NASCAR to race at Le Mans 24 Hour with star-studded driver line-up

This isn’t an April Fool’s joke. A NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will contest this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 100th anniversary of the iconic endurance race.

Motorsport fanatics are already wondering how – and perhaps why – the blunt object that is a heavy-duty NASCAR will compete with the lightweight, low-slung and razor-sharp sports-cars that dominate the Le Mans race.

Although competing in separate categories, it will make for quite a sight with the two opposites of the motor racing world sharing the same circuit in the same race.

The Garage 56 entry is set to be approved by Le Mans race organisers, l’Automobile Club De l’Ouest (ACO) in the coming weeks, according to overseas reports.

Garage 56 is, according to the ACO, “not part of the official competition and technical regulations do not have to be applied. The idea is to leave as much room for creativity as possible. Garage 56 explores the automobile technology of tomorrow and beyond".

The Chevrolet NASCAR entry will be run by Hendrick Motorsports, the 14-time NASCAR Championship winning team owned by Rick Hendricks. The car will be driven by seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, 2009 Formula One World Champion Jenson Button, and two-time Le Mans 24 Hour winner Mike Rockenfeller.

According to a statement by Hendrick Motorsports, the Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro will race at La Sarthe “largely unchanged from the Next Gen race car that competes weekly in the NASCAR Cup Series. Among the changes made to prepare the car for an endurance race are functioning headlights and tail-lights, a larger fuel cell, carbon brake discs and specially designed Goodyear Eagle tyres”.

The specifications reveal that the Le Mans racer will be 50mm longer than a NASCAR race car and will weigh considerably less, tipping the scales at 1342kg, some 238kg lighter than a regular stock car (1580kg).

On-track testing of the Le Mans-bound NASCAR began in August last year and has since logged nearly 6000km.

“From the beginning of this project, it was important to us that the car we bring to Le Mans is a true NASCAR stock car,” said NASCAR chairman and CEO Jim France in a statement. “While there have been some adjustments to allow the car to compete in a 24-hour endurance race, fans in Le Mans will be treated to the full NASCAR experience.”