The bright yellow Corvette Racing C6.Rs may have raced to victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but the team’s efforts at home have been met with less spectacular results. To be fair, Corvette Racing cars have landed a spot on the podium twice this season, but the team has also suffered some major setbacks in other races. As perhaps a sign that Corvette Racing may reclaim some of its former glory the No. 4 car of Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen finally clinched the top spot on the podium at the Grand Prix of Mosport over the weekend.

A combination of hard driving, excellent pit stops and a bit of luck put the Corvette in first. Starting in just sixth position in the GT class the No. 4 Vette emerged from the pits in 3rd place after the first round of stops. With Oliver Gavin piloting the car for the first half of the race, Jan Magnussen took over, passing one of the Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italias near the end of the race. Then, with just laps to go, Dirk Werner, driving the No. 55 BMW was forced to pit for a stop-and-go penalty after making contact with one of the slower GTC cars, allowing Magnussen to move into first.

He held on to take the checkered flag and subsequently end BMW’s dominance in the series. “We got our first win on the board and we’ve broken BMW’s stranglehold on ALMS victories this year. I’m absolutely delighted!” said Oliver Gavin.

The No. 3 Corvette driven by Tommy Milner and Olivier Beretta managed a sixth place finish, starting 8th on the grid and eventually climbing to 4th until contact with the very gold No. 11 Porsche GTC car resulted in a spin.

The next race on the ALMS calendar is at Mid Ohio in two weeks time.

GALLERY: Corvette Racing at Grand Prix of Mosport

GALLERY: Corvette Corral

This weekend’s famed 24 Hours of Le Mans race will have full coverage thanks to Speed TV and Corvette Racing. Though only 17 hours of live coverage will be done on television, Corvette Racing and Speed TV will be hosting an additional seven hours of content, including a live stream of in-car coverage from one of the Corvette Racing machines. The No. 73 Chevrolet Corvette will play host to the live stream as it seeks out its seventh class win at Le Mans.

As one of the most prestigious and demanding events in all of racing, the extensive online coverage will be commercial free and will also include links to an in-depth video tour of the legendary Le Mans circuit in the No. 74 Compuware Corvette C6.R. Undoubtedly though, the spotlight will be on drivers Olivier Beretta, Tommy Milner and Antonio Garcia as they try to get their seventh class win.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans will begin at 9:00 AM EST on Saturday. The live stream can be found at http://www.speedtv.com/corvette.

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Corvette Racing’s 2011 season rolls on and with it the latest installment of season two of the Track to Street series. In Episode 4 the team heads to the Long Beach Grand Prix, a treacherous street circuit where you’re lucky to escape with a functioning car. And with the 24 Hours of Le Mans race next on the schedule, Corvette Racing was eager to keep its cars intact.

For all the videos subscribe to Chevy‘s YouTube channel here and while you’re at it, sign up to AutoGuide’s YouTube channel too.

Corvette Racing’s Youtube series continues for yet another episode, but this time, goes behind the scenes to look at the logistics of bringing the team over to France, weeks ahead of the LeMans race, just to prepare for 24 hours of wheel to wheel action.

The most interesting aspect of the video is how things like food are dealt with by the team. Believe it or not, one of the staffers here has experience cooking for large groups of people at a summer camp, and it was one of the most demanding jobs on his resume (somewhere between automotive journalist and State Fair carny – but that’s another story). At a summer camp, the young campers are far less picky, but a race team is not only used to decent quality food (especially the mega-buck sponsors), but nutritional requirements are extremely important for the pro drivers, who operate like athletes of the highest caliber.

Along the way, we also see the drivers parade, the autograph sessions but no on-car action. Hopefully episode 8 will deliver the goods with a roaring V8 soundtrack and more exotic locales.

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Episode 6 of the Corvette Racing Series is the big one; the team gets ready for the 24 Hours of LeMans race, a mere two days after their Laguna Seca event.

Having to assemble and ship 14 tons of gear on 48 hours is no easy feat, but couple that with having to win the world’s most grueling sports car race, and commemorate the 5oth anniversary of the Corvette’s LeMans debut, and you have a recipe for high stress.

Just as you would expect, some high drama does occur, but the Corvette squad does an admirable job of dealing with the various crises thrown their way.

See the full video after the jump:

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Danish racing driver Jan Magnussen, best known for his work as a factory driver for Corvette Racing in the ALMS and 24 Hours of Le Mans, is scheduled to join fellow Scandinavian Mattias Ekstrom at the upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Infineon Raceway. We’re not sure what’s behind the Viking invasion of NASCAR these days, but we suspect it may have something to do with Hagar The Horrible.

According to Magnussen, “It feels great. I have always wanted to try NASCAR and I am very grateful to Phoenix Racing for giving me the chance.” The Dane will be driving the No. 9 car for Phoenix Racing.

“We are thrilled to have a driver of his caliber to drive for us at Sonoma. Jan has tested NASCAR Sprint Cup cars before and his CV speaks for itself. He is going to give us a chance not only to quality good, but to be in the top fight,” said Phoenix Racing team boss James Finch.

The NASCAR race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California takes place this weekend (June 19/20).

[Source: TouringCarTimes]

When the clock struck 12 today at Le Circuit de La Sarthe, Audi took home a stunning sweep of the podium at this year’s running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With the Peugeot 908′s showing considerably more pace during qualifying, not even Audi Motorsports boss Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich would have predicted a 1-2-3 finish for their R15 TDI diesel-powered LMP1 machines.

According to Ullrich, “At the beginning it was a little unlucky for us but at the end it all worked fine. It’s a great reward for all the work that everyone [at Audi Motorsports] has done. I think this has to be the hardest Le Mans we’ve ever done.”

Dr. Ullrich was congratulated by his counterpart at Peugeot, Director of Motorsport Olivier Quesnel, straight after the race. Ullrich returned the favor by paying tribute to Audi’s arch rival Peugeot by remarking on the camararderie between the two teams. “In sport when someone wins then someone else loses, but when the loser comes and congratulates the winner it is all very sporting. That is what we did last year and that’s what Peugeot has done this year. It has been a fantastic battle, we’ve invited the Peugeot guys to a party tonight and we hope that  they will all come”.

For Audi this is their 9th victory at Le Mans, tying them with Ferrari as the second winningest team in history (Porsche having 16 wins to their name). The winning #9 Audi, driven by Mike Rockenfeller, Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard, also set a new distance record by completing 397 laps at an average speed of 225.228 km/h.

This was also Michelin’s 19th Le Mans victory and the 27th time the race has been won by a German car.

Results from LMP2, GT1 and GT2 after the jump:

[Source: lemans.org]

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Ron Fellows may have retired from full-time racing duties with Corvette Racing and the American Le Mans Series, but he proved this weekend that he’s still the Mayor of Mosport in a Corvette.

The Mississauga, Ontario native and Corvette Racing legend has always been hard to beat around his home track, Mosport International Raceway, so it should come as no surprise that he claimed the top step on the podium during Sunday’s World Challenge event from behind the wheel of the Carlisle Companies/Cragar Wheels Chevrolet Corvette. The win didn’t come easy though, starting 2nd to Randy Pobst in the K-Pax Volvo S60 and having been passed off the start by Kuno Wittmer’s Dodge Viper.

Fellows quickly battled back against Wittmer, passing his fellow Canadian in Turn 10 before turning his sights on race leader Pobst. Running down the K-Pax Volvo, Fellows turned a record fastest race lap of 1:23.828 (105.602 mph), a feat that thrilled the hometown crowd. On lap 15, Fellows and Pobst went side-by-side down the front straight and through Turn 1, splitting the Touring Car Mazda RX-8 of Eric Meyer between Turns 1 and 2. Fellows managed to take the inside line for the downhill left hander and slowly pulled away from Pobst from that point on.

According to Fellows, ”I got a terrible start, but other than that it was just a matter of being patient. Even though I hadn’t raced here much lately, it comes back to you. To be honest, the slick conditions may have helped. I was hoping it stayed overcast, but our car is lighter than the Volvos and that was probably better. It was a lot of fun, and feels good.”

Having spent the day before at Laguna Seca for Corvette Racing’s 50th anniversary of racing at Le Mans, Fellows’ win at Mosport might not have happened if he’d missed his connecting flight from San Francisco to Toronto, having literally made the connection with 3 minutes to spare. As Fellows reported on his personal website, he was very pleased to have been able to race at Mosport on this historic weekend for Corvette Racing and because he hadn’t raced at his home track since 2007.

Pobst’s runner-up finish in the Volvo, combined with his Saturday race win at Mosport, extended his point lead to 47 over Wittmer and the Dodge Motorsports Viper (541 to 494), followed by Crescentini in the Centric Parts/Stoptech/GMG Porsche 911 GT3 (420), Andy Pilgrim (383) and Daskalos in his Daskalos Developments Dodge Viper (379). Volvo also extended its point lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship to seven (35 to 28) over Porsche. Dodge is third with 26.

[Sources: World Challenge, Ron Fellows]

If you’ve ever heard the Chevrolet Corvette ALMS car, you’ll know that they are far and away the loudest, most evil sounding cars in the field, an impressive feat when you’re competing against Porsche 911s, Aston Martins and open-cockpit prototypes. For a car that sounds like Armageddon, one would expect that being green isn’t exactly a priority, but the latest episode of the Corvette Racing Series shows that the team can find ways to go fast and back up their green credentials. Using little tricks like ceramic wheel bearings, lower rolling resistance tires and lightweight body panels, the ‘Vettes are able to go faster with less fuel, which is the same logic behind Porsche’s 911 GT3R Hybrid,

Coincidentally, the road-going Corvette delivers very respectable fuel economy numbers, especially considering the massive V8s used in them. Sadly, the old dogmatic meme of a gas-guzzling V8 refuses to die.

[Source: Chevrolet]

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Corvette Racing has just released the next (and third) installment of its 12-part video series, this time examining how race technology makes its way to the street. In particular, the latest video highlights the new Z06 Carbon edition, which gets plenty of light-weight carbon fiber add-ons to help it shave off weight and run a quicker lap time – by as much as 3 seconds a lap on a track like Laguna Seca.

The “Track to Street” philosophy is even more important in 2010, considering the new GT class Corvette race cars are now significantly more like the street cars than in the past.

Check out the video after the jump and we’ll be sure to bring you the next update in the series, as we hope to learn more about the new 5.5-liter V8 race engine and its street-car application.

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