Corvette reveals its new Z06 GT3.R

Get ready for a new GT3 Corvette. If it looks like it shares a lot with the production Corvette, that’s no accident. Chevrolet stressed how much carried over between the production version and the Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

“We wanted that synergy between the production car and the race car,” said Mark Stielow, GM Director of Motorsport Competition Engineering. “In the future, you’ll see the influence [of the race car] come back on the production side.”

The same production team on the production version of the Z06 worked on the GT3 version.

“The frame of the vehicle comes from Bowling Green,” said Laura Klauser, GM Sports Car Racing Program Manager. “It is the same frame, the aluminum frame that is in the Z06 production car. The engine is still in the rear, where it belongs in the C8 platform. It is a 5.5-liter LT6 V8; 70% of this engine, at least, is production-common, which is awesome because we go through such extremes to do reliability testing on our engines in production.”

There are, of course, some key differences between the production and race car versions. For example, GM is working with Pratt & Miller on the design of the GT3.

“The body, the uppers, the doors, a lot of that retains Corvette Z06 look and feel,” Stielow said. “[The GT3] is a little lower and a little bit wider. The doors, the cabin, that is the same.”

“It’s a race car through and through,” Klauser said. “Some of the suspension components are bespoke to racing, whether that’s the C uprights or the sway bars. Obviously, the wheels and the single lug nuts, that’s bespoke to racing. The bodywork is carbon all the way around, and how it connects and how you can take it apart when you’re working on things [are different] versus a production car. We changed the packaging a bit [on the engine], so the bottom half of the engine has been altered slightly. Pretty much the top half is production. So it would be a shorter package to fit it in where we wanted it.”

The car is currently still in testing. The car is being developed for customers, and the company wanted to stress it will come with ample customer support. More details will be released as they finalize the Corvette Z06 GT3.R. However, expect the car in force at the 2024 Rolex 24.

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