The #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R scored a historic class victory in LMGT3 at Le Mans. Driven by Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg, and Jonny Edgar, the Corvette crew won as the only GT car to complete 336 laps in a race that tyre supplier Goodyear described as “the fastest ever LMGT3 race” at La Sarthe.
The list of milestones is long for this one, as it marked the first victory at the French endurance classic for Corvette’s GT3 programme and the 10th for Corvette Racing since its first Le Mans win in 2001. It was also TF Sport’s fourth class win at the race, on its 10th appearance.
It was far from a straightforward win for the British team and the proud American marque it represents. The #33 started from 17th on the grid, and with Ben Keating still in the final stages of recovery from the shattered elbow that forced him to miss Imola and Spa, there was always an unknown regarding strategy, as he had to drive through substantial pain.
However, when it came down to it, the car went on a metronomic run that saw the Catsburg and Keating duo, who were part of the most recent Corvette class win in 2023, succeed again, joined this time by Jonny Edgar, who has established himself as one of the most impressive young British talents currently climbing the endurance ladder.
In the post-race press conference, Keating compared this year’s achievement with the battle that was the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, when he and Catsburg, and Corvette, last won the race in GTE Am’s final ride in France.
That year, Keating and Catsburg, alongside Nico Varrone, went a full two laps down during the course of the race, cutting their way back through the field up to the top with the benefit of mixed conditions, chaos and a fast Corvette.
“When Nicky [Catsburg] and I won in the Corvette in 2023, that was far and away the worst weather conditions I’d ever experienced. I think over half the field retired with damage. It was a really difficult race,” said the Texan.
“Yet this has to be the best weather I’ve ever seen in Le Mans in the 12 times I’ve done it. It was a green race. I’d be shocked if we didn’t go further in this race than ever before, and it made for really competitive racing.
“You always believe it can happen, absolutely. You just have to do your job, and we had a perfect race. No penalties, no mistakes. The car is in pretty good shape, and that’s what you need to do to win this race.”
This year’s intense overnight heat and dry conditions played directly into the #33 crew’s hands.
“I think that the extreme heat out there was really beneficial for our car. If it were a green flag race, all of the LMGT3s would have done somewhere around 34 to 35 stints, and we had 15 sets of tyres, and so you had to double and triple-stint. And our car really takes care of its Goodyear tyres. So I think that was an advantage for us,” Keating continued.
Throughout the early stages of the race, the Corvette sat in the bottom half of the order, only climbing up when the leading cars pitted as they went long. But as Keating finished up his five consecutive stints and handed the car over to Catsburg in the fourth hour of the race, they were running solidly in the mid-front pack.
By around four in the morning, about 17 stints into the race, the #33 established itself at the head of the field, having gained track position at each pit stop. They had carved out a large enough gap to the Lexus RC Fs and Aston Martin Vantages behind that they led 75 consecutive laps from lap 195 to 270, and in total led 154 laps of 336.
“I think our car is already the best on the grid with tyres, so luckily we don’t always need to manage it too much. I think on new tyres the Lexus was always a bit faster than us, but especially with the second stint we could always make a difference, and I think that’s where we managed to grow the gap in the final few stints,” added Nicky Catsburg.
Catsburg had nothing but praise for his two teammates, pointing out that Keating had completed his drive time in two lengthy consecutive stints at the beginning of the race, despite driving with a healing elbow from a cycling accident in March.
“We have a great car, first of all. The Chevy has been great to us both in 2023 and this year again. And I am a lucky guy to have these teammates. I mean, Ben [Keating] broke his elbow nine weeks ago. So for him to do all of his driving before Sunday was incredible, with no mistakes.
“And then for the man of the race, Jonny Edgar, he did an amazing race. Man of the match! Crazy, crazy pace, and he did five stints until the end. Having good teammates makes it a lot easier.”
First-time winner Edgar’s drive was one he deserves huge praise for. He was absolutely rapid and extremely consistent during his 149 laps in the car, was strapped in when the #33 first took the lead in the 10th hour, and ran faultlessly in the closing stages to seal the victory.
A mark of how far the 22-year-old has come since bursting onto the scene in sportscars back in 2024 (winning an ELMS LMP2 title on debut), is that he was trusted to bring the car home as part of a high-pressure quintuple stint in the heat, which ended with him crossing the finish line to become the first British driver to take a class victory in LMGT3 at Le Mans.
“I knew we had a fighting chance because the car was feeling really good and we seemed pretty fast,” he explained. “I always knew we had a chance to win, but in a 24-hour race you need so much to go right.
“You need some luck with safety cars or to also not be unlucky. There are a hundred things that could have gone wrong, but we had a pretty perfect race, I would say. No mistakes, no contact, good pit stops the whole time. It was just a great race.
“The plan wasn’t to do five stints at the end. But I think I had to do at least three due to the drivetime rules and how much Nicky had done. I was going to do three, but because of the way the tyre strategy panned out, it made sense to do four. Once I was already in for four, I may as well have stayed in again! So it went from two stints to five pretty quickly.
“But I felt good in the car, and it was easy to drive, which changes a lot about how much effort is needed to drive. That made it easier over the 24 hours.”
In summary, Mark Reuss, the president of General Motors, described the result as “an incredibly proud moment” for GM: “To earn Corvette Racing’s 10th class victory at Le Mans is a tremendous achievement for our motorsports, design and engineering teams.
“Huge congratulations to drivers Nicky Catsburg, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating, and our partners TF Sport. You have earned your place in the history books! Working as one team, GM can beat the best in the world.”
