Remember the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R? Silly question, of course you do. The race car was active on tracks around the world between 2014 and 2019 and it even managed to snatch a victory in the GTE Pro class at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In all fairness, what brought us here today is Abimelec Design’s recent rendering of a widebody C8 Corvette that looks ready to pick up where the C7.R left off.

The C7.R was quite a hit during its peak years

Besides clinching the Le Mans title in the GTE Pro category, the C7.R also won the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring races, securing what the motorsport world knows as the triple crown of endurance racing.

What’s more, a C8-based replacement is in the cards, according to The Drive, most likely under the C8.R nameplate.

In fact, the so-called C8.R is supposed to debut on July 18, 2020, but don’t hold your breath because, well, COVID-19.

The C8.R, however, will be mid-engined since at its core will sit a lot of eighth-gen Corvette internals. However, the same outlet says the race car's V-8 might be blessed with forced induction and a flat-plane crank. Wild rumors - take those with a hefty pinch of salt, will ya? - even suggest that the C8.R will embrace the 4.2-liter Cadillac Blackwing unit.

Coming back to Abimelec Design’s render, it sure looks ready to rock’n’roll. And since the artist named it the C87B, a moniker that hints at the 1991 Le Mans-winning Mazda 787B (by the way, that’s where the rhombus-patterned livery comes from, too), perhaps he envisioned it with a rotary engine sitting behind the driver, instead of the V-8.

Speaking of which, would a rotary-powered mid-engined Corvette be a thing of coolness or a blasphemy? Let us know in the comments section below.