Corvette Z06 GT3.R Evo Confirmed for 2027

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Corvette Racing will introduce an Evo kit for its Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R next year, which is aimed at reliability and and increased serviceability according to program manager Andrea Hidalgo.

The Pratt Miller-built car will enter its fourth season of GT3 competition in 2027 with updates, which Hidalgo said will be “nothing major” in terms of the current car’s appearance but a number of enhancements underneath the bodywork of the 5.5-liter V8-powered machine.

“As we developed the car, there’s changes that you can’t make unless you re-homologate,” Hidalgo told Sportscar365 in an exclusive interview. “There’s changes that the FIA and IMSA say, ‘Sorry but you have to go back to the wind tunnel.’

“It’s a lot of small changes that impact things like that which causes us to go back there.

“For example, debris mitigation: sometimes we have a lot of tire debris entering the radiator. But in order to put some kind of screen to mitigate that debris, we have to go back to the wind tunnel.

“So it’s a collection of these type of reliability updates.”

When pressed on if the car will have any visual differences, Hidalgo said: “It will look very similar but it will be a lot of small, reliability updates.

“There’s [also] a little bit of drivability [enhancements]. We’re looking at a gear ratio update as well, to help the one gear stack work at all the tracks.

“But the main focus is serviceability.”

Per FIA GT3 regulations, manufacturers are allowed to produce an Evo every three or four years of each car’s homologation, with General Motors having opted to wait an additional season compared to the likes of Ferrari and Ford, which rolled out with Evos for its GT3 machinery in each of the cars’ third years.

Corvette’s timeline mirrors that of both the BMW M4 GT3 and Porsche 911 GT3 R, which took Evos ahead of its respective fourth years of global competition.

Hidalgo, who became Corvette Racing’s new program manager in January, having previously served as a senior race engine calibration, development and track support engineer for the Z06 GT3.R, said they’ve been able to take a considerable amount of lessons from the initial version of the car.

“As an engineer in motorsports, you always want to make things better,” she said. “So when you can’t because you’re not allowed to because of the regulations, it’s tough.

“It’s going to be nice to finally bundle all of these things that we want to improve and get them out there.”

The updated car will make its debut in January’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona, with all customers in the series required to adopt the Evo, which can either be purchased as an upgrade kit or as a complete new car.

Hidalgo said that early indications that it will be a “bit of both” for its customer teams.

“I think many of the teams are looking at the kits rather than the new car but we will have new cars as well,” she added.

It’s currently unclear if the Evo would be eligible for February’s Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour, an event that SRO Motorsports Group has always utilized the previous years’ homologations due to the lack of Balance of Performance testing prior to the Intercontinental GT Challenge season opener in February.

However, IMSA and SRO recently announced a joint BoP test that will be held at Daytona International Speedway in December, which could open up a new opportunity for current-generation cars to contest Mount Panorama.

Source: Sports Car 365