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CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Keating, No. 33 C8.R Take Hyperpole!
Perfect storm of tow, tires and team talent earn GTE Am pole

LE MANS, France (June 8, 2023) – A tow, tires and talent. Those all came 
together Corvette Racing as Ben Keating put the No. 33 Mobil 1/SiriusXM 
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R on the GTE Am pole position during Thursday’s 
Hyperpole session ahead of this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Keating – teaming in the Corvette with Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone – 
posted a best lap of 3:52.376 (131.171 mph) to take Corvette Racing’s second 
straight pole position at Le Mans. The GTE Am championship-leading trio 
increased their points advantage by one with the P1 finish.

The stellar work by the Corvette Racing team continued after Wednesday’s 
heroics that saw Catsburg get the C8.R into Hyperpole following a fast 
repair job by the crew after a crash at the end of the first practice. The 
storybook result kept going even on Keating’s first lap Thursday when he 
picked up a tow from another GTE car all the way down the Mulsanne Straight. 
He cleared his competitor going into Mulsanne Corner to take provisional 
pole after the opening flyer.

Keating improved his time slightly before a red flag halted the session with 
five minutes to go. As the session went green again, Corvette Racing 
engineers decided to fit the C8.R with fresh, soft compound Michelin tires – 
the only team to do so during the stoppage.

Keating made the decision pay off with his best lap of the weekend and put 
Corvette Racing out front to start its biggest race of the season.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is scheduled for 4 p.m. CET / 10 a.m. ET on 
Saturday, June 10. MotorTrend and MotorTrend Plus will provide both live 
television and streaming coverage. Radio Le Mans also will stream audio 
coverage of the race.

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTE AM 
POLE-WINNER:  "I wanted to find a gap on my out-lap. I thought the GT cars 
were driving really slow for having hot tires. I was thinking that we have 
hot tires, it's time to push. They were all going slow and I was push, push, 
push. So I had a big gap and I didn't think I would ever catch the Ferrari 
ahead of me because he was so far up there. But the LMP2 cars, when they got 
to the chicane, just stopped to get a window. So I was right on the Ferrari 
and he gave me a perfect tow down every straight away. I passed him into 
Mulsanne, and he didn't slow me down any. It was incredible and I thought 
that was as good as it gets, almost to the point that I was wondering why we 
were out there!

"I did a cool-down lap and the team told me that the 25 was 0.3 seconds 
behind. I thought then that I'd better get it in gear! I pushed really hard 
for another lap and had one in the bank because of no track limits. So I 
could push a little more, and the Corvette was set up so well that I didn't 
have to worry about track limits. The car went exactly where I wanted it to 
go. I could push the car harder in every corner. I got better in Porsche 
Curves and came over the line at 3:53.0. I didn't think there was any way 
anyone was going to touch me. But we came in for the red flag, and I didn't 
understand the point of putting new tires on it because I didn't think I 
could improve. But it makes sense now.

"The sun had gone down and the tires really came into the window. The air 
was a little cooler, and we were at bare minimum of fuel. So I got one 
out-lap and then one flyer. I got the peak of the tire, the peak of low 
fuel, the peak of the temperature, and I put a lap together. It was pretty 
magical, especially considering how close we were to not even making 
qualifying yesterday. The team did an amazing job to get the car out where 
Nicky could do what we needed to get us into Hyperpole. So I'm incredibly 
excited and happy for the entire team. This is the best way I can think of 
to go into the race!"

Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick