Final update—I think. Following post-race scrutineering, one GT Pro Ford GT and the only GT Am Ford GT were both disqualified for having oversized fuel tanks (both cars) and fueling too quickly (the GT Am car):

LMP1: Toyota #8, Toyota #7, BR Engineering #11

LMP2: Alpine #36 (6th overall), Oreca #38, Oreca #28

LM GT Pro: Ferrari #51 (20th overall), Porsche #91, Porsche #93 (Corvette #63 eighth in class and five laps down)

LM GT Am: Porsche #56 (31st overall), Ferrari #84, Ferrari #82

50 cars finished the race. Corvettes finished 28th and 57th overall.

PRESS RELEASE:
The No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R of Antonio Garcia, Jan
Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller finished ninth in the GTE Pro category



CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: From Hopes to Heartbreak

LE MANS, France (June 16, 2019) – Corvette Racing’s hopes for a magical
victory in its 20th straight appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans didn’t
come to pass, but the effort of the program was never stronger than what the
team displayed Saturday and Sunday in the world’s biggest endurance race.


The No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R of Antonio Garcia, Jan
Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller finished ninth in the GTE Pro category on a
day where the trio was firmly in contention for the first 20 hours. Three
unlucky safety car periods and an untimely late trip to the garage for
repairs following a spin put a dent in the plans for a ninth class victory
in 20 years.


Le Mans struck hard at both Corvette Racing entries. The No. 64 Mobil
1/SiriusXM Corvette C7.R retired following a heavy crash for Marcel Fässler
near the six-hour mark. The incident happened in the lightning quick Porsche
Curves toward the end of the lap. Fässler – driving with Oliver Gavin and
Tommy Milner – was hit from behind after making a pass on a slower car with
the impact sending the Corvette hard into the wall on driver’s right.


The damage was too extensive to repair and return the car to the race.
Fässler was evaluated at the track medical center and was sent to a local
hospital for a CT scan, which came back normal.


The No. 64 Corvette was up and down the order early with Gavin climbing from
11th at the start to fourth in class during his opening two stints. Debris
on his tires made it challenging for him to maintain his early pace but he
and Milner had relatively calm stints before handing over to Fässler, who
was matching the pace of his teammates before in incident.


The No. 63 led early and often. Garcia began the race from the third
position but needed less than 20 minutes to move to the point in a frantic
start.


All three drivers of the No. 63 Corvette took turns in the lead early. The
first safety car period of the race during the sixth hour brought the top
nine GTE Pro entries to within 15 seconds of each other at the six-hour
mark. Another safety car near the 10 hours running split the two lead cars
from the rest of the GTE Pro field, effectively taking what had been a
nine-car battle down to two with the Corvette part of the second group.


The early-morning period saw the leading GTE Pro entry run into trouble,
allowing the remaining Corvette – which had chipped away on the lead pack
for a number of hours – to move back into contention. By the 16-hour mark,
the C7.R had moved back into the lead and a strategic game of chess
developed between the No. 63 Corvette and the eventual winning Ferrari.


The momentum seemed like it was swinging permanently toward the side of the
Corvette when disaster struck with three-and-a-half hours to go.
Rockenfeller pitted for fuel, tires and a driver change to Magnussen during
a safety car period. The pit stop was excellent – as they had been all
race – but the pit exit was closed, which once again prevented the Corvette
from catching the safety car queue that included the GTE Pro leader.


Once under way, Magnussen spun late in the lap at the Porsche Curves on cold
tires and contacted the outside wall with the front-left of the Corvette.
The crew repaired the suspension on that corner of the Corvette, losing just
six minutes but two costly laps. A final late-race visit to the garage
thwarted any hopes of gaining additional positions.


There is little rest for Corvette Racing with the team returning to IMSA
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition in two weeks at Watkins Glen
International for the Sahlen’s Six Hours at The Glen.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “It was
super tough all race, especially for being all the way up at the front for
21 hours. The early safety car around five hours really put us down, and I
got pretty upset about that. For me, I thought the race was lost but you
never know at Le Mans. A few more stints in and we were back in the lead. It’s
a shame that we didn’t put it together all the way to the end because I
think everyone here deserved to win. The team made a fantastic effort. The
preparation was really good, and we proved that to every other team out
there - the preparation of the cars, the pit stops, the brake changes and
the way we could go for a win instead of waiting for the race to come to us.
I felt like we had everyone afraid of us. Most of the teams at Le Mans
probably feel that we had the car to beat, and I think that’s right. But
Ferrari did a perfect run and they won. All we can do is congratulate them.
Then we will come back and win it.”


JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “Up until it
all went wrong, we did the best we could and that put us in front. The guys
did a fantastic job all race - the crew, the engineers and the drivers…
everybody. But the safety car came out there late, we had to pit and
effectively that took the win away. P2 was in the cards; that’s not what we
came here for but for sure we would have taken that with the win not being
on the table any longer. Unfortunately I clipped a curb on cold tires and
hit the wall. I can’t begin to describe how horrible I feel for the guys and
all the hard work they have put in for the past year. We had the car in
front and a mistake like that takes it all away. I don’t know how to
apologize for that but hopefully I can make it up to them someway.”


MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “Thanks
to Corvette Racing for giving me the opportunity to race here at Le Mans
again. I always love it even though as we saw this weekend it can be one of
the toughest races in the world in that you can be a bit unfortunate. We had
a really good car… the Corvette was running super nice, especially at the
end of the race. The track and everything evolved in the right direction;
when it rubbered in and our car came alive… I think we had everything to
fight for victory, but obviously the rules with these safety cars are a bit
unfair. We’ve known this since years past and it has been proved it is not
the good way of doing it. I think we need to think about it, but that is
obviously not our job.


“Again, the car was prepared well and I always enjoy it to race here with
Corvette Racing. Personally I was really happy to drive the car. I felt
confident at the wheel, I felt I could get the most performance out of the
car and really push hard and fight for it. So personally I was super happy
with my own performance, but obviously the results are not what we wanted.
Both cars were super unlucky… our sister car and Jan on our car, but that’s
racing you know. We always push to the limit and sometimes things go wrong.
And this also is something special within the Corvette team: there is no bad
word about anything. And I’ve seen it different in my career, I can tell
you. Here, from top to bottom, they all work together and they consider it a
sport. It’s racing, you try hard, and you win and you lose together. And
this is what you feel at Corvette, and this is a good feeling for a driver.
Because one day you make a mistake and it’s not nice if people drag you down
when they should say, ‘Hey, it happens. we’ve won so much together and
sometimes things go wrong,’ which for me again shows I’m in the right team
here and I hope we’ll have some more opportunities in the future to win this
together.”


OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “This has
without a doubt been a tough Le Mans 24 Hours for Corvette Racing. On the 64
Corvette side, we had a promising start with good pace. We got ourselves up
to fourth place, which ended up being the high-water mark as it turns out.
Some little bits and pieces didn’t go our way but the race got reset with a
safety car, and we were looking good again. But it wasn’t to be. Marcel had
the incident with the GTE Am car… it was such a big hit. We’re all so happy
he’s been able to walk away. It’s a testament to the work that Corvette
Racing and Chevrolet have done on the C7.R - our driver cell, the impact
structure. Those all really helped protect Marcel. Then it was all eyes on
the 63 Corvette and it was looking so well for so long. This race can bite
you so hard sometimes and it can be tough to take. Everyone at Corvette
Racing put so much into this for months and months. It’s very special but it
does take a lot of preparation. When you that chance of winning taken away,
that’s really hard for the guys to take. They worked so, so hard over the
last few months. We can be proud of what we achieved over this race but
unfortunately we weren’t standing on the top step of the podium."


”TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “It
definitely was not the 24 Hours that we were hoping for. We can all be super
proud of all the efforts from everyone at Corvette Racing. We had two fast,
reliable Corvettes - all ingredients that you need for a good race.
Unfortunately what ends up being the most important piece - the luck - … we
didn’t have that today. It’s a cliche but that’s racing. Everyone is pushing
at 100 percent, and when it is this close and the competition is this
fierce, the margin for error is razor-thin. It’s unfortunate to have had our
race end early. We can be proud of the effort of this whole team. We’re all
proud to drive for Corvette Racing and Team Chevy.
“We’re happy that Marcel is OK, and that’s one of the reasons I’m proud to
drive these cars like we do. We know things happen sometimes but we know we
are safe. I feel bad for the 63 team too. They showed how competitive we can
be with a seven-year old car. It’s just too bad that today was not Corvette
Racing’s day.”


MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “It was a
tough weekend for us. It definitely was not what we were hoping for. It was
an early end to our day. Everyone did a double stint, and I was on my last
lap before I was to hand off to Olly. Unfortunately I got hit by a GTE Am
driver that took me out and I hit the barrier quite hard. For us the race
was over. I’m happy Corvette is the safest GT car we have in the field.
Every system worked well and I have no issues… feeling well even though the
impact was hard. I’m happy I’m OK but on the other hand I am sad because we
were taken out of the race. For sure we wanted to achieve a good result on
Corvette’s 20th year at Le Mans. For sure that’s kind of racing but it’s
still sad for the team that all the preparation we did ended all of a
sudden. It is difficult to take.”

Quote:

My opinions only:

1) The others have gotten better. There's no questioning that the Ford GT has raised the bar in GT Pro. The Ferraris are fast and they've stopped catching fire.

2) The others are coming with more cars. Ford brought four, which increases your odds. Ferrari also brought four and Porsche brought three.

3) We may have gotten all that is possible from a front engine car. It's notable that the top 8 finishers of the 17 GT Pro cars were mid-engine. It's also notable that the 911 has gone mid-engine after fighting it for over half a century.

4) Most uncomfortable to state—some of our drivers are getting old, while some of our number three drivers have not met expectations. Jan's mistake was an uncharacteristic one, and one I'm convinced he wouldn't have made five years ago. Marcel's mistake was a lack of patience with a bronze GT Am driver; sure, the driver should have given him more room, but Marcel shouldn't have put himself in the position of having to trust that driver.

I'm also still trying to get over the Corvette carnage at Le Mans—I think it'll take a couple of days. At this point, we've met all of the full-time drivers a couple of times, so there's some emotional involvement. No matter; later this week I'll shred the spotter's guide and move on …

Quote:

Quote:

Thanks, Gris.

Good morning, all. Did a "recovery run" this morning in 98% (measured) humidity. Ooog … no wonder I ran slow.

The recovery was because I ran a 31:17 in a 5k last Thursday evening. This beat my stretch goal for time and met my realistic for a 51-year-old goal of being at least half as fast as the 23-year-old race winner. It feels like more of achievement this time because a) I hadn't run even semi-competitively in a few years and b) we were running in pouring rain.

Good morning, all.

A sad finish for the C7.R at Le Mans—29th and 59th overall. 2015's win seems a long time away.

At least this year, the cars did have the pace: what was lacking was the traditionally strong on-track driving capability.

On to the C8.R—and probably a bunch of other changes.

Checkered flag:

LMP1: Toyota #8, Toyota #7, BR Engineering #11

LMP2: Alpine #36 (6th overall), Oreca #38, Oreca #28

LM GT Pro: Ferrari #51 (20th overall), Porsche #91, Porsche #93 (Corvette #63 ninth in class and five laps down)

LM GT Am: Ford #85 (32nd overall), Porsche #56, Ferrari #84

50 cars finished the race—at least according to the scoring at the finish.

Five minutes left—still no changes.

Ten minutes left—no changes.

Fifteen minutes to go:

LMP1: still Toyota #8, Toyota #7, BR Engineering #11

LMP2: still Alpine #36 (6th overall), Oreca #38, Oreca #28

LM GT Pro: still Ferrari #51 (20th overall), Porsche #91, Porsche #93 (Corvette #63 still ninth in class and five laps down)

LM GT Am: still Ford #85 (32nd overall), Porsche #56, Ferrari #84

50 cars still officially remain in the race.

Half an hour to go:

LMP1: still Toyota #8, Toyota #7, BR Engineering #11

LMP2: still Alpine #36 (6th overall), Oreca #38, Oreca #28

LM GT Pro: still Ferrari #51 (20th overall), Porsche #91, Porsche #93 (Corvette #63 now ninth in class and five laps down with a steering problem)

LM GT Am: still Ford #85 (32nd overall), Porsche #56, Ferrari #84

50 cars still officially remain in the race.

One of the leading LMP2s car has a suspension failure—limping back to the pits.

Now back to pits.

Once again drama for Toyota in the last hour.

One hour to go, with the #7 Toyota car having tire sensor problem (!):

LMP1: now Toyota #8, Toyota #7, BR Engineering #11

LMP2: still Alpine #36 (6th overall), Oreca #38, Oreca #28

LM GT Pro: still Ferrari #51 (20th overall), Porsche #91, Porsche #93 (Corvette #63 now seventh in class but still two laps down)

LM GT Am: still Ford #85 (33rd overall), Porsche #56, Ferrari #84

50 cars still officially remain in the race.

Participants in either the Fernando Alonso or Patrick Dempsey drinking games are now very drunk.

Two hours to go:

LMP1: still Toyota #7, Toyota #8, BR Engineering #11

LMP2: still Alpine #36 (6th overall), Oreca #38, Oreca #28

LM GT Pro: still Ferrari #51 (20th overall), Porsche #91, Porsche #93 (Corvette #63 still eighth in class and two laps down)

LM GT Am: still Ford #85 (34th overall), Porsche #56, Ferrari #84

50 cars still officially remain in the race.

Three hours to go:

LMP1: now Toyota #7, Toyota #8, BR Engineering #11

LMP2: now Alpine #36 (6th overall), Oreca #38, Oreca #28

LM GT Pro: now Ferrari #51 (22nd overall), Porsche #91, Porsche #93 (Corvette #63 now eighth in class and two laps down)

LM GT Am: now Ford #85 (35th overall), Porsche #56, Ferrari #84

50 cars still officially remain in the race.

Good morning.

The #63 Corvette has crashed recently and is now dropping rapidly down the order.

50 cars remaining.

Nine hours to go:

LMP1: still Toyota #7, Toyota #8, Rebellion #3

LMP2: now Oreca #26 (6th overall), Alpine #36, Oreca #38

LM GT Pro: now Ferrari #51 (24th overall), Porsche #91, Corvette #63

LM GT Am: now Ford #85 (35th overall), Porsche #56, Aston Martin #90

52 cars still officially remain in the race.

I will be getting some sleep—I expect to be back at around 6:00 AM EST.

PRESS RELEASE:
No. 63 Corvette still in the fight following No. 64 C7.R retirement

 CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Halfway Report
No. 63 Corvette still in the fight following No. 64 C7.R retirement

LE MANS, France (June 16, 2019) – Corvette Racing reached half distance of
its 20th appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans early Sunday with one of its
Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs firmly entrenched in the battle for GTE Pro honors.


The No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R of Antonio Garcia, Jan
Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller ran fifth at the 12-hour mark with
Rockenfeller just finishing a double-stint. The practice of having the three
drivers stay in the car for two fuel stops at a time was the prevailing
strategy for Corvette Racing, which is shooting for its ninth Le Mans class
victory.


Unfortunately, the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C7.R isn’t part of the
fight following a heavy crash for Marcel Fässler near the six-hour mark. The
incident happened in the lightning quick Porsche Curves toward the end of
the lap. Fässler – driving with Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner – was hit from
behind after making a pass on a slower car with the impact sending the
Corvette hard into the wall on driver’s right.


The damage was too extensive to repair, and Corvette Racing was forced to
retire the car. Fässler was evaluated at the track medical center and was
sent to a local hospital for a CT scan, which came back negative.


Early in the race, the No. 63 Corvette led early and often. Garcia began the
race from the third position but needed less than 20 minutes to move to the
point in a frantic start.


All three drivers of the No. 63 Corvette took turns in the lead early. The
first safety car period of the race during the sixth hour brought the top
nine GTE Pro entries to within 15 seconds of each other at the six-hour
mark. Another safety car near the 10 hours running split the two lead cars
from the rest of the GTE Pro field, effectively taking what had been a
nine-car battle down to two with the Corvette part of the second group.


The No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette was up and down the order early with
Gavin climbing from 11tth at the start to fourth in class during his opening
two stints. Debris on his tires made it challenging for him to maintain his
early pace but he and Milner had relatively calm stints before handing over
to Fässler, who was matching the pace of his teammates before the incident.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “There was
a lot of uncertainty at the start. We were all looking at each other not
knowing who would be fast and who would be slow. So we did like we did in
qualifying and just settled in. Everybody seemed to be on a good pace and
obviously our car felt pretty good. In the draft I was kind of following
everybody but I think I feel more secure and better for myself when I’m
running in a higher position rather than depend on the others. I could have
stayed behind, but I decided to go ahead and see if I could stay because
with the amount of slipstreams you have here it’s easy for the others to
overtake you again even if they don’t have the pace. There is no better
place to stay than P1!”


JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “The first
stint was good, keeping the same distance to the Porsche and opening the gap
a bit towards the end, which was nice. The second stint was a little bit
more of a handful on the tires. The car started moving around a bit. I think
the track isn’t quite ready yet for double-stinting the tires, but we have
to do it. I thought we were going to lose everything when I had to come in
(early for an emergency five seconds of fuel) under the full-course yellow
when the pitlane was closed, but fortunately everybody else was pretty much
in the same boat so we didn’t lose anything.”


MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “Like
last year, unfortunately these safety car rules tear the field apart, which
is a shame but the race is not over. Let’s see. Maybe we will get lucky and
catch the better safety car next time  and the field will be bunched up
together because it was a good fight when we were all together. Let’s see
where we will end up in the morning. It feels like since it has cooled down
or the track has rubbered in that the car is running better and better. This
is good, but we just need some luck to come to us."


OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “It was a
very interesting first couple of stints. We bounced up and down the order
among pretty much all the manufacturers. There definitely were some moves
early on there. We were on the move a lot of the time. But it was
aggressive… very aggressive. It was very intense racing. In the back of your
mind, you’re thinking we have a lot of racing to be done but it was pretty
wild now thinking about it. Toward the middle of the second stint, I ran
wide a little bit near the end of the lap and got a bunch of junk on the
tires. I just couldn’t cleaned up for a bit. It was amazing how many stops I
dropped just through that one little thing. That shows the fine line in this
category.”


TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “My stints
were pretty relaxed. There was some fighting ahead of me during my second
stint, but generally those guys were not going crazy. In the first stint, I
struggled with understeer but my pace was decent. On the second stint, we
decided to double-stint the tires, which was a bit of a struggle. I think we
were heading toward a good balance in the car and would have been in good
shape.”