2019 Chevy Corvette Z06 spied testing with ZR1 wing, roll cage, lots of orange

The Chevy Corvette line is pretty well rounded at this point, starting with the plain old Stingray up to the beastly, hardcore ZR1, with the Grand Sport and Z06 filling in the gaps. But it looks like yet another Corvette niche could appear, as evidenced by the above spy shots. They show a Corvette Z06, but with a ZR1 wing and more. And by more, we mostly mean "orange."

While most prototypes are completely covered in camouflage, this one wears its body work proud in a matte black and bright orange paint scheme. The lower splitters, rear wing and brake calipers are all finished in the orange hue. There are even some little orange accent stripes around some of the vents and scoops. We're not sure whether we like the look or not, one of our editors said it looks like it was done by Nike, and another noted its similarity to the Citroen DS3 Racing hatchback.

Digging into changes from the regular Z06, we have the most obvious addition, the mega-sized rear wing. It's clearly the optional wing from the ZR1's ZTK performance package. Interestingly, it's the only bit of aerodynamic kit on the car that comes from the ZR1. At the front and the sides, the splitters appear to be the same as those on the regular Z06. The brakes appear to be the standard slotted steel rotors from the Z06, not the optional carbon-ceramic units. It also features tow hooks both front and rear.

Another couple bits of track-ready equipment are on the inside. Most notable is the bright orange roll cage. This isn't something we've seen on any other production Corvettes. It could be part of a production vehicle, similar to what we've seen on some track-oriented Porsches. It could also just be a temporary part for safety while setting hot laps (though why go to the trouble of painting it matching orange?). Just in front of the cage are the optional Z06 "competition" seats, further indicating this is a particularly high-performance Z06.

This is the first time we've seen this Corvette, and so we're left to speculate on what it could be. It seems as though it could be a more track-ready version of the Z06 that takes advantage of some of what Chevy learned with the ZR1. Sort of like how the Grand Sport features much of the Z06's aerodynamic and suspension improvements, but uses the Stingray's powertrain. It could also simply be a special option package for the Z06. Or, worst-case scenario, it's just something some orange-loving engineers threw together for fun. Regardless, we'll be keeping an eye on this car.

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