Corvette will follow Aston Martin
Aston Martin's plans to return to the American Le Mans Series could have been dealt a fatal blow by the announcement this week that all four of the drivers who raced for them in 2006 have secured other opportunities for the coming year.
Pedro Lamy, Stephane Sarrazin, Darren Turner and Tomas Enge all confirmed drives elsewhere for the coming season.
Additionally, Prodrive, who run Aston Martin's ALMS effort, are likely to be concentrating on their forthcoming Formula One entry through the year.
Should Aston Martin pull out, it's doubtful Corvette will remain in ALMS and could move to Europe as rumored below to beat Aston Martin there. If this happens it could spell the end for the GT1 class in the ALMS.
What good is it if your top LMP class (LMP1 with Audi) and top GT class (GT1 with maybe Corvette) has only one brand parading around the track against itself? This is the danger you risk when you allow manufacturers to come in, spend lots of money, run roughshod over your series, and then leave it with no privateers when they pull out.
01/12/07 Corvette Racing are waiting to see what their rivals Aston Martin are doing in 2007, Corvette driver Oliver Gavin revealed.
"I'm not entirely sure where we are going to be racing," Gavin said at the Autosport show. "With the Corvettes, they're still deciding on whether it should be in Europe or in the ALMS again.
"We're waiting to see what Aston Martin are doing in terms of their program – we're hoping they're going to come back and race us in the ALMS.
"I had a very interesting season last year – frustrating at times, but ultimately it was successful for us, winning the championship and also beating them (Aston Martin) at Le Mans, which was a fantastic achievement for everybody involved in Corvette Racing."
"I think there's certainly a marketing benefit of just turning up and running the car," Gavin explained.
"But we do need competition, we do want to race against someone, and it was great last year, having the competition from Aston Martin, so we're just hoping they'll find the money to come back."