2017 Chevy Camaro GT4.R Debuts In IMSA Competition

Stevenson Motorsports takes the race-bred Camaro GT4.R to COTA.

After a year’s absence, Stevenson Racing has returned to IMSA’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge with a new Chevrolet Camaro. Unlike the previous-generation Z28, Chevy has built this car, the Camaro GT4.R, to international GT4 specifications. That will make it eligible to race internationally, but Stevenson gave the GT4.R its endurance racing debut at Circuit of the Americas with Conti Challenge.

The Stevenson crew know Camaros and the Conti Challenge series both well. Drivers Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis won the 2015 title with a Camaro Z28 and the team has raced Camaros in the series and in the old Grand-Am Road Racing Championship with much success. For the first round, Scottish driver Liddell returned to co-drive with Matt Bell, another regular for Stevenson in the Audi R8 LMS they run in the WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.

The Camaro looked great in the black-over-black livery, but it lacked little in the way of pace, too. Bell qualified the GT4.R in fifth place on the grid. Bell picked up two positions on the opening lap, then handed over to Liddell from fourth place. A quick pit stop jumped them up two positions and Liddell managed to lead seven laps before the restart.

The car eventually faded a bit in the heat against lighter McLarens and Porsches that used their tires a bit less, but Stevenson came home with a solid fifth place on the GT4.R’s endurance debut. More importantly, the Camaro bested the sold Mustang GT4 in the field.

Chevy based the GT4.R on the new high-performance Camaro ZL1 1LE. This is probably most evident in the styling and aero treatment. However, horsepower restrictions for GT4 specifications mean that the ZL1’s supercharged LT4 makes too much power. Instead, the GT4.R will use a lightly tuned LT1 V8 to make its power.