Chevrolet’s new mid-engined Corvette C8.R will make a surprise early appearance in FIA World Endurance Championship competition, with Corvette Racing confirmed for the next round of the 2019-20 season at Circuit of The Americas.

A single GTE-Pro Corvette has been entered by the factory Pratt & Miller-run squad with a yet-to-be-announced driver lineup.

It will mark the car’s only second race outing, with the all-new C8.R set to debut in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona one month earlier.

Corvette Racing took part in two regular season WEC events in the 2018-19 ‘Super Season’ in order to fulfill the ACO’s requirement of securing two factory entries for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

It’s unclear if this entry for the first of two WEC races on U.S. soil would be to meet the same criteria.

The addition of the factory Corvette brings the GTE-Pro class to seven cars for the six-hour Lone Star Le Mans race, and 31 overall for the fifth round of the season.

No changes have been made to the preliminary entry list other than the return of Felipe Fraga to the No. 57 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR, which won last time out with Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Larry ten Voorde, who filled in for the Brazilian for Shanghai and Bahrain.

The Lone Star Le Mans event is set for Feb. 22-23.