The General Motors brand entered the full WEC for the first time in 2022 with a single Corvette C8.R entered in the GTE Pro class for Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner, having previously only raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours and sporadic other races.
Recently, Corvette announced that it will continue its program next year in the GTE Am class, which will be the last season for the C8.R before its replacement by a new version of the C8 street car built from the ground up to GT3 rules in 2024.
It will be joined in the WEC by sister brand Cadillac, which will take on the likes of Toyota, Peugeot, Porsche and Ferrari in the top Hypercar class next season with a single Chip Ganassi-run V-LMDh to be shared by Alex Lynn, Earl Bamber and Richard Westbrook.
Klauser is convinced that the Cadillac program, of which she is also in charge, will benefit from the work that Corvette has done in establishing ties with series organisers and allowing the GM organisation to better familiarise itself with racing in the WEC.
She told Autosport: “It’s very clear what being a party here in the full season had done for us. It's given us great relationships with everyone in the paddock.
“We had learned the little nuances that come with every different series that you race in, and we felt comfortable and the team was performing well, not just the drivers.
“If you looked at the mechanics and the engineers, they felt comfortable because it was familiar and they knew it, and I think that was huge, honestly.
“And as you look to the future, with all of what we're doing with Corvette and Cadillac, building these relationships have been mission critical as well."
She added: “It's always good to know who you can maybe call on if you need a little help or just want to run an idea by.
“And one of the things for me personally that's been so great about being here is learning all of the different teams that are in the WEC paddock, getting to know them, getting to know the OEMs better that are over here more prevalent than they are in the U.S. and that's been great.
“So I think any sportscar racing program that comes out of GM going forward will benefit from that.”
Corvette goes into next weekend’s Bahrain season finale searching for a second win to add to the first victory in a regular WEC race scored by the American brand at Monza in July in what will be the series’ final ever GTE Pro race.
Nicky Catsburg and Ben Keating have been named as the first two drivers for the brand’s 2023 GTE Am entry, which will again be run in parallel with a single-car effort in the GT Daytona Pro class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
