CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Chevy’s first mid-engine GTLM race car – the Corvette C8.R – made its surprise debut alongside the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible at the Kennedy Space Center Wednesday evening.

The C8.R and Corvette Stingray represent a true technology transfer, taking lessons from the street straight to the track and vice versa.

“The C8.R is much more than just a race-tuned version of the 2020 Corvette Stingray. It’s a culmination of many years of testing and development between GM Design, Propulsion, Engineering and the Corvette Racing team,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. vice president of Performance and Motorsports. “The collaboration between these teams has allowed us to take these vehicles’ performance to the next level, both on the street and the track.”

With its tremendous success on the track over the last 20 years, Corvette Racing has helped push the development, performance and popularity of Corvette’s top-line performance cars on race tracks across the world.

Since 1999, Corvette Racing has won 107 races – the most of any professional sports car team in North America – including 13 team championships and 12 driver and manufacturer titles.

In 2015, Corvette Racing became the first sports car team in 15 years to win endurance racing’s Triple Crown – the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Twelve Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans – in the same season.

The C8.R No. 4 car dons a new silver livery, inspired by the color of iconic Corvette concepts such as the 1973 Chevrolet Aerovette and the 1959 Corvette Stingray Racer. This car also features yellow accents.

Complementing the No. 4 vehicle is the No. 3 car, which will feature a traditional yellow color scheme with silver accents that continues the lineage of the successful GTLM racing Corvettes of the past 20 years.

The C8.R will make its racing debut at Rolex 24 at Daytona in January of 2020.