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CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: No. 81 Corvette in Hyperpole
TF Sport’s Van Rompuy fifth in first stage of LMGT3 qualifying
LE MANS, France (June 11, 2025) – Tom Van Rompuy put TF Sport’s No. 81 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R into Thursday’s Hyperpole session ahead of this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Van Rompuy set the fifth-fastest LMGT3 time in the Corvette that he drives with Rui Andrade and Corvette factory driver Charlie Eastwood. His lap of 3:57.890 (128.251 mph) put him into the top-12 in class by a full second as the quickest dozen LMGT3 cars advanced to the Hyperpole 1, where the eight best time move on the final Hyperpole round and grid positions for Saturday’s start.
Teammate Ben Keating, in the No. 33 Corvette Z06 GT3.R, qualified 17th and missed out by four-tenths of a second. A late red-flag stoppage – the second of the session – with about six minutes remaining thwarted Keating’s charge into the top-12, as did class competitors that significantly held up the Corvette at the end of the Le Mans circuit’s lengthy straightaways.
AWA’s Orey Fidani and the No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R continued their progression in the team’s first Le Mans. Fidani qualified 21st in class but was seven seconds faster in qualifying than he was after Sunday’s Test Day.
Hyperpole for LMGT3 cars is scheduled for 8 p.m. local time Thursday. The TF Sport squad is going for its third class win at Le Mans, AWA is making its race debut, and the Corvette Racing program is attempting to score its 10th class victory in the race since 2001.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET / 4 p.m. CET on Saturday, June 14. MotorTrend will air the full race live in the U.S., with full live streaming coverage of all on-track sessions – including qualifying and Hyperpole – will be available through the MAX app in the U.S., and the FIA WEC app internationally. Radio Le Mans also will provide live streaming audio coverage of all sessions as well.
CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES
TOM VAN ROMPUY, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – FIFTH IN LMGT3 QUALIFYING: "I'm really happy with the run I did in qualifying. Compared to my previous best time from this year, it's quite a chunk less so I'm really happy. We also had good preparation with the team, and I looked at a lot of data with Charlie ahead of time. So yes, there is a lot to be happy about in putting the Corvette in Hyperpole. Now it's up to the big boys to get us further up the order!"
BEN KEATING, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "Without the red flag... who knows? I'm sure there were other people on a flyer as well. Congrats to Tom on finishing P5. What irritates me more than anything else is that the 21 Ferrari and one of the Fords were just able to drive right around me on the straightaway and then park it in the corner. I felt like I was doing some really good laps there. My Hyperpole lap in '23 was five seconds quicker than all of this. So I know how to drive this track. But I can't do it if somebody drives around me and parks it in the corner. Unfortunately, I think that's what I'm going to be looking at this weekend for 24 hours, which just really angers me. This was my best lap for the weekend. I had a better lap going at the end before the red flag. Who knows what could have been? I think we will still be in the midst of the race, which is all you can hope for. I just don't like starting P17."
OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "I'm having fun out here! We push and keep our heads down to get faster and faster. I would say we had a little bit of trouble in the last free practice session. The car was wandering all over the place. Either we had jammed nut come loose in the toelink or one of the tires was pretty badly corded on the edge. So that earlier session was a little bit of a throwaway. But still, my gain from Sunday until now was four seconds, then here another three seconds. We just need to keep going and keep driving."
Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick
CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: No. 81 Corvette in Hyperpole
TF Sport’s Van Rompuy fifth in first stage of LMGT3 qualifying
LE MANS, France (June 11, 2025) – Tom Van Rompuy put TF Sport’s No. 81 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R into Thursday’s Hyperpole session ahead of this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Van Rompuy set the fifth-fastest LMGT3 time in the Corvette that he drives with Rui Andrade and Corvette factory driver Charlie Eastwood. His lap of 3:57.890 (128.251 mph) put him into the top-12 in class by a full second as the quickest dozen LMGT3 cars advanced to the Hyperpole 1, where the eight best time move on the final Hyperpole round and grid positions for Saturday’s start.
Teammate Ben Keating, in the No. 33 Corvette Z06 GT3.R, qualified 17th and missed out by four-tenths of a second. A late red-flag stoppage – the second of the session – with about six minutes remaining thwarted Keating’s charge into the top-12, as did class competitors that significantly held up the Corvette at the end of the Le Mans circuit’s lengthy straightaways.
AWA’s Orey Fidani and the No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R continued their progression in the team’s first Le Mans. Fidani qualified 21st in class but was seven seconds faster in qualifying than he was after Sunday’s Test Day.
Hyperpole for LMGT3 cars is scheduled for 8 p.m. local time Thursday. The TF Sport squad is going for its third class win at Le Mans, AWA is making its race debut, and the Corvette Racing program is attempting to score its 10th class victory in the race since 2001.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET / 4 p.m. CET on Saturday, June 14. MotorTrend will air the full race live in the U.S., with full live streaming coverage of all on-track sessions – including qualifying and Hyperpole – will be available through the MAX app in the U.S., and the FIA WEC app internationally. Radio Le Mans also will provide live streaming audio coverage of all sessions as well.
CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES
TOM VAN ROMPUY, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – FIFTH IN LMGT3 QUALIFYING: "I'm really happy with the run I did in qualifying. Compared to my previous best time from this year, it's quite a chunk less so I'm really happy. We also had good preparation with the team, and I looked at a lot of data with Charlie ahead of time. So yes, there is a lot to be happy about in putting the Corvette in Hyperpole. Now it's up to the big boys to get us further up the order!"
BEN KEATING, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "Without the red flag... who knows? I'm sure there were other people on a flyer as well. Congrats to Tom on finishing P5. What irritates me more than anything else is that the 21 Ferrari and one of the Fords were just able to drive right around me on the straightaway and then park it in the corner. I felt like I was doing some really good laps there. My Hyperpole lap in '23 was five seconds quicker than all of this. So I know how to drive this track. But I can't do it if somebody drives around me and parks it in the corner. Unfortunately, I think that's what I'm going to be looking at this weekend for 24 hours, which just really angers me. This was my best lap for the weekend. I had a better lap going at the end before the red flag. Who knows what could have been? I think we will still be in the midst of the race, which is all you can hope for. I just don't like starting P17."
OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "I'm having fun out here! We push and keep our heads down to get faster and faster. I would say we had a little bit of trouble in the last free practice session. The car was wandering all over the place. Either we had jammed nut come loose in the toelink or one of the tires was pretty badly corded on the edge. So that earlier session was a little bit of a throwaway. But still, my gain from Sunday until now was four seconds, then here another three seconds. We just need to keep going and keep driving."
Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick