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General Motors Media Press Release

FOR RELEASE: June 18, 2001

Corvette C5-R Scores Double Gts Victory In World's Toughest Sportscar Race; Cadillac Northstar LMP Fifteenth Overall

LE MANS - Corvette Racing scored an historic double victory in the GTS-class in the 69th edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours. The 1-2 follows up on a podium finish at the Corvette C5-R's first Le Mans attempt last year.

General Motors' second brand present at Le Mans - Cadillac, running in the LMP category - looked set for a top five finish after the drivers of the #6 Northstar LMP put in some spectacular triple stints to bring the car back from 17th overall to fourth. In the early morning hours, however, the starter solenoid, and later, a burnt clutch, slowed the car down severely. It finished 15th overall and fifth in class, bettering last year's result.

"This is the toughest race ever that I have participated in with my team," DAMS Team Cadillac principal Jean-Paul Driot said. "As usual, even if it is tough, sometimes during the race you think, 'Ah! I will never do it again, it is so difficult.' And at the end of the race - especially for us dropping from fifth to fifteenth near the end - it is very disappointing. All of my team and everybody here has expended so much effort."

Happy faces in Corvette camp for the first ever Le Mans class win: "I just hope that somewhere up there Zora Duntov (father of the Corvette) is enjoying what is no doubt the greatest victory in Corvette history," GM Racing Executive Director Herb Fishel said. This is a great testament to the concept of teamwork and to the Corvette and Cadillac teams for their efforts."

GM Motorsports Marketing Manager Gary Claudio summed it up as follows: "This is a great 1-2 win for Corvette Racing and both the No. 63 and No. 64 teams dedicated this effort to our missing Daytona teammate... Dale, this one is for you."

"We really had to work for this one and it was a total team effort. Nothing comes easy to any race team," Corvette Program Manager Doug Fehan said. "And I'm proud of these drivers, the crews and all of the people at GM who helped make this win possible. This has to be the toughest race in the world and we are extremely pleased to win the GTS class!"