Due to the logistic problems between the IMSA and the European Endurance, a brand new chassis (C5R-008) appeared in the 24 hours of Le Mans 2003. In 2003, Corvette celebrated the 50th year of General Motors and the launch of a special series C5R for road use.
The 008 (#50) was painted not in the usual yellow but entered the race in a night blue livery. Gary Pratt was still in charge with Dough Feham as project leader. Dough Louth was looking after the technical side. Chief mechanic was Ray Gongla. The drivers were Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins and Oliver Gavin. During the test sessions in May in Le Mans, the #50 was behind the two Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello. On the grid, they were also third in the LMGTS.
Directly after the start, there were throttle linkage and oil leak problems and the 008 had to pit twice in the first two hours putting them out of the lead. After 2 and a half hours they had an accident with the #16 Dome, losing again time to repair. In the early hours of the Sunday morning, they lost again 36 minutes for a gearbox repair. But an hour later, the #50 was again second in the GTS, a good 15 laps behind the leading Ferrari F550 Maranello #88. They took the finish together with the # 53 with yet another a double podium in Le Mans for the Corvette team, 10 laps behind the metronomic and sole-surviving Ferrari of P.Kox, T.Enge and J.Davies.
The other entry in Le Mans, the #53 was also a new chassis: 009, also painted in night blue. The drivers were Ron Fellows, Johnny O’Connel and Frank Freon. In qualification, they were only on P05.At the start of the race, Ron Fellows was not able to follow the Ferrari #88 and got in close battle with the Luc Alphand Ferrari (#72) with Jerome Policand at the wheel. After 4 hours race, the #53 was already 2 laps behind the leaders. At midnight, the car pitted with transmission problems and when repairs were completed, they had lost 49 minutes. They were just one lap behind the sister #50 car. Crossing the finish line together with a double podium as a bonus was not as expected. It was a great day for Corvette, even without a class win. And a funny story: The #53 car has three yellow stripes on the passenger side mirror because Johnny O’Connell didn’t want to drive a car that wasn’t yellow. So when they raced it at Le Mans, the team put three yellow masking tape stripes on the mirror,
This was also the car and the team that took the ALMS -GTS championship after wins in Sonoma, Mosport and Laguna Seca.
Chassis C5R-008
# 50 Oliver Gavin / Andy Pilgrim /Kelly Collins
P 11 overall - 325 laps- 185,104 km/h P 02 LM GTS
Chassis C5R-009
# 53 Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell / Frank Freon
P 12 overall - 325 laps - 185,009 km/h P 03 LM GTS
