Corvette Racing

General Motors was once more official represented thanks to two Corvettes entered by
Pratt & Miller. In 2003 they were beaten by the Ferrari F550 Maranello in the GTS class,
so the C5-Rs would be back for revenge especially as they were victorious in 2001 and
2002 after their debut in 2000. For 2004 the cars had been modified and half the driver
squad had been renewed.
New on the Corvette was an X-trac sequential gearbox replcing the Hewland and the arrival of
Michelin as tyre supplier, which led to an extensive redesign as the car was built around
different rubber. No. 63 was driven by Johnny O'Connell, Ron Fellows and Massimiliano Papis
while no. 64 was driven by Oliver Gavin, Jan Magnussen and Olivier Beretta.

Given its performance at Sebring where it sco-
red a class win the new modifications had been
a success. The team had reduced its weight
making it easier to drive. On the downside the
cars had smaller air restrictors as it raced at
1100 kgs and not 1150 kgs. To imrove straight-
line speed it now had windows and in the pre-
liminary practice it lapped almost 7 secs quicker
than in 2003! Oliver Gavin really put the ham-
mer down when he lapped under 3m 50 secs,
the only one of the GM team to do so. So it
looked like Corvette had the LM GTS pole sewn
up, but Tomas Enge put in a blinder of a lap
with only 3 minutes left to snatch pole for Fer-
rari and it was too late for Chevrolet to react.

So the no. 64 had grid position no. 18 and no. 63 no. 20 - not the best start, but there was
only one Ferrari out of six in front of them.
In the opening hour before the first refueling stops the C5-Rs and the F550s were running nose
to tail. If the Italian cars were a bit quicker on the straight their American rivals made up the
time in the corners. For 45 minutes the spectators were treated to a superb battle. The big
question was the fuel comsumption and pit stop times. In the GM camp the stops were stag-
gered by a lap while Prodrive Ferrari brought in their two cars together. Gavin took the lead af-
ter refueling but Ron Fellows went into the tyres at Arnage while lapping the Racers Group Por-
sche. He got back to his pit and rejoind in 47 position after repairs. It was just the first of the
incidents in the Italo-American battle.
The safety car appeared for the second timebetween 22h44 and 22h52 following an accident in
the hump on the right before the Indianapolis. Ron Fellows Corvette punctured on the left-hand
rear and the car slammed into the guardrail throwing up a thick dust cloud that blinded Belmon-
do in his Courage. Sébastien Bourdais in a Pescarolo was next on the scene and could not avoid
the Courage, which he punted into the railings. The Corvette no. 63 got back to the pit and
lost 26 minutes for repairs.

The Ferrari-Corvette battle in GTS lived up to
expectations. No. 63 rejoined at 23h15 - with
an American Le Mans Series bonnet with num-
ber 3 on its rear - three laps behind the Larbre
Competition Ferrari F550 Maranello also in
trouble. The gap between the C5-R and its
sister car leading the class was 13 laps, nearly
an hour.
Gavin, Magnussen and Beretta dominated their
rivals and were now in 5th place overall. Still
there was no let up for the Americans as Enge,
Kox and Menu's Ferrari was on the same lap in
6th place. And it was only midnight!

At 01h03 Jamie Davies in the Veloqx Audi no. 88 hit the leading Corvette with Jan Magnussen at
the wheel in the Ford chicane and it ploughed nose first into the tyre barriers. Eleven minutes
were lost as the Dane extracted his battered car and covered a slow lap before pitting. This put
Menu's Ferrai in front of the GTS class as it took 11 minutes to change the radiator. Magnussen
rejoined only 2 laps behing the Ferrari, which - in turn - had had a stop to have a sponge re-
moved from the air restrictor!
05h51 Olivier Beretta reliefed Oliver Gavin but had to wait another 12 minutes, as the wind-
screen and front bumper had to be changed as a result of the hit by the Veloqx Audi no. 88. No.
64 was now in 9th place overall, 6 laps behind the GTS leader, Kox, Enge and Menu's Ferrari.
No. 63 was well back in 17th place, 7 laps behind its sister car and 3 down on the second
Prodrive Ferrari.
11h34 the leading Ferrari slowed down at the Dunlop curve due to a collapsed left-hand suspen-
sion and the car took more than 8 minutes to return to the pit. Thus began a race against time,
as the Corvette no. 64 was only 5 laps behind, a gap which was barely sufficient for repairs to
be carried out. Beretta refuelled just when the Ferrari was ready to restart and the two left the
pit lane neck and neck with Magnussen (replacing the Frenchman) just nosing ahead as they
went out. But a couple of hours later the Ferrari no. 66 ran into more problems and had to
acknowledge defeat to the Corvette no. 64 which came 6th overall after 345 laps in 24 hours.
Corvette went on to scored a double as no. 63 which came 8th overall, took advantage of the
red car's misfortune to snatch 2nd place in the GTS class.