CORVETTE RACING AT BARCELONA: No. 33 Starts Season-Best P4

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CORVETTE RACING AT BARCELONA: No. 33 Starts Season-Best P4

Both TF Sport Corvette GT3s advance to Hyperpole for first time this year


BARCELONA, Catalunya, Spain (October 17, 2026) – TF Sport’s two Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs will start from the second and fifth rows of the LMGT3 grid Sunday for the Six Hours of Barcelona presented by Visit Qatar and the first race there for the FIA World Endurance Championship.


For the first time this year, both Corvettes advanced to the 10-minute Hyperpole session with Jonny Edgar setting the fastest lap among the TF Sport drivers – 1:41.447 (102.713 mph). The class Drivers Championship leader will team again with Nicky Catsburg and Ben Keating, who advanced out of Q1 and into the 10-minute Hyperpole session for the first time this year.


The No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF entry of Charlie Eastwood, Salih Yoluc and Peter Dempsey was the quickest of the two Corvettes in Saturday’s Q1 thanks to Dempsey’s lap of 1:42.082 (102.029 mph). Yoluc, who drove in Hyperpole, will take the start in the red Corvette in Sunday’s race.


After struggling with pace during Friday’s two free practice sessions, the No. 33 team made a setup change to help front-end compliance and bring it into a similar window of the sister Corvette, which made all the difference in qualifying.


The Hyperpole appearance for the No. 33 was a pleasant turn of events, but qualifying outside the top-10 has meant little as the trio has moved forward in previous races and scored points in five of them – tied for most in the class.

That consistency plus a win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans has put the No. 33 Corvette on the cusp of clinching the LMGT3 Teams Championship. If the trio finishes more than 26 points ahead of their closest competitor coming out of the race, then the No. 33 TF Corvette squad will clinch the championship with one race to go. The Drivers title will officially go to the season finale at Monza as Edgar leads by two points over Catsburg and 22 over Keating.


Not far behind is the No. 34 Corvette squad, which has a class victory at Brazil and third-place finish at Fuji to its credit. Those results have lifted the No. 34 to third in the Teams standings and the three drivers to fifth in Drivers points.


Despite the dry and warm conditions in qualifying Saturday, rain in the forecast for Sunday gives additional hope to the Corvette camp, with all six drivers confident in the wet setup and performance of the Z06 GT3.R. Both cars were quick during a damp final practice session at Fuji in the previous WEC round before qualifying was washed out.


The Six Hours of Barcelona presented by Visit Qatar for the FIA World Endurance Championship is scheduled for noon CET / 6 a.m. ET on Sunday. Live streaming coverage of the race plus timing and scoring is available through a subscription on FIA WEC Plus with additional live streaming on the HBO Max app in the U.S. Radio Le Mans also will provide live streaming audio coverage as well.


CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTES


JONNY EDGAR, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It's been a much better day. Yesterday was really difficult for us generally compared to the sister car. We seemed to really struggle for pace and were missing a few tenths. We made some changes based on our feelings and already in FP3 the car was much better. All three of us were way happier with the balance, and we also seemed much faster. Ben did a great job of getting us into Hyperpole for the time this year, which is really nice. Going into my session I didn't know fully what to expect. I haven't done qualifying in over a year. I knew here the tire deg is pretty big so I expected the laptime to come in the first or second push lap. The first lap I did was pretty good and the second was basically the same time. So everyone did a great job. The car was massively improved, and I was happy with my lap. I don't think there was much time left in it. A big improvement from where we were yesterday, which was nice. Whenever we have a tough day, we seem to be able to turn it around. We did the same in Fuji so that's very positive. I'm looking forward to the race. It's the best starting position I've had in the two years I've driven with Ben, which is quite cool.”

(Outlook for a wet race?) “In the rain or dry, starting at the front helps. You're in a better track position, especially if it's wet you can see better. But I think the plan stays the same: no mistakes, have a clean race, drive as fast as we can. In Fuji we seemed to have a good car in the rain and today it was good in the dry. I think in any conditions we should be pretty good. We'll try to score as many points as we can for the championship.”


BEN KEATING, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I can't remember what my mock qualifying time was yesterday, but I think I'm close to two seconds a lap faster than yesterday. Yesterday I was very frustrated. Kudos to the team. Tyler (Neff, race engineer) did an amazing job of studying the data last night and figuring out what was causing our issues. The car feels so much better today. All racecars like a cool track. This morning I did a qualy sim, and I'm really glad I did but it was very different. I'm learning how to bring the tires in properly at this specific track because it's very different from most tracks we go to. I feel like I learned a lot and that I executed well.

“It's extremely tight. I think I did a 43.3 first to put me in P2, which was already a tenth quicker than my mock qualy in practice. With the heat of the day I thought that would be pretty good. I pushed for another lap and did a 43.1 and was still P2 at the time and had no doubt that was going to be good enough. On the next lap I did a 42.9 that put me in P4 at the checkered flag. I was shocked to look at the timing screen to see that my 43.1 would have put me out of Hyperpole. From fourth to 12th is only three-tenths of a second. That's extremely tight, especially when you consider that every car out there had their Bronze driver in there. You get a little bit of a mix of drivers, and I'm just thrilled. It's my first Hyperpole of the entire season. I'm grateful to be where we are and proud of Jonny for giving us a P4 starting position. It's far and away the best starting position we've had all year.”


NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "Tire deg is a big issue for everyone. We're probably pretty good at it so hopefully it's something we can use to our advantage. We are on the medium compound whereas in ELMS the team ran the hard compound. I feel like it's just out of the window. There's massive deg compared to what we normally so we will have to find a setup and a way to keep the tires alive.

"I was actually using AI to fine the last time I was here, and it was awhile ago! I definitely have not driven the last sector the way it is now. But I have driven the last two corners back in 2007 or something in a Seat front-wheel drive, so that's a bit far away from the Corvette! It's a lot of fun. The track is great. The only thing is the state of the asphalt. There's so much deg which kind of makes it less fun. Luckily now in this last practice we've really found something good on the car so I feel like everyone will be a bit happier today. (The rain) changes things for sure. I hope it rains. We haven't really had a proper rain race yet. I think we'll be good in the wet so I'll be dancing tonight."


PETER DEMPSEY, NO. 34 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “First off, congrats to Ben and the 33 car. He did a phenomenal job to get them into their first Hyperpole of the year. It allows them to start a bit closer to the front than normal, which is great for the team. For us, I'm happy with my qualifying. It was my first qualifying sim of the weekend so I definitely left a bit on the table. But I did the job I needed to do to get into Hyperpole and give Salih a run at it there. Overall I'm pretty happy. We'll see what the weather brings tomorrow.

(Key to changing mindset of dry practice and qualifying vs. a rain race) "Not too much really. Just don't overthink it and deal with what conditions the weather gives us to maximize our day. If that's first or 10th, it is what it is. We just need to get the most out of it. I raced here in the rain two weeks ago in GT World Challenge so I think that will give me a bit of an advantage if it's the first session in the wet for everybody. Hopefully I can push us through our stints and give Charlie the car in a good position to finish the race.”


CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 34 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "In ELMS this year we ran the hard Goodyear, which is probably quite a bit more suited to Barcelona with these track temps. For us, we want there to be the most tire deg as possible. The Corvette... there's nobody better on it. Even if we miss a bit on pace and time in the early laps, we gain it back at the end of a stint. It's gone pretty well. We were strong out of the box with P3 in FP1. It's hard to get a feel on everyone's tire strategy. It seems like some are using more tires than normal due to the rain that's going to come Sunday and things like that. It's tricky to get an understanding but we're in a good spot."

(Racing on rain tires) "I raced them in Austin and I raced on them in at Silverstone in ELMS, and the car was really good there. We're kind of on the balanced side where it normally goes to understeer in the wet so we definitely have that in the back of our mind that we want it to be a bit on edge so then if it does rain then it will be really good. There's plenty for the smarter people to think about.

(Advantage of racing at Barcelona in ELMS) "It always helps, and Peter was here in GT World Challenge a couple of weeks ago. It's a different tire but he put on an unbelievable performance. We're in a really good spot as a team and a lineup to capitalize if it does rain."


Ryan Smith