PRESS RELEASE:

Milner, Tandy seek to rebound from heartbreaking Le Mans in C8.R’s Italian
debut


CORVETTE RACING AT MONZA: Visiting The Temple of Speed
Milner, Tandy seek to rebound from heartbreaking Le Mans in C8.R’s Italian
debut

DETROIT (July 5, 2022) – With the heartbreaking memory of Le Mans in the
rearview mirror, Corvette Racing is looking to regroup as it heads to Italy
for the first time ahead of the Six Hours of Monza in the FIA World
Endurance Championship.

As they have for the previous three WEC races, Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy
will share the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, which is on
its maiden globe-trotting tour in 2022. It’s the first  “new” event for the
Corvette WEC program, having previously been to Sebring, Spa and – of
course – Le Mans.


The 3.60-mile, 11-turn circuit is one of the fastest in the world with
multiple long straights and huge braking zones for the four WEC categories.
Even without having set foot inside Monza Park – where Autodromo Nazionale
Monza sits – there already is data from the long straights and slow corners
at Le Mans that Corvette Racing engineers can refer to when establishing a
baseline for this weekend.


Input also will come from Tandy, one of the few Corvette Racing team members
who has previous experience at the circuit. This will be the case for Fuji
and Bahrain to close the WEC season, although Milner has accumulated several
hours of simulator work ahead of his first race at the Italian circuit.


The No. 64 Corvette opened the WEC season with a strong second-place showing
at the rain-shortened 1,000 Miles of Sebring. Things were trending the right
way for the Tandy/Milner pairing at the Six Hours of Spa before a red flag
just past the one-hour mark wiped out the team’s first planned pit stop and
effectively put the Corvette a lap down before finishing fourth.


Le Mans was the cruelest blow with the No. 64 C8.R eliminated while
effectively leading just shy of the 18-hour mark.


The Six Hours of Monza for the FIA World Endurance Championship is scheduled
for noon CET/6 a.m. CET on Sunday, July 10 from Autodromo Nazionale Monza in
Italy. Qualifying is set for 5:30 p.m. CET/11:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, July
9. The race will air live on MotorTrend with live streaming coverage of the
race and qualifying on the MotorTrend Plus app. Radio Le Mans will broadcast
qualifying and the race.


TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “It’s another
classic track that we’ve never had a chance to compete at before and it’s
one I’m looking forward to. Based on what Nick has said about the area and
especially the history of the track makes it something special to compete
there. So I’m excited for that opportunity. I’ve had a chance to do some
laps in the simulator. Looking at the track layout, it seems fairly simple
in some ways but driving it has its own unique challenges. It’s fun to
drive, too. The corners are quite different where you have some very slow
chicanes and some pretty quick third- and fourth-gear corners. There is a
wide variety of track sections. The slowest part of the track is preceded by
a very long straightaway, which will be great for racing. It’s exciting. I
enjoy the historic part of the sport so the chance to see the old Monza
banking is something I can’t wait to see.”


NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Monza is
another classic place. When anyone speaks of Monza, it’s one of those iconic
names and venues. The word just strikes passion into motorsport. Any series
that races there is a top event, and it’s a privilege to race at the circuit
and in Monza Park. It’s not a normal setting for a racetrack near a city but
in an actual park. Even from driving into the circuit, it’s a different
experience. When you get to the track, it’s unlike any other circuit. It’s
short but it’s so defined by the fast straightaways. It’s a bit like Daytona
in that sense. It’s fun.”

More Monza: “It’s a normal lap time but there are effectively six corners –
three corners and three chicanes. From that point of view, it’s not the most
technical circuit for a driver. On the other hand, for the car and
engineering crew, trying to get a window where your car operates is
critical. Of course you have to be fast in a straight line but the car has
to be really good under braking. This is a huge thing about Monza. ... It’s
a real tricky one to kind of figure out for what is best for ultimately
making laptime out of your car. Of course, we are new as it will be the
first time that Corvette Racing has been to Monza. I’ll be relaying my
experience from previous years to the team and try to help out. Past that,
we’ve already started our prep and started running on the sim before Le
Mans. We’ve figured out a few options we can take with us to find what’s
best. But I’m also looking forward to seeing everyone’s faces and the people
who have never been and have a chance to go to Italy and have a look around
this amazing facility and amazing town.”


Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick

PRESS RELEASE:
Garcia, Taylor take runner-up GTD PRO finish in return to Canada


CORVETTE RACING AT CTMP: No. 3 Corvette Back on Podium
Garcia, Taylor take runner-up GTD PRO finish in return to Canada

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario (July 3, 2022) – Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and
Jordan Taylor made their way back onto the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO podium
Sunday as the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R placed second
at the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.


It’s the first podium for the Corvette duo since April’s race at Long Beach
for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The result boosted Garcia
and Taylor back into second place in the GTD PRO Drivers Championship, with
Chevrolet moving to second in the Manufacturers Championship with four races
left in the season.


The No. 3 Corvette finished 1.115 seconds behind the winning No. 9 Porsche,
which led all but nine of 111 laps.


A couple of early-race caution periods Sunday forced Corvette Racing
engineers to alter the team’s pre-race plan. Starting fourth, Taylor drove a
double-stint and moved up a spot at the start when one of the front-row GTD
cars went around at the first corner. The No. 3 Corvette was on the inside
line and got through the incident unscathed.


For the next hour and 40 minutes, Taylor was part of a three-car train of
GTD PRO leaders that rarely were separated by more than one second. Taylor
expertly saved fuel and his Michelin tires while at the same time maximizing
the performance of the C8.R to remain with the leaders.


His persistence paid off when he made a lunge on the far end of the circuit
to take second with 75 minutes  to go. The No. 3 Corvette stopped for the
second time with 64 minutes left as Garcia took over with full fuel and four
fresh Michelin tires.


Two more yellows interrupted Garcia’s charge, which hampered what Corvette
Racing hoped was an advantage on long runs. But every time Garcia got close
to the Porsche, it would pull away again to about a lead of one second to
the end of the race.


Corvette Racing’s next event in IMSA is the Northeast Grand Prix on July
15-16 from Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn.


ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED
SECOND IN GTD PRO: "We gave it our all. It was a perfect race for us. We
finished second, and that's all we had. We pushed the winning car, but it
wasn't enough. Next race, we'll try to go a little faster and do something
different. This is what it also takes to win championships. So we need to
stay in contact, and I'm sure the wins will come."
Dealing with traffic: "It wasn't easy. With the prototype traffic being so
much faster than us, it was difficult to really get a chance to get close to
the Porsche. Whenever the prototypes would pass, they would go and there
would be another one pretty soon. Maybe with more LMP3s there would have
been more of a chance to do something different. With the DPis being so much
faster than us - especially with their cornering - it wasn't ideal to try to
work traffic in your favor. Now that we are in the slowest category instead
of GTLM, you don't have those opportunities to use traffic. All the traffic
you're in is going by. It's difficult to use that in your favor."
The last 20 minutes: "I think it felt like the Porsche was showing what they
had to show. Whenever we would stop saving fuel or tires, it felt like they
had some in reserve. We thought that without those two yellows and a more
consistent stint, maybe we would have had a chance. Up until the last yellow
I was saving the tires, but on the last yellow we knew it would be a race to
the end. We both went 100 percent. They just had more. Every second I lost
in traffic, it took five or six laps to get that back. It was difficult but
in general we did a perfect race. We started fifth and finished second, so
we gained a lot today."


JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED
SECOND IN GTD PRO:"It was action-packed! The start was hectic. I got a bad
start, actually, but there were some cars in front of me that saved my
start. I thankfully was on the right line to cycle through up to third. Once
we went to green and settled in, we were saving fuel. I could see the Aston
Martin was struggling but it was going to be so hard to pass him without
traffic. So I was saving as much as I could, and every time we go traffic I
would try to stay close and make something happen. Once I got in clean air
our car seemed to come alive a little bit. It had surprising pace, and I was
quite happy with it. The Porsche was struggling a little bit toward the end
of their stint. Hopefully it stays green. Tire degradation seems to be to
our advantage so a long stint is what we are hoping for."
Dealing with the traffic: "You just kind of hope and pray that they get the
same bad luck every now and then. I think every P3 car that passed me was
into Turn Eight; I had only one pass me into Turn One. I would see the other
guys get held up every now and then. It comes and goes. We had a bunch of
bad ones but we got some good ones, too."
Overall thoughts: "It was a great day back at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
and at the Chevrolet Grand Prix. We maximized what we could today. It's not
great for the overall points, but considering where we started the day we
can be pretty happy with where we ended up. We'll move on to Lime Rock and
hopefully be a little more competitive there and move up in the championship
as well."

Good afternoon, all.

I've been "signaling" for most of the weekend: American flag tie at work on Friday (which was a big hit), battleships shirt today, World War 2 aircraft shirt tomorrow.

July 4th weekend is usually pretty quiet for us, and it looks like 2022 will be the same. On Friday evening, we went out to a fun dinner with the parents of our goddaughter. Saturday evening was at a dual graduation party being held by the Mexican side of Ivelis's family—as expected, the food was superb. Otherwise, mostly errands and chores.

If the weather is nice tomorrow, we'll try to take Grace out (Louis goes in for body work on the 11th).

Have a glorious Fourth, folks.

Press Release:

Corvette C8.R feeling good but struggling for pace in Canadian debut

 

CORVETTE RACING AT CTMP: Steep Hills to Climb
Corvette C8.R feeling good but struggling for pace in Canadian debut

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario (July 2, 2022) – Corvette Racing’s No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R will start from the third row of the GT Daytona (GTD) category Sunday for the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motosport Park – the first race for the mid-engine Corvette in Canada.


Jordan Taylor set a best lap of 1:15.955 (116.547 mph) in the Mobil 1/SiriusXM C8.R to qualify fourth in the GTD PRO category. He was 0.487 seconds behind the pole-winning Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet.


A performance deficit left Taylor and Antonio Garcia starting similarly down the GTD PRO order a week ago at Watkins Glen International. With no significant changes to the Corvette on the performance side, the key will be gaining positions through strategy and execution – just like at The Glen.


Corvette Racing – and the rest of the WeatherTech Championship – is back at CTMP for the first time since 2019. The C8.R is the fourth generation of Corvette to compete around and over the elevation changes at CTMP since the Corvette Racing program first competed there in 2000 with the Corvette C5-R.


Since that time, the team has claimed 11 victories at the track – second-most among all venues behind only Sebring. Three of those came in Corvettes driven by Canadian and Corvette Racing legend Ron Fellows, who is co-owner of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.


The Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 3. The race will air live on NBC and stream live on Peacock inside the United States and IMSA.com outside the U.S. IMSA Radio will broadcast the race at IMSA.com with the call also on XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.

 
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED FOURTH IN GTD PRO: "The car is good. We're just slow. It's frustrating. I felt like the lap was pretty good but we're off the pace. It's nothing we're doing wrong. We've improved the car through the weekend, and it's the best it's been since we've been here. Hopefully we can play some strategy in the race, jump ahead of some guys and hopefully hold them off.
"I think the only hope for us is big tire degradation or traffic. On speed alone, we won't be able to pass anyone I don't think. We'll have to hope for some other guys to make mistakes and hopefully our guys in the pitlane can make some passes for us."