This is the new Corvette factory racer that GM will pitch against BMW, Ferrari, Jaguar and Porsche in the increasingly hotly contested ALMS GT2 category in the US.
The new racer features bodywork that closely resembles the ZR1 road car, including identical wheel arch dimensions, headlamps and the ZR1’s aluminium chassis – and even the road car’s tilt and slide steering column is carried over.
The new GT2 cars will run for the rest of the 2009 ALMS season with a 6.0 version of the GT1 racer’s 7.0 V8, but next year they’ll get an all-new 5.5 litre V8 based on the next generation of the Chevy/GM small block. The 2009 engines will be built alongside the production LSD engines used currently in the ZR1.
M’s switch to ALMS GT2 is part of a global trend towards more production-based GT racing, as also evidenced by the proposed changes for the FIA GT1 category next year. As well as significantly reducing cost for factory teams and other competitors, it seems to be the case that racing cars with clear visual links to their road-going siblings broaden the appeal to potential race fans, as well as providing a more obvious marketing platform for car makers.
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