Eastwood: ‘No comparison’ to this stage last year
TF Sport star Charlie Eastwood says there is ‘no comparison’ to this time 12 months ago, as the British outfit enters the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign amongst the favourites for glory in the 18-strong LMGT3 field.
Despite qualifying on pole position in the hands of Eastwood’s team-mate Tom van Rompuy in Qatar last year, TF Sport left the 2024 curtain-raising contest with just a single point courtesy of a tenth-place finish for the sister Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R on the car’s FIA WEC debut. Indeed, there would be no silverware until the end of the campaign, when the two American machines placed second and third after vying for victory in Bahrain – but this season, hopes are high for an all-out title bid.
In support of that, both cars were solidly on the leading pace during the traditional two-day ‘Prologue’ group test around Lusail International Circuit last week, ending up fourth and eighth on the combined timesheets after completing more than 600 laps between them – equivalent to just over 2,000 miles – as they traded purple sectors with Vista AF Corse’s Ferrari 296 LMGT3 and the Lexus RC F LMGT3 run by Akkodis ASP Team.
“Everyone seems pretty happy,” acknowledged series newcomer Jonny Edgar, the quickest of the Corvette sextet at just 0.167s adrift of the outright benchmark. “It’s enjoyable being with TF Sport again. Most of the people I already knew, but I’m also getting used to working with some of the new people.
“Ben [Keating] and Dani [Juncadella] I’ve gotten to know more over the last few days, and they’re obviously very quick. It’s mine and Ben’s first time here so it took us both a little bit to get used to the track, but I feel we were both very comfortable by the end, the car was nice to drive and the days went smoothly. We tried a few things but if we had to race as we are now, we would be in a pretty good position.”
In the #81 entry, factory driver Eastwood was just over two tenths-of-a-second further in arrears in the car he is continuing to share with 2024 stablemates van Rompuy and Rui Andrade. The Irishman is in bullish mood as the opening round approaches apace later this week (26-28 February).
“There is close to no comparison to where we were a year ago,” Eastwood asserted. “Everyone is in a much better place, and the #33 – at least on paper – is the strongest driver line-up on the grid. We know what we need to do, we have extra data now, the team is way more well-versed with the Corvette and with the steps forward we have taken with the Z06 GT3.R since this time last year, it’s hard to compare. Ultimately, we seem to be in a pretty good spot.”
Armed with lessons learned from 2024 and buoyed by a GTD class triumph and GTD Pro runner-up result for the ‘Vette in last month’s 24 Hours of Daytona, all sights are now set on sustaining that recent success in the ten-hour Qatar 1812km, which will begin at 14:00 local time (12:00 CET) on Friday.
“Daytona was a very positive kick-off for the Z06 GT3.R in 2025,” reflected Corvette Racing Programme Manager, Jessica Dane. “It validated the work of our engineers during the off-season to give our customers a Corvette that is now both quick and reliable. All of this makes us extremely excited for Qatar.
“TF Sport has assembled another stellar line-up, and there is a lot of familiarity within the team. Both groups bring tremendous momentum and learnings from the Rolex 24 and last year’s double podium finish in Bahrain. The goal is to continue carrying that forward to bigger and better things in 2025.”
