A well-executed team effort helped Corvette Racing return to victory lane at the 2.238-mile, 11-turn Laguna Seca road course for the second consecutive year. Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, drivers of the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R, scored their first American Le Mans Series (ALMS) GT Class win of the season and first since 2011. Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner, drivers of the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R scored Corvette Racing’s first win of 2013 in the season-opening race at Sebring.Gavin qualified fourth for the ALMS GT Class at Laguna Seca while Garcia posted the sixth-fastest GT time in his No. 3 Corvette.

Right out of the gate, the No. 4 Corvette team faced adversity as they made  contact with another car but were able to continue on with no damage. After both cars stopped for fuel and tires just over an hour into the race, the No. 3 car piloted by Magnussen powered [...]

After 24 hours of a record amount of caution flags, bi-polar weather, and a fiercely competitive grid, Corvette Racing just missed the podium — missing out on their 8th GTE-class win in 13 years. 22-year-old Jordan Taylor powered the No. 73 Corvette C6.R to the finish, placing fourth, while Oliver Gavin piloted the No. 74 car to a seventh place finish.

Taylor, along with teammates Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen qualified only ninth, while Gavin, Richard Westrbook and Tommy Milner qualified in eighth. The team made up a lot of ground in the morning, and persevered the entire race without any major incident, but the field — which also went on without many issues — was simply too fast this year. Porsche AG Team Manthey took the top two spots in the GTE Pro class this year, with Aston Martin Racing taking third. Corvette Racing was split by the pair of Ferraris, and placed ahead of [...]

By David Shepardson
Detroit News Washington Bureau

Washington — U.S. safety regulators on Friday opened a preliminary investigation into more than 100,000 Chevrolet Corvette sports cars after complaints of sudden loss of headlights.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it is investigating 103,374 2005-207 Corvettes after receiving 30 complaints from owners reporting a loss of both low-beam headlights while driving at night without warning.

“The loss of illumination impairs the driver’s ability to see the roadway,” NHTSA said, saying it could boost the chances of a crash.

In one of the 30 reports, a driver ran over a discarded tire while attempting to pull off the road, NHTSA said. Some complaints said the problem is intermittent and some reported that low-beam headlight functionality returned after a period of time, typically after the vehicle has been parked. The high-beam headlights and fog lights remain operational, NHTSA said.

Some complaints and fan forums suggest the [...]

(Photo: Bret Kelley for Chevrolet)

The inevitable has just happened: The new, seventh-generation 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray will serve as the pace car for the Indianapolis 500.

The new Corvette was only the darling of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last January where coverage of its debut blanketed all others. And Corvette is a longtime pace-car favorite. Its laps around the Brickyard will mark the 12th time it has paced since 1978.

Don’t think for a moment, however, that General Motors executives are taking the honor for granted. Looks for a cadre of them to be on hand when Stingray paces the 97th running of race May 26 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“It is an honor to help inaugurate the all-new Corvette Stingray at the hallowed Brickyard and further the legacy between Chevrolet and the Indianapolis [...]

General Motors has notified roughly 900 of its over 3,000 Chevrolet dealerships that they qualify to sell the 2014 Corvette Stingray when it launches.

That means fewer than one-third of the Chevrolet dealerships will be eligible to sell the new Stingray when it becomes available this summer, though the dealerships that are eligible can begin ordering the sports car in the coming weeks. The American automaker expects the demand for the Corvette Stingray to outstrip supply, causing it to limit allocation and inventory to its highest-volume Corvette dealerships.

“Chevrolet provided dealers with guidance and requirements early in 2012 so dealers would know well in advance whether they would likely receive Corvette models during the initial six to nine months after launch,” Russ Clark, Chevrolet marketing director for performance cars, said in a statement.

The 900 dealerships chosen account for 80 percent of Corvette sales last year and other dealerships won’t be allocated any inventory until [...]