Chevrolet
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R
The Chevrolet Corvette C5-R is a grand touring racing car built by Pratt Miller and Chevrolet for competition in endurance racing. The car is based on the C5 generation of the Chevrolet Corvette sports car, yet is designed purely for motorsports use. It became one of the most successful cars in GT categories, with wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, and 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as championships in the American Le Mans Series. The Corvette C5-Rs debuted in 1999 and continues to be raced to this day in vintage racing events, although the C5-R was effectively replaced by the Corvette C6.R in 2005.
Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Successor: Chevrolet Corvette C6.R
All Chevrolet Corvette C5-R data: UK builds, safety, recalls, model years →
Development
The Corvette C5-R was part of a plan by General Motors and their Chevrolet brand to create a factory team to participate in grand touring races not only in North America, but also elsewhere in the world, most notably at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. GM had previously been against approving factory support for Corvette racing programs, although the IMSA GT Championship's Corvette GTPs had seen some support until they ended competition in 1989. With the fifth generation Corvette however, GM chose to show the performance capabilities of the new car by using a more production-based racing car instead of the "in-name-only" Corvette GTP. Their intentions were to take on Dodge and Porsche, who were already running in the category at the time. General Motors chose the Pratt Miller group of Michigan to build and develop the new racing cars, as well as to organize the racing team in preparation for a debut in 1999. Riley & Scott also assisted in the project, running a second team for a year. Since regulations in place at the time limited the team to using elements of production Corvettes, Pratt Miller and GM used heavily modified road car mules to test out the engine and other equipment that the racing cars were to use. Later, the actual race chassis were built, sharing only basic key structural elements with the road cars. A firewall was placed immediately behind the driver's seat in the cockpit, eliminating any rear visibility inside the car. A large diffuser and wing were added to the rear, while a splitter and vents on the hood were added to the front. The front headlights were also replaced with protruding permanent units in place of the pop-up headlights on the road car. The C5-R initially used a 366 ci (6.0 liter) V8 engine based on the road car's LS1. This was replaced with a
Racing history
=== Corvette Racing === With two cars completed, Corvette Racing entered the 1999 24 Hours of Daytona for the United States Road Racing Championship. The Corvette C5-R of Canadian Ron Fellows and Americans Chris Kneifel and John Paul Jr. managed to finish the endurance event in 18th overall, 34 laps behind the class-winning Porsche. After failures at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Riley & Scott ran a few more rounds of the American Le Mans Series to finish off the year. A lone C5-R finished second in class behind a factory Dodge Viper at Sears Point, and again at Laguna Seca. In 2000, Pratt Miller took over as the sole Corvette team, once again starting the season at Daytona. The Corvette of Fellows and Kneifel, now joined by Brit Justin Bell, greatly improved on their previous result by finishing in second place overall, a minute behind a factory Viper and easily outperforming various prototypes. However the team was not able to match the performance of the Vipers at Sebring, nor at their debut at Le Mans. The team rebounded though, as they earned their first class victories upon returning to the ALMS. The Corvette team managed to upset the Viper squad at Texas as well as the Petit Le Mans. Even though the C5-Rs ran only a partial season, the team earned third place in the GTS class championship. 2001 once again saw improvement at the opening of the season at Daytona. The C5-Rs outlasted the prototypes in the field and earned themselves the overall race victory. The race also saw the first drives by Dale Earnhardt and Earnhardt Jr. in both the 24 Hours and the Corvette C5-R, with their car finishing fourth overall. Feeling that the C5-R was a capable winner anywhere, Pratt Miller ran their first full season of the ALMS and earned six class victories, including their second
Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.
More photos
Sources
- Wikidata — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1071132CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
- Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Corvette_C5-RCC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1370556842 · retrieved 2026-10-01
- Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CorvetteC5Coup%C3%A9yellow.jpgCC BY-SA 3.0 · Photo: Thomas doerfer · retrieved 2026-10-01
- Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.