Mid-Ohio: Series Thursday interview - Doug Fehan

CORVETTE'S TEST DAY STRATEGY

Corvette Racing's first test with its two new GT2 Corvette C6.R marked the end of a demanding yet rewarding process that at the same time serves as a beginning at the Acura Sports Car Challenge.

The No. 4 Corvette was the first one built with the process starting in December and completing in April. The sister Corvette was only recently completed and ran 200 laps at Gingerman Raceway in western Michigan, where the official debut photo shoot took place. To date there are only two cars in existence.

The test day program Thursday also had a different feel to it from before, said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan.

"In the limited testing we've done so far, we've been very impressed with the car's durability, reliability and performance," he said. "We'll continue to focus on those three factors in the upcoming races. We view the rest of this year as a development cycle, and we believe that our experience as a team in preparation, race strategy, and pit stop execution should allow us to be competitive even if there is a slight performance disparity."

"We're not running for a championship this year, so the testing we'd prefer to do in private we do in the public eye," added team manager Gary Pratt. "We're looking at the next five races as preparation for 2010. Our goal is to learn as much as we can. In a perfect world we'd have the rest of this year to test and then come out with new cars at the start of next season, but we felt we just needed to get out there and race for the Corvette customers and fans. We think we'll be competitive, but there are many good cars and teams in GT2. We know it will be a challenge, and we're looking forward to it."

-credit: alms