Corvette Racing announces 2023 LMGTE Am campaign
New challenge for Corvette Racing in FIA WEC in 2023
Corvette Racing will transition to the LMGTE Am category for the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship, fielding for the full season a driver line-up of Nicky Catsburg and Ben Keating, with the third driver yet to be announced.
Catsburg moves to full time duties in the C8.R for the first time alongside highly successful Bronze driver Keating – widely considered one of the world’s best privateer drivers.
The pairing plus their yet-to-be-announced team-mate will contest the full seven-race WEC calendar including the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
Keating is a past winner at Le Mans, Daytona, Sebring and many of the other premier races in WEC, IMSA and Intercontinental GT Challenge. The personable Texan began racing in 2006 and quickly established a reputation as one of sports car’s fastest and most reliable amateur drivers in both prototype and GT categories.
While Keating will race a Corvette for the first time, Catsburg has established himself as a fixture with the marque. Since joining the program in 2020, Catsburg recorded a victory at Daytona in 2021 and Sebring this year alongside Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor.
The 2023 campaign will be Catsburg’s first in the World Endurance Championship since 2019. He also has wins in long-distance races at the Nürburgring, Spa and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, among other venues.
“It’s been my goal from the get-go when I joined the team to be a full-time Corvette Racing driver,” said Catsburg.
“It’s super-cool to do races like Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans. But I knew that I always wanted to do something full-time with the team. I’m super happy and proud that it’s happening and that I can call myself a full-time Corvette driver. It’s super-nice. It’s a dream come true and I can’t wait to get this going.”
“WEC is a cool program. You get to travel around the world and race at some of these great tracks. Ben is the best Bronze driver out there right now and consistently performs very well. I will miss GTE Pro because it was great fun being part of factory racing at Le Mans. But I’m excited to start working with Ben. I’ve been seeing him around for a number of years and he always does a fantastic job. I’m looking forward to this. This is a place that any driver wants to be.”
For Keating, it’s a change of car and a new team-mate too.
“I’ve really wanted to race a Corvette for a long time and have been chipping away at this to make this happen because I want to race what I sell,” he said.
“I’m in the unique position of enjoying cars as a vocation and a recreation. This is something I’ve been dreaming of for a long time. I’m incredibly excited for this opportunity.
“I know that Corvette Racing is really excited about the programme and I am too. There’s just something special about the 100th anniversary of Le Mans, the last year of GTE-spec cars and something special with an American driver racing for an American team. I’m excited that when – not if! – we win a race that we will hear the U.S. National Anthem. I haven’t had that because I’ve driven for British and German teams. So this will be awesome. The Corvette fans are crazy and fanatical! Getting to represent a brand that I sell and be part of that community is something that’s important to me and I’m excited about it all the way through.
“My number one thing about team-mates is that I’m doing this for recreation and for fun, so I really want to enjoy who I’m racing with. Having been teammates with Jeroen Bleekemolen for a number of years and both of them being Dutch, Nicky was kind of always around! So I’ve always felt a good connection with Nicky. Even though we’ve never been team-mates, I’ve paid attention very closely to him. I remember him testing a Corvette for the first time at Le Mans, and I wasn’t surprised when he went out and set the fastest GT lap of anyone in the field on the test day! So he is fun to watch. He’s extremely quick and is someone who knows all the tracks in the WEC and is someone I get along with extremely well. I’m super excited to be teamed with him.”
