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TF SPORT AND CORVETTE SHINE UNDER THE LIGHTS AT LUSAIL: THE #33 Z06 GT3.R WINS THE QATAR 1812 KM!
The 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season opened with the taste of champagne for TF Sport and Corvette. In the Qatar 1812 KM, at the end of a ten-hour battle, the #33 Corvette Z06 GT3.R crossed the finish line first in the LMGT3 class.
The car, driven by Daniel Juncadella, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating, made an extraordinary comeback. Starting from 13th on the grid, the #33 Corvette took full advantage of every favourable situation and slowly climbed the leaderboard thanks to its excellent pace. The first half of the race was enough to put the #33 Z06 GT3.R out in front, with Keating, Edgar and Juncadella outpacing their rivals, thanks also to the excellent work done by the mechanics and engineers. All the team members worked perfectly all weekend, and in the race this paid off.
However, the competition was tight to the end: Juncadella, back in the car in the last phase of the race, had to defend first position from the assaults of the #59 McLaren. The Spaniard kept his nerves despite the narrow lead, and by not making any mistakes managed to win the race by a margin of just half a second. For TF Sport, this is the eighth victory in the FIA WEC, the first achieved together with Corvette and the first since the 6 Hours of Fuji in 2022.
Qatar 1812 KM could have been even more positive for the team if bad luck had not struck the #81 Corvette Z06 GT3.R. The car, driven by Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom Van Rompuy, after starting from P9 and quickly gaining several positions was betrayed by a mechanical failure. During the first pit stop a broken alternator pulley shaft forced the retirement of the #81 less than an hour into the race: a real shame, because the pace shown would have also allowed this crew to fight for victory.
After a great start to the 2025 season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, TF Sport and Corvette make an appointment for the second round of the campaign: the #33 and #81 will be back on track at the Autodromo Enzo and Dino Ferrari for the 6 Hours of Imola, scheduled for the weekend of 20 April.
TOM FERRIER, TF SPORT OWNER:
The car, driven by Daniel Juncadella, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating, made an extraordinary comeback. Starting from 13th on the grid, the #33 Corvette took full advantage of every favourable situation and slowly climbed the leaderboard thanks to its excellent pace. The first half of the race was enough to put the #33 Z06 GT3.R out in front, with Keating, Edgar and Juncadella outpacing their rivals, thanks also to the excellent work done by the mechanics and engineers. All the team members worked perfectly all weekend, and in the race this paid off.
However, the competition was tight to the end: Juncadella, back in the car in the last phase of the race, had to defend first position from the assaults of the #59 McLaren. The Spaniard kept his nerves despite the narrow lead, and by not making any mistakes managed to win the race by a margin of just half a second. For TF Sport, this is the eighth victory in the FIA WEC, the first achieved together with Corvette and the first since the 6 Hours of Fuji in 2022.
Qatar 1812 KM could have been even more positive for the team if bad luck had not struck the #81 Corvette Z06 GT3.R. The car, driven by Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom Van Rompuy, after starting from P9 and quickly gaining several positions was betrayed by a mechanical failure. During the first pit stop a broken alternator pulley shaft forced the retirement of the #81 less than an hour into the race: a real shame, because the pace shown would have also allowed this crew to fight for victory.
After a great start to the 2025 season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, TF Sport and Corvette make an appointment for the second round of the campaign: the #33 and #81 will be back on track at the Autodromo Enzo and Dino Ferrari for the 6 Hours of Imola, scheduled for the weekend of 20 April.
TOM FERRIER, TF SPORT OWNER:
“There’s no denying that it was a big move for us to join GM and Corvette. We knew it was going to be a challenge the first year, and it was to start with. We gathered momentum as the year went on. Bahrain ended fantastically with a second and third, which was really exciting. We went to Daytona this year and everyone saw the reliability and how much it had improved on the Corvette and gave us a bit of confidence. We had a great Prologue, struggled a bit earlier this week but knew we had a good car for the race. We executed perfectly today. I’m sad for the 81 but absolutely over the moon for GM, Corvette Racing and us. It’s a huge result”.
