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CORVETTE RACING AT SĀO PAULO: Second Straight LMGT3 Win!
Perfect race lands No. 34 Corvette first FIA WEC victory of the season
SĀO PAULO, Brazil (July 12, 2026) – TF Sport and the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R won a second straight race in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s LMGT3 class as the No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette won the Six Hours of Sāo Paulo on Sunday.
The trio of Corvette factory driver Charlie Eastwood, Salih Yoluc and Peter Dempsey combined for a mistake-free race along with a faultless performance by the TF Sport crew and engineering team. The No. 34 Corvette set a new standard in the race by not just being the first team to win the LMGT3 race from outside the front row but also coming from 10th at the start to do it.
It was the first victory of the season for the entry and came on the heels of the No. 33 TF Sport Corvette winning in class at Le Mans, plus a Corvette from Johor Motorsports Racing took a Pro-Am class victory two weeks ago at the 24 Hours of Spa.
Yoluc was aggressive from the start. He gained three spots at the start and ran third by the fifth lap. By the time the No. 34 Corvette made its first pit stop just past the 70-minute mark, Yoluc was third. The TF Sport engineering team pitted Yoluc just shy of the two-hour mark from the lead, and Dempsey continued his season-long run of strong driving by keeping the Corvette out front for the majority of his time in the car.
Eastwood got in for the final two race stints just inside of two hours remaining with a significant strategy and fuel advantage. That proved valuable as he had to make the final stop of the race earlier than planned with a punctured tire. Eastwood was able to maintain his pace until he stopped with 63 minutes left for new tires and a fuel top-off.
He emerged effectively in the lead – one of the Lexus entries was on an alternate strategy and had to stop a few laps later – by a scant 0.7 seconds. The Corvette factory driver responded with a strong drive as the skies darkened and took the checkered flag by eight seconds.
The No. 33 TF Sport Corvette of Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar and Nico Varrone placed eighth in the race and solidified its hold on the LMGT3 championship. The trio began 12th and recovered from an early-race issue on the second pit stop when the driver’s side door didn’t close during the exchange from Keating to Varrone.
Like their victorious teammates, the trio drove mistake-free the rest of the way to earn valuable points despite carrying a significant amount of success ballast due to winning Le Mans and leading the championship. By virtue of the result, TF Sport Corvette drivers sit first, second and third in the Drivers Championship: Edgar is in first, Nicky Catsburg – on duty Sunday in IMSA at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – is second and Keating sits third after missing the first two races with an injury.
Next up for TF Sport in the FIA WEC is the Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of The Americas – the series’ only race in the United States – on Sunday, September 6.
ANDREA HIDALGO, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER: "Congratulations to TF Sport and everyone on the No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette for a hard-fought LMGT3 victory today in Brazil at the 4th round of the FIA WEC. The drives by Charlie, Salih and Peter were excellent with no mistakes, and the engineering strategy and work by the pit crew were perfect. This continues an impressive run not just by TF Sport following their Le Mans victory but also by our Corvette Z06 GT3.R program."
CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 34 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "We came out behind the Porsche and BMW, but we knew we had a fuel advantage at the stop because obviously we were able to extend with Peter because his pace was so strong, which was great. So we got up to the back of both Harper and Pera. In the battle with Harper we actually got a puncture. So we had a sort of 20-minute window over the guys to sort of short-fuel and then try and manage it to the end. Luckily, the valve basically bent inward and we didn't actually completely deflate the tire. But that meant we had to stop before the BMW so all of a sudden we went from thinking we were very comfortable to having a sort of push on. But once we got into the last part of the stint, I was able to just try and manage the gap to the BMW behind. It was flawless on every pit stop and both of these guys (Yoluc and Dempsey)... we had the best race of the year so far. With a green race like that, if you just tick every single box and there's not a mistake throughout, you get the result we did. Super happy for TF Sport and happy for Corvette. What a run."
SALIH YOLUC, NO. 34 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "Everyone did a great job as usual. We never got unlucky this week. That was a great relief. It's been a long time coming, and I'm very happy to be here.”
(On his stint) "I tried to be aggressive on the first lap to overtake as many cars as possible. That's the best chance we had. By the next couple of laps we were up to P5, I think. At that point, I was waiting for the race to come to us and didn't want to push too hard to protect the tires. We do have a little bit of a tire deg advantage. We played a bit of strategy as well and got up into the lead. I don't really know where we are right now on strategy but it looks pretty good right now. There weren't too many close calls with traffic. There were a couple of times where Hypercars were being aggressive as usual, but nothing too dramatic."
PETER DEMPSEY, NO. 34 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "We knew that if Salih gave us the car at the front, all the responsibility was on me to keep it in a good spot and give it to Charlie. In my double-stint I just did my best I could and not try to lose too much time to the competition. Luckily our pace was super strong through the stints. I was actually able to keep the gap pretty steady, manage the pace and the tire deg. Overall I was happy with that. Having not raced in such a long time, to come back here and win a race like this is something I never thought I'd do at 40 years old. So super proud of that and I'm so proud of everything the team have put into it, both TF Sport and Corvette. So I'm very, very happy. “
NICO VARRONE, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "First of all, I'm very thankful to Ben, to Corvette Racing, to TF Sport and everyone for having me here this weekend. It's been really nice to be back in the Corvette and in this championship. I really appreciate what this group does as a team, to be inside and see how they do great things. It was really nice. to be with them. We knew it was going to be difficult with the success ballast from Le Mans. But I think we really maximized it. We did a great job as a team. Our Corvette was super-fast during the race. We took probably the maximum points that we could today. So, yeah, it's been, it's been amazing. I'm super happy with the performance of Ben, Jonny and myself also. So, yeah, we can be proud of that."
JONNY EDGAR, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "I'm happy with the race. I think it was a shame on the pit stop when Ben got out of the car and we had an issue with the door, so we lost some time where the door wouldn't close. Other than that, I'd say we had a pretty perfect race. We had no mistakes. I think we pitted at the right times when we would catch cars. So yeah, I'm happy to score points and it's hard to be disappointed. We maybe could have been a bit higher without that one issue, but I think it's a good result. The car felt really good and I think we did a good job. We improved the car every session. In general this year, that's where we have been really strong. I feel like we always make it even better and we always have a really good kind of race. Today we were much stronger in the race than where we were in practice. Ben was great in qualifying to be P12, and Nico had a really clean and strong race. We made a place because one car had a drive-through and just picked up some places through other people's mistakes and just everyone on the team doing a good job."
Ryan Smith
Perfect race lands No. 34 Corvette first FIA WEC victory of the season
SĀO PAULO, Brazil (July 12, 2026) – TF Sport and the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R won a second straight race in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s LMGT3 class as the No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette won the Six Hours of Sāo Paulo on Sunday.
The trio of Corvette factory driver Charlie Eastwood, Salih Yoluc and Peter Dempsey combined for a mistake-free race along with a faultless performance by the TF Sport crew and engineering team. The No. 34 Corvette set a new standard in the race by not just being the first team to win the LMGT3 race from outside the front row but also coming from 10th at the start to do it.
It was the first victory of the season for the entry and came on the heels of the No. 33 TF Sport Corvette winning in class at Le Mans, plus a Corvette from Johor Motorsports Racing took a Pro-Am class victory two weeks ago at the 24 Hours of Spa.
Yoluc was aggressive from the start. He gained three spots at the start and ran third by the fifth lap. By the time the No. 34 Corvette made its first pit stop just past the 70-minute mark, Yoluc was third. The TF Sport engineering team pitted Yoluc just shy of the two-hour mark from the lead, and Dempsey continued his season-long run of strong driving by keeping the Corvette out front for the majority of his time in the car.
Eastwood got in for the final two race stints just inside of two hours remaining with a significant strategy and fuel advantage. That proved valuable as he had to make the final stop of the race earlier than planned with a punctured tire. Eastwood was able to maintain his pace until he stopped with 63 minutes left for new tires and a fuel top-off.
He emerged effectively in the lead – one of the Lexus entries was on an alternate strategy and had to stop a few laps later – by a scant 0.7 seconds. The Corvette factory driver responded with a strong drive as the skies darkened and took the checkered flag by eight seconds.
The No. 33 TF Sport Corvette of Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar and Nico Varrone placed eighth in the race and solidified its hold on the LMGT3 championship. The trio began 12th and recovered from an early-race issue on the second pit stop when the driver’s side door didn’t close during the exchange from Keating to Varrone.
Like their victorious teammates, the trio drove mistake-free the rest of the way to earn valuable points despite carrying a significant amount of success ballast due to winning Le Mans and leading the championship. By virtue of the result, TF Sport Corvette drivers sit first, second and third in the Drivers Championship: Edgar is in first, Nicky Catsburg – on duty Sunday in IMSA at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – is second and Keating sits third after missing the first two races with an injury.
Next up for TF Sport in the FIA WEC is the Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of The Americas – the series’ only race in the United States – on Sunday, September 6.
ANDREA HIDALGO, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER: "Congratulations to TF Sport and everyone on the No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette for a hard-fought LMGT3 victory today in Brazil at the 4th round of the FIA WEC. The drives by Charlie, Salih and Peter were excellent with no mistakes, and the engineering strategy and work by the pit crew were perfect. This continues an impressive run not just by TF Sport following their Le Mans victory but also by our Corvette Z06 GT3.R program."
CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 34 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "We came out behind the Porsche and BMW, but we knew we had a fuel advantage at the stop because obviously we were able to extend with Peter because his pace was so strong, which was great. So we got up to the back of both Harper and Pera. In the battle with Harper we actually got a puncture. So we had a sort of 20-minute window over the guys to sort of short-fuel and then try and manage it to the end. Luckily, the valve basically bent inward and we didn't actually completely deflate the tire. But that meant we had to stop before the BMW so all of a sudden we went from thinking we were very comfortable to having a sort of push on. But once we got into the last part of the stint, I was able to just try and manage the gap to the BMW behind. It was flawless on every pit stop and both of these guys (Yoluc and Dempsey)... we had the best race of the year so far. With a green race like that, if you just tick every single box and there's not a mistake throughout, you get the result we did. Super happy for TF Sport and happy for Corvette. What a run."
SALIH YOLUC, NO. 34 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "Everyone did a great job as usual. We never got unlucky this week. That was a great relief. It's been a long time coming, and I'm very happy to be here.”
(On his stint) "I tried to be aggressive on the first lap to overtake as many cars as possible. That's the best chance we had. By the next couple of laps we were up to P5, I think. At that point, I was waiting for the race to come to us and didn't want to push too hard to protect the tires. We do have a little bit of a tire deg advantage. We played a bit of strategy as well and got up into the lead. I don't really know where we are right now on strategy but it looks pretty good right now. There weren't too many close calls with traffic. There were a couple of times where Hypercars were being aggressive as usual, but nothing too dramatic."
PETER DEMPSEY, NO. 34 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "We knew that if Salih gave us the car at the front, all the responsibility was on me to keep it in a good spot and give it to Charlie. In my double-stint I just did my best I could and not try to lose too much time to the competition. Luckily our pace was super strong through the stints. I was actually able to keep the gap pretty steady, manage the pace and the tire deg. Overall I was happy with that. Having not raced in such a long time, to come back here and win a race like this is something I never thought I'd do at 40 years old. So super proud of that and I'm so proud of everything the team have put into it, both TF Sport and Corvette. So I'm very, very happy. “
NICO VARRONE, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "First of all, I'm very thankful to Ben, to Corvette Racing, to TF Sport and everyone for having me here this weekend. It's been really nice to be back in the Corvette and in this championship. I really appreciate what this group does as a team, to be inside and see how they do great things. It was really nice. to be with them. We knew it was going to be difficult with the success ballast from Le Mans. But I think we really maximized it. We did a great job as a team. Our Corvette was super-fast during the race. We took probably the maximum points that we could today. So, yeah, it's been, it's been amazing. I'm super happy with the performance of Ben, Jonny and myself also. So, yeah, we can be proud of that."
JONNY EDGAR, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "I'm happy with the race. I think it was a shame on the pit stop when Ben got out of the car and we had an issue with the door, so we lost some time where the door wouldn't close. Other than that, I'd say we had a pretty perfect race. We had no mistakes. I think we pitted at the right times when we would catch cars. So yeah, I'm happy to score points and it's hard to be disappointed. We maybe could have been a bit higher without that one issue, but I think it's a good result. The car felt really good and I think we did a good job. We improved the car every session. In general this year, that's where we have been really strong. I feel like we always make it even better and we always have a really good kind of race. Today we were much stronger in the race than where we were in practice. Ben was great in qualifying to be P12, and Nico had a really clean and strong race. We made a place because one car had a drive-through and just picked up some places through other people's mistakes and just everyone on the team doing a good job."
Ryan Smith