Ben Keating: "The Corvette C8.R is a fantastic car"

Why did you choose Corvette?

I have so many connections with this brand. Driving in the WEC for an American manufacturer and an American team is obviously very special for me. And to hear the national anthem when I win is something that thrills me. On the other hand, driving is not my job. I drive cars for fun, but sell cars for a living. I own 28 dealerships in Texas and sell 19 different makes. But no Aston Martins, no Porsches or Ferraris. And it's something special for me to race what I sell.

What does that mean?

For example, many of my customers are passionate about racing and are excited to know that I will be racing a Corvette. I can feel the excitement. I raced a Viper before I was a Viper dealer and then became the biggest Viper seller in the world, with 10% of total sales in 2017. I won't expect that level with Corvette, but I think it will have an impact on my business, because customers know that when they come to me to buy a car, I know what I'm talking about, including performance. 

But you have won everything with TF Sport?

For the first time, between 2020 and 2021, I didn't change my car from one season to the next. Why did you do that? Because TF Sport. The team is as professional as it is friendly. It's made up of personalities who are great to work with and simply to spend time with. Le Mans is the perfect example. We won without having the fastest car, proving that we did the perfect race, both behind the wheel and on the wall. That's what makes me most proud of this victory. It's all thanks to TF Sport. I liked the fact that we speak the same language. It will be fun to race against them next year.

We feel you are very cheerful...

There are many reasons why the coming season will be special. 2023 will be the last year of the C8.R and the GTEs, but also the first time that Corvette Racing will run in the GTE Am. It's an honour for me to be in this position. 

How did you find the C8.R?

I'm not at my full potential in it yet, I'm still learning and it's quite different to the Aston Martin I've driven for the last two years. I'm looking forward to doing more laps in it and learning from this team. But the Corvette C8.R is a fantastic car, extremely well designed. I'm proud to be the first Bronze to drive it in WEC. I think I've driven almost every single GTE car now, and they're all a little bit different in the way you find speed. Obviously the Corvette is no different. You have to learn where to find the speed and how to work the car. It's been really interesting. In looking at the data, and as an example I was one gear too low in every single corner; I was over-slowing the car in every single corner than what I needed to because my brain isn't calibrated to how quickly the Corvette can go through a corner. That's just an example of the things I need to learn, and I'm excited to do that.

Why did you run two Silvers here?

To find out who we're going to be racing with Nicky (Catsburg. Ed.). We tested two here (Nicolas Varrone and Axcil Jefferies. Ed.) in Bahrain and we will test two more a little later in the USA. But we want to make a decision relatively quickly. I have an interesting list of what I consider to be the best Silvers at the moment. I was quite impressed with the two I saw today, so I'm reassured that I didn't screw up. And even if they don't make the cut, driving a C8.R on a circuit where Formula 1 is run is not an opportunity available to everyone. 

Will you be back in IMSA?

Same programme, same car and same team (Michelin Endurance Cup on an Oreca 07 of PR1 Mathiasen Motorport.) But with a different team-mate because my counterpart on the other car has hired the one (Mikkel Jensen. Editor's note) with whom I won this year.