The 2004 season would mark the final year of the Corvette C5-R operated under Corvette Racing. Chassis C5R-010 (#64), which had done his first race at Road America in august 2003, would start the partnership of drivers between Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Jan Magnussen. Before the 24h Le Mans, they had done the 12h Sebring together. Chassis C5R-011 (#63) was driven by Ron Fellows, Johnny O’Connell and Max Papis. They were winners in the GTS class in Sebring.
Some changes were made to the C5. The front splitter had been adapted by a slight increase in width and length. The rear wing had been revised with the reduction of the raise in the center of the wing to a much more subtle curve. The car had less weight thanks to a polycarbonate windscreen, lighter battery and body panels. Katech had done a massive updated on the LS1.R 7.0L Chevy V-8 engine. A big change was a switch to the Michelin tyres.
The biggest changes for the C5-R was the new six-speed sequential transmission from Xtrac. This new transmission allowed for much faster and accurate shifting, whilst also taking some strain off the drivers. This was thanks to no need of the clutch pedal on the upshifts, meaning the driver could keep their foot planted on the gas pedal whilst going up the gears. Tyres and engines went through a serious period of testing prior to the 24 hours race.
A total of seven cars qualified for the GTS class. The two Chevrolets were up against five Ferrari cars: two 575 GTC run by the Barron Connor Racing, to 550 Maranello run by Prodrive and a 550 for the French Labre team. It was Tomas Enge who snatched the pole-position from Oliver Gavin. A close battle was expected.
The race was run in dry conditions. The start was good with both C5R running 2-3 in their class. All GTS cars were running about a second apart showing that the Ferraris could match the pace of the Americans.
After the first round of pitstops, car #63 had an accident at Arnage when Ron Fellows on fresh cold tyres overdid his entry speed while lapping the Racers‘ group GT Porsche. He hit the tyre barrier but could extract the car and headed back to the pits. The team could repair the damage, but it took 20 minutes and they lost in total five laps.
In the fourth hour of the race, #64 was leading and #63 was running seventh.
By hour 8, the #64 had a 2 minute lead when #64 suffered a rear-left blown tire. The car spun off in the gravel at Indianapolis and collected Paul Belmond’s Courage.. Again, Ron Fellows nursed the car home. This time the repairs took 30 minutes. But four laps into the the race, the car was hit from behind by a prototype sending the car into a spin. Further damage needing a repair pitstop.
When Enge skated off on an oil patch that had already took out the Audi of JJ Letho and Alan McNish, Gavin came into the lead.
At 1am the #64 was hit by the leading Audi #88 of Jamie Davies at the Ford Chicane and this caused the car to fly off track into the barrier. The marshals put the car back on the track, but Jan Magnussen had to do almost an entire laps to get back to the pits.
In the lead came again the Prodrive Ferrrari #66 of Enge/Menu/Kox. Later at 4 am, Gavin had an off at Dunlop; he lost further ground.
This stayed for two thirds in the race with #64 a full six laps down and #63 a further five laps down. But the other Ferrari of Turner/McRae/Rydell could not get closer with clutch and alternator problems.
With four hours to go, there were wheel-bearing problems for the Ferrari and that gave the #64 the lead again just when the Prodrive came out of the pits. With still 4 hours to go the GTS battle came alive. Luckily a puncture did not delay the Corvette too much. But in the next hour, the Ferrari had to deal with some problems. So by the end of hour 22, both Corvettes were leading.
The #64 crossed the line as the class winner with eleven laps in front of the second Corvette. For Doug Ferran, this was the greatest Le Mans victory.
