GM has “unfinished business” in Le Mans’ top class, Laura Wontrop Klauser, Chevrolet’s sports car racing program manager, said.
The manager, who has led Cadillac’s successful DPI.VR program since 2017, took over the new position just this week and will have to decide on the brand’s, and the Corvette’s, racing future.
The trouble for the Corvette is not its success, which is beyond reproach, but rather the fact that the class it races in is diminishing. The team’s two new C8.Rs will race against just one other full-season competitor.
Fortunately, the program is still viable, but other entries are also available to Chevrolet, says Klauser. One of them is the FIA’s new LMDh class.
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The hypercar class has already attracted brands like Porsche, Toyota and Peugeot. One of the big advantages of the class is that it would be able to race in more than just FIA races.
“The fact that [LMDh] has been a joint effort between the ACO and IMSA makes it very appealing,” Klauser told sportscar365. “We’ve always wanted to go back to Le Mans in the top class as we have some unfinished business there.”
Unfortunately, that interest won’t necessarily translate into competing. The new class may be attractive, but there will be work involved in entering the series.
“But it’s one of the things that in order to get programs like that through GM, you have to first figure out what you want to do, then get leadership on board and then leadership has to figure out ways to fund all this stuff,” said Klauser. “There’s a lot going on at GM and how we need to decide how we slot in and what programs make sense financially.”
