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2014 WEC: Corvette To Race At COTA
2014 WEC: Corvette To Race At COTA
August 17 2014 07:54:57 AM EST
Sportscar365 has revealed that Corvette Racing will enter one Corvette C7.R in the 2014 FIA WEC round at COTA.

This year's COTA schedules sees the FIA WEC and the Tudor United Sportscar Championship race on the same day, unlike 2013 where it was split between Saturday and Sunday. Corvette Racing will enter the teams test car in the 6hr FIA WEC race, and the usual two cars in the 2hr 45min Tudor Championship race.

The drive line-up will be all American, with Tommy Milner, Jordan Taylor, and Ricky Taylor. The Taylor brother's sponsor Konica Minolta, along with Michelin, will have dual primary sponsorship of the WEC car.

While Jordan has experience with the C7.R from Le Mans, brother Ricky got to sit in the car for the first time at Road America this past weekend.

JORDAN TAYLOR QUOTES:
“This is an amazing opportunity. To be racing a Corvette in the FIA World Endurance Championship on American soil, with an all-American lineup… it couldn’t be any cooler,”

“It will be my first time racing in the WEC, other than doing Le Mans the past few years, so it’s going to be a bit of a different feel racing in more of a sprint race format. We’ll be representing America on a world stage. I can’t wait.”

RICKY TAYLOR QUOTES:
“It is a very important weekend for us on many levels. For me it will be my first opportunity to drive for Corvette Racing and my first time in GTE Pro."

“I am really looking forward to getting to know the team and working with everyone on a race weekend. With three American drivers in an American marque, we have a really special opportunity here.”

This is a great opportunity for Chevrolet to broaden its marketing outside of the IMSA and Le Mans. It is also a great marketing opportunity for Pratt & Miller to showcase their product to potential clients that may be looking to purchase a C7.R for 2015.

It is unlikely that this is any kind of move away from IMSA towards the WEC for future plans for Corvette Racing. As a business aspect, the it does not make sense to move to WEC and abandon IMSA since 99% of all Corvette sales are in North America. Corvette is only available for sale in 4 of the 8 countries the WEC visits, 1 being the USA.

As far as BoP goes, Corvette's BoP will revert to ACO BoP as seen here. Corvette sees a 0.1mm larger restrictor compared to what was ran at LM24, and 5 less liters of fuel.

Corvette Racing is not the only TUSC team that will enter the WEC race. Extreme Speed Motorsports will enter 1 of their P2 cars, and Krone Racing will enter their GTE Ferrari.

Currently the WEC races are only available to watch via a mobile app subscription. It is unknown at this time if the WEC race will be shown on live TV in the US. We will update you as the time gets closer.