Corvette entry for LMP1
But that does not mean the Pratt & Miller-run Corvette program will disappear altogether any time soon.
Also, contrary to recent reports, the Evo class is slated to begin racing in 2010, though with a modified look.
According to GM road racing boss Steve Wesoloski, the company has backed away from plans to develop an Evo Corvette due to cost concerns and because the final regulations of revised Le Mans classes, including the GT classes, remains questionable. He did, however, leave the door open to revive the Corvette Evo program.
"I'm not giving up," Wesoloski said. "Overall [race] wins are still my target."
The GT1-class Corvettes that now race in the American Le Mans Series and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans are contenders for class wins only.
In June 2007, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest announced its intention to introduce a new Evo class. The class would allow only closed-cockpit coupes with reduced performance and bodywork that resembled actual road cars, rather than the radical-looking LMP1 cars used today.
The new cars would have been eligible beginning in 2009 and would have replaced the existing breed of LMP1 prototypes entirely by 2011. But Wesoloski told AutoWeek on Wednesday that recent comments by Le Mans sporting director Daniel Poissenot that were interpreted to mark the Evo class' death were taken out of context.
Instead, it appears that the ACO's latest plan calls for Evo coupes to debut in 2010, when they will race against today's LMP1 cars. AutoWeek
04/03/08 According to rumors on F1Grandprix.it, after dominating the GT1 class for years, Corvette and Chevrolet are working on a car to enter in the LMP1 prototype class of the American LeMans Series to go up against Audi and Peugeot. The car could be powered by the new supercharged Corvette C6-R 'Blue Devil' engine and the chassis may be designed by Chevrolet themselves.