration about WEC or is that not interesting at all?
“Oh, no no. WEC is very interesting, but it becomes a financial issue, because this programme is run by GM North America, and GM has different silos in each country. So there is a GM of China that has its own budget, it’s own operating people. GM of South America, GM of Europe, GM of Asia – they are all separate companies. So North America can only afford to run and race in North America. For us to race in WEC, which is global, would requite the participation of trying to get all these people together. So is that a possibility? Absolutely! But it’s not something that we can do out of North America.”
Are there any plans of bringing a new car, or is that not decided yet?
“Well, there eventually will be an 8th generation of Corvette, that’s undeniable. When that happens, we don’t know, but when it does, we will be racing the 8th generation. We are not sure when that is gonna be.”
So there is nothing testing at the moment?
“We have no plans to introduce a new car until the factory would announce their, and that’s when we would have availability to do that.”
Corvette Racing will start this years 24 Hours of Le Mans from P9 and P14.