TF Sport # 33 Z06 GT3.R Corvette wins a thriller at Qatar

The Corvette Z06 GT3.R notched its first victory in WEC competition by winning the 6-hour race on the 3.37-mile Lusail Circuit, about 8 miles north outside of Doha.

The victory was even sweeter with double points awarded in the season opener.

Daniel Juncadella, Jonny Edgar, and Ben Keating pulled off a spectacular win by a margin of a half second.

Ben Keating in the # 33 Corvette (sponsored by his car business) started from way back in 13th on the grid.

He and Edgar pushed to sixth in the opening three hours and worked further up the order as others fell back or dropped out.

As the sun set over Lusail, Juncadella was out front in the lead past the halfway mark. 

The team called him in for fuel and left-side tires with 90 minutes to go while the second-place # 59 United Autosports McLaren opted for a full set of fresh rubber.

It was white-knuckle nose-to-tail racing over the final 30 minutes with Juncadella fending off pressure and slicing through traffic to win by a mere half-second!

United Autosports, owned by McLaren and headed by Zac Brown is among the world’s strongest teams with a huge presence in Formula 1 and Indy Car racing.

Tom Van Rompuy, starting from 9th in the # 81 Corvette Z06 GT3.R retired in the first hour due to a broken alternator pulley shaft and was classified 16th out of 17 GT3LM cars.

For those keeping track, both the # 81 (chassis 007) and the # 82 re-numbered # 33 (chassis 008) spent the winter in the mid-east following 2nd and 3rd place finishes at Bahrain on November 4, 2024.

TF Sport will enter chassis 017 (silver & grey) in the European Le Mans Series, ELMS, starting April 4 in Barcelona Spain.