# 97 Aston Martin wins in a tense finish for the # 63 Corvette at Le Mans

After nearly 24 hours, a tire puncture on the next to final lap stopped Jordan Taylor from recording the 9th class victory in 14 appearances for the Corvette Racing team at Le Mans.  The precise where and when remain a mystery.  Taylor rubbed fenders at the Arnage corner in a get passed-and-re-pass move by the fast closing Aston Martin of Johnny Adam.  The Corvette slowed noticeably and finished 3rd, overtaken by the Aston and the Ganassi # 67 Ford GT of Harry Tincknell.

GM Program manager and master strategist Doug Fehan chose the capable and fresher Taylor over the older and more experienced Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen for the final stint.  Regardless of the bad luck, the entire team overachieved and delivered a result to be proud of.  Watch the final 2 laps of action unfold!

Tommy Milner in the # 64 car got bumped during the night.  The incident put the car out of the hunt.  After repairs the car recovered to finish 8th.

In a testament to the 2017 WEC Balance of Performance rules and reliability, the 12 car LMGTE PRO field of Corvettes, Fords, Porsches, Ferraris and Astons qualified among a few seconds of each other. All finished the race.  Fuel mileage (approx. 14-15 laps per tank) and regular pit stops (approx. 35 seconds each) amount to 12 to 13 minutes or about 3 laps for the 24 hour race.  Watch how The Corvette Racing Team prepares. 

The # 50 Corvette showed up sporting day-glow “Human” artwork by Ramzi Adek.  Failing to secure sponsorship for Le Mans (let alone the full WEC season), Jack LeConte made the most of it.  His French Team Larbre surprisingly qualified first in the LMGTE AM class but finished last, deterred by contact with another car.  (note right door was replaced).  The venerable 5-year old chassis C7R 002 could be put out to pasture.

Scroll through photos of the 60 cars in order of qualifying for the big race < >