Daytona 24H / Roar - First official on-track action for Corvette Z06 GT3.R

The full complement of four Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R racecars hit the track together for the first time Friday – the opening day of the annual Roar Before the 24 at Daytona International Speedway.

The three-day Roar is a lead-in to next week’s Rolex 24 At Daytona and the start of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. A pair of Friday sessions and another three Saturday will lead into Sunday’s 15-minute qualifying session for the two classes in the GT categories – GTD (GT Daytona) PRO and GTD.

Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports in GTD PRO and new Corvette team AWA in GTD are running the Z06 GT3.Rs full-time in IMSA with the Rolex 24 serving as the new Corvette’s worldwide competition debut.

Factory driver Nico Varrone was the quickest Z06 GT3.R driver Friday in the AWA No. 17 Corvette at 1:46.925 (119.859 mph) to rank fourth on the day among the 23 cars in GTD. The 2023 GTE Am champion in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Corvette Racing, Varrone also won the Rolex 24 a year ago in the LMP3 class with current teammates Anthony Mantella and Thomas Merrill. They’re joined this year by Charlie Eastwood. Varrone’s best time came in Friday morning’s session.

AWA teammate Matt Bell was ninth in class in the No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R and only 0.157 seconds off the sister car with a lap of 1:47.082 (119.684 mph) in the afternoon session.

In GTD PRO, Alexander Sims was fifth quickest in GTD PRO on Friday for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports. His best lap of 1:46.971 (119.808 mph) in the No. 3 Oshkosh/Mobil 1 Corvette Z06 GT3.R during the second session put him less than a half-second off the quickest time in class.

Nicky Catsburg was only 0.037 seconds behind his teammate in the No. 4 Oshkosh/Mobil 1 Z06 GT3.R. His best lap was a 1:47.008 (119.776 mph), also from the afternoon.

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 OSHKOSH / MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "This was a useful day. It's been pretty smooth running where we've been able to make quite a few changes and get a good read on them. For me personally, each time I've gotten into the car it's taken a little bit of time to adjust to the ABS again. But it's nice to get a couple of runs into that zone. We're working with the team, working through changes. The base setup feels pretty nice and predictable. It's not killing the tires, and degradation seems OK at the moment. It drives like a Corvette!"

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 OSHKOSH / MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It honestly was a nice day. We started at a certain baseline point and worked our way up to a better feeling car. Honestly, I feel like we still need some additional time, but it already feels like a good starting position. Today was nice. It was kind of nice to get some laps in and get ready for the race. I feel like we now need to work on some of the basics – driver changes, pulling away, stuff like that. But overall I was quite pleased.”

NICO VARRONE, NO. 17 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I feel like it was a nice day. First day of the Roar, first official practice. It was really nice to see all the Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs on track all together. In Practice 1, I think I nailed a good lap and that’s why we were near the top. There are still some things we need to work on, and we are working for tomorrow and for sure for the race. Over the lap it was quick, but you never know until it’s race day or at race time. In my opinion, there is a lot to work on. We still need to find traction. That was our biggest issue, and on a long run we were struggling quite a bit. All in all, it was good to get in the car and good to get some feeling back again. I'm looking forward to more practice tomorrow and be ready to keep improving.