Lowndes gives Chevrolet Corvette Aussie debut

The Chevrolet Corvette C8 made its Australian debut at The Bend

Craig Lowndes has welcomed the Chevrolet Corvette C8 to Australia with a hot lap demonstration at The Bend today (Saturday).

As reported by Torquecafe.com earlier this week, a left-hand drive version of the new ‘Vette hit the track for its maiden official appearance on Australian tarmac ahead of it going on sale in the final months of 2021. Right-hand drive production will take place at the famous Bowling Green, Kentucky plant in the US and be sold through the recently-established General Motors Speciality Vehicles (GMSV) operation.

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Given his ties to Triple Eight, which is the official homologation team for the Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro, and his history with Holden, Lowndes was the obvious choice to take the wheel of the C8 for its Australian debut. He was not short of praise for the car, which is the first Corvette to have a mid-mounted engine – a 6.2-litre V8.

“It’s stunning,” Lowndes said.

“I know that what I did was a ‘demonstration run’, but I gave it a workout. I think it was a bit over 240km/h into turn one, and coupled with the paddle shift, the car all works extremely smoothly.”

He added: “Corvette is an iconic car, understandably there is huge interest in this exciting new model and there is massive anticipation building – we have every expectation it will more than live up to its legendary status.”

The Chevrolet Corvette C8 is due to go on sale in the fourth quarter of 2021

GMSV boss Joanne Stogiannis was happy to see the Corvette finally in front of a local audience, and explained it made sense to debut it at the Supercars event given the racing history of the American machine.

“We are excited that the C8 Corvette is making a brief on-track appearance at The Bend,” Stogiannis said.

“Staging its first glimpse at the track speaks to our racing heritage and also provides a reminder of the legendary performance credentials of the Corvette.”

“Anticipation is building ahead of the C8’s launch in Australia and New Zealand and seeing it in the flesh for the first time – albeit it very briefly – will only add to the increasing levels of excitement.”