CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: No. 82 Z06 GT3.R Going for Pole

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Press Release:
CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: No. 82 Z06 GT3.R Going for Pole

Juncadella puts TF Sport Corvette into top-eight Hyperpole session


LE MANS, France (June 12, 2024) – TF Sport’s Daniel Juncadella saved his best for last Wednesday to send the No. 82 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R into Thursday’s Hyperpole session for a shot at pole position for this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.


Juncadella set a lap of 3:56.105 (129.121 mph) in the Corvette that he will share with his FIA World Endurance Championship teammates Hiroshi Koizumi and Sebastien Baud. The effort was good enough for third in the LMGT3 class ahead of the 30-minute session that will set the first four rows of this year’s grid.


With factory driver Juncadella getting the No. 82 Corvette into Hyperpole, the Bronze-rated Koizumi will drive in Thursday evening’s session, per WEC rules.


Charlie Eastwood came up just short of joining Juncadella in making Hyperpole. He qualified 18tth in the No. 81 Corvette that he will share with Tom Van Rompuy – pole-winner in Qatar to start the season – and Rui Andrade. Eastwood’s best lap was a 3:57.296 (128.437 mph) effort, but starting position means little in a 24-hour race… especially with the weekend forecast of rain in the latter half of the event.


After all six drivers rotated through their respective Corvettes in the opening three-hour session, Eastwood and Juncadella drove exclusively in the qualifying session in an effort to get the maximum performance out of the Z06 GT3.Rs.
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The 24 Hours of Le Mans is scheduled for 4 p.m. CET / 10 a.m. ET on Saturday, June 15. MotorTrend will air live television coverage while streaming coverage on the FIA WEC app and the MAX app in the U.S., continues Thursday. Radio Le Mans also will stream audio coverage of all on-track sessions.


TF SPORT POST-QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTES

DANI JUNCADELLA, NO. 82 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – THIRD IN LMGT3: “I was pushing the limits a lot in that session. We used three sets of tires, so tells you a lot. But that was the effort we had to do in order to make Hyperpole, and it was that last-minute lap that got us in. I’m very happy with that, for sure. I was hoping it would be a bit easier. Obviously the level of competition is high and there are still a couple of bits to improve in the car. Fortunately we still have a couple of sessions to get it ready for the race. I’m thankful to have such a nice car like the Corvette to be able to do qualifying here at Le Mans on low fuel and new tires. It’s a nice experience in my first time here. Thanks to the TF Sport guys for a great car. Now we can look forward.”


CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – 18TH IN LMGT3: “Qualifying was a lot tighter than I think we expected. The pace ramped up pretty quickly. From my side, we’re having a few teething problems and didn’t have the car balance in the high-speed where we needed it. There was a bit of an offset between the cars because we’re still learning it. We did three runs and we had a different setup every run because one hour of track time at the minute is so critical. We started on a completely different spring package between the two cars. Dani obviously did a great lap and when we looked at the data, it was noticeable where the benefit came from. It doesn’t matter where you start but it does make my first couple of stints a bit harder because I need to go forward and get to the front in the first couple hours. There’s still plenty of practice time to get our heads around it and then 24 hours to get to the front.”


Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick