| CORVETTE RACING AT MONTEREY: Focus Forward to Raceday |
Subject: CORVETTE RACING AT MONTEREY: Focus Forward to Raceday by cor123 on 2017/9/23 23:54:55 Press Release: CORVETTE RACING AT MONTEREY: Focus Forward to Raceday GTLM championship-leading team confident in strategy ahead of Monterey round MONTEREY, California (Sept. 23, 2017) – Corvette Racing is confidently looking ahead to raceday following GT Le Mans (GTLM) qualifying for the America’s Tire 250 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Following seventh- and ninth-place efforts Saturday in time trials, the championship-winning team will bank on strategy and its experience at the circuit to move up through the field Sunday. Jan Magnussen led Corvette Racing’s qualifying effort with a 1:22.789 (97.317 mph) lap in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. He and Antonio Garcia led the GTLM Driver’s Championship – as does Chevrolet in the Manufacturer’s standings – on the strength of three victories this year. Oliver Gavin was ninth in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R that he shares with Tommy Milner at 1:23.009 (97.059 mph). All four Corvette Racing drivers have won multiple times at Laguna Seca, and the team has won seven times since 1999. Corvette Racing also has proven it can win from anywhere on the grid in Monterey. Only once has it won from pole position; on the flip side Garcia and Magnussen won in 2013 after starting sixth. The America’s Tire 250 from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is set for 2:05 p.m. PT on Sunday, Sept. 24. FOX Sports 1 will air the race live starting at 2 p.m. ET. Live audio coverage from IMSA Radio and a Corvette Racing In-Car feed will be available on IMSA.com. JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – QUALIFIED SEVENTH IN GTLM: “The balance of the car was quite similar to what we had in practice the last two days. Obviously the new tire and the low fuel was masking a little bit of that. We’re disappointed to be this far back, but the group right ahead of us is very close in lap time. We aren’t completely out of it but we will have a race on our hands, that’s for sure.” OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – QUALIFIED NINTH IN GTLM: “So far this weekend we’ve been working away with Michelin and on the setup of our car. We are getting closer with it, but for this qualifying session we definitely went with the strategy of thinking about the race and nothing about where we could be in qualifying. Hopefully, that is going to pay dividends tomorrow. Starting seventh and ninth is not ideal, but it is a long race here. We are going to see some pretty big tire degradation and some big lap time drop-off. This place is aggressive for that. So we just have to wait and see whether our strategy plays out or that of our competitors. We are confident in the research we’ve done and what we’ve done so far. So eyes forward and we will see what tomorrow brings.”  |
