• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 21 appearances at Le Mans: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette. • 3: Generations of Corvette Racing entries since 2000 – Corvette C5-R (2000-04), Corvette C6.R (2005-13), Corvette C7.R (2014-2019) and Corvette C8.R (2021). • 3: Number of wins for the Corvette C5-R – 2001, 2002, 2004. • 4: Number of wins for the Corvette C6.R – 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011. • 7: Number of Le Mans victories for Corvette Racing’s lineup. Antonio Garcia: 3 Tommy Milner: 2 Jordan Taylor: 1 Nick Tandy: 1 • 8: Class victories for Corvette Racing at Le Mans – all since 2001. • 9: Number of drivers who have won races at Le Mans for Corvette Racing – Olivier Beretta, Ron Fellows, Antonio Garcia, Oliver Gavin, Jan Magnussen, Tommy Milner, Johnny O’Connell, Scott Pruett and Jordan Taylor. • 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001. • 23: Number of drivers to compete for Corvette Racing at Le Mans. That number grew in 2021 with Nick Tandy, Nicky Catsburg and Alexander Sims joining the lineup. • 25: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen. • 121: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 113 in North America and eight at Le Mans. • 256: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999. • 27,557.8: Approximate freight weight in pounds (12,500 kgs!!) sent by Corvette Racing to Le Mans by air and by sea! The first shipment left Detroit in April via rail and sea, and the last left in early-May by air. • 104,343.44: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 21 previous trips to Le Mans. That represents 12,376 laps… or more than four full trips around the Earth at its equator. The two Corvettes combined to go over the 100,000-mile mark in the 2021 race. • 340,225.78: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon and part of the way back!
Corvette Racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (wins in bold) 2000 No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel/Justin Bell – 4th in GTS No. 64 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 3rd in GTS 2001 No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Scott Pruett – 1st in GTS No. 64 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 2nd in GTS
2002 No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GTS No. 64 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 2nd in GTS
2003 No. 53 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Franck Freon – 3rd in GTS No. 50 Corvette C5-R: Oliver Gavin/Kelly Collins/Andy Pilgrim – 2nd in GTS
2004 No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Max Papis – 2nd in GTS No. 64 Corvette C5-R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GTS
2005 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Max Papis – 2nd in GT1 No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1
2006 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Max Papis – 7th in GT1 No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen - 1st in GT1
2007 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT1 No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Max Papis – 14th in GT1
2008 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT1 No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Max Papis – 3rd in GT1
2009 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GT1 No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Marcel Fässler – 4th in GT1
2010 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell/Antonio Garcia – 12th in GT2 (DNF) No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Emmanuel Collard – 10th in GT2 (DNF)
2011 No. 73 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTE Pro No. 74 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen/Richard Westbrook – 14th in GTE Pro (DNF)
2012 No. 73 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 5th in GTE Pro No. 74 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook - 6th in GTE Pro
2013 No. 73 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 4th in GTE Pro No. 74 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook – 7th in GTE Pro
2014 No. 73 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GTE Pro No. 74 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook – 4th in GTE Pro
2015 No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ryan Briscoe – DNS (Qualifying crash) No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Jordan Taylor – 1st in GTE Pro
2016 No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ricky Taylor – 7th in GTE Pro No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Jordan Taylor – 10th in GTE Pro (DNF)
2017 No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 3rd in GTE Pro No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 8th in GTLM
2018 No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 4th in GTE Pro No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 15th in GTE Pro (DNF)
2019 No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 8th in GTE Pro No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 16th in GTE Pro (DNF)
2021 No. 63 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 2nd in GTE Pro No. 64 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy/Alexander Sims – 6th in GTE Pro
2001 No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Scott Pruett – 1st in GTS No. 64 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 2nd in GTS
2002 No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GTS No. 64 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 2nd in GTS
2003 No. 53 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Franck Freon – 3rd in GTS No. 50 Corvette C5-R: Oliver Gavin/Kelly Collins/Andy Pilgrim – 2nd in GTS
2004 No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Max Papis – 2nd in GTS No. 64 Corvette C5-R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GTS
2005 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Max Papis – 2nd in GT1 No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1
2006 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Max Papis – 7th in GT1 No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen - 1st in GT1
2007 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT1 No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Max Papis – 14th in GT1
2008 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT1 No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Max Papis – 3rd in GT1
2009 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GT1 No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Marcel Fässler – 4th in GT1
2010 No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell/Antonio Garcia – 12th in GT2 (DNF) No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Emmanuel Collard – 10th in GT2 (DNF)
2011 No. 73 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTE Pro No. 74 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen/Richard Westbrook – 14th in GTE Pro (DNF)
2012 No. 73 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 5th in GTE Pro No. 74 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook - 6th in GTE Pro
2013 No. 73 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 4th in GTE Pro No. 74 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook – 7th in GTE Pro
2014 No. 73 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GTE Pro No. 74 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook – 4th in GTE Pro
2015 No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ryan Briscoe – DNS (Qualifying crash) No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Jordan Taylor – 1st in GTE Pro
2016 No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ricky Taylor – 7th in GTE Pro No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Jordan Taylor – 10th in GTE Pro (DNF)
2017 No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 3rd in GTE Pro No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 8th in GTLM
2018 No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 4th in GTE Pro No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 15th in GTE Pro (DNF)
2019 No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 8th in GTE Pro No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 16th in GTE Pro (DNF)
2021 No. 63 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 2nd in GTE Pro No. 64 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy/Alexander Sims – 6th in GTE Pro
Fan activities such as open pit walk, autograph sessions, drivers’ parade return
CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Great to See Everyone Again! Fan activities such as open pit walk, autograph sessions, drivers’ parade return
LE MANS, France (June 6, 2022) – For the first time since 2019, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is fully open to spectators with popular activities such as public scrutineering, pit walks, autograph sessions and the parade of drivers returning to the event.
With these and other fan engagements returning, Le Mans is bound to attract a significant number of new spectators – many of whom will go into the event wide-eyed and somewhat overwhelmed by the scope and amount of things to do.
The six drivers from Corvette Racing can help, however. Each has their own perspective on the reopening of the event and recommendations for newcomers to the 24 Hours…
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Going back to Le Mans with fans being here this year is something we all wanted. Obviously it’s one of the biggest races of the year. Missing a large portion of the fans last year was very unusual for everybody. So it’s great to see them all back at Le Mans.”
Recommendations for first-time fans at Le Mans: “I only have the driver’s view of Le Mans, other than 2015 (the No. 63 Corvette didn’t start). I walked around the track a little bit on Saturday but that was it. The amount of opportunities where you see interactions between fans and drivers are huge. I’ve never seen longer autograph sessions than what you have at Le Mans. That’s on top of scrutineering where you are signing all the time and seeing people everywhere. Those are two of the good things. So scrutineering downtown and the autograph session before practice… then there are the pit walks where you can see the whole team working on the cars. This year is back to normal, which will be great. As a race fan, I will definitely do the experience more than once after I retire in some years!”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “My first time going, events like the autograph session, scrutineering and the parade were huge events around the race itself. As a kid watching from America, you’d get online and look at the pictures from those things and wonder what it would be like in person. When you’re there, you understand the magnitude of the event and how special it is… not just for motorsport but for the city and how everyone embraces it. Not being able to connect with fans as much as we have in the past was tough. But it’s nice to get back to that normal and makes all the traditions come full-circle.
Recommendations for first-time fans at Le Mans: “I think you have to do the parade. That’s where you get the energy of the whole city that embraces the event. You see how massive it is and all the traditions that go with it. At the race itself, somehow getting around most of the track gives the perspective of how big the circuit is in itself. It reminds you of the history of the event and guys going around with tiny seatbelts, basically no headlights and things like that. You can get an idea of how crazy it is when you go down Mulsanne and there are no lights or anything. Think about what those guys in the 60s and 70s were doing at 220 mph and old-style headlights. You feel so alone out there. It’s something you don’t see anywhere else in the world.”
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Having the parade and public scrutineering back is big. Drivers always joke that there are some sides of it which give us more work and more time to be away from where we want to be on track. But I think we all love it. The Le Mans parade is a parade unlike anything else. You go through the city with so much history and so many great fans. Of course Jordan will steal the show so I can’t wait to be next to him and watching him do what he does with the fans. And what would our sport and Le Mans be without fans? So I’m super happy that Le Mans is going to be back to normal in a way and we can all enjoy the massive amount of fans that are down there. Le Mans and Nürburgring 24 are events that driven by the fans being there, and we’ve missed that the last couple of years. I can’t wait.”
Recommendations for first-time fans at Le Mans: “I’d do the parade. You also have these little streets around Arnage and in some of the small towns that are just full of fans eating food and drinking beer. The atmosphere is so, so cool even though you are half-a-kilometer from the track. That is something I really like about Le Mans. You can see the whole area is breathing the event for that week. So I would soak up some of that. At the track, I would recommend that my friends just go walk. Go for a huge hike and leave for a couple of hours. Go around the track and to spots where it might not be so crowded. You can really see the crazy speed differences and approaching speeds into the corners. You get to see the event from a different point of view than just sitting around in a hospitality room looking at a TV screen. That’s definitely something I would do.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “It’s a big deal for the race and all the fans, sponsors and competitors to get back to normal. While the last two years with the world situation as it is, the bare-bones required people have been there to make the event happen. What makes the event special, as we see with any marquee sporting event, is the atmosphere and ambiance. It’s all the extra stuff and energies that come together and make these events as special as they are. When you don’t have all those ingredients, there definitely is a different feel to the race. We had some fans last year, which was great. It adds to the event and makes it feel as special as the race always has been. We’re all looking forward to getting to back to a normal Le Mans.”
Recommendations for first-time fans at Le Mans: “I’ve never experienced things from the fan side, but there are some awesome things around the event. The parade is always great. The fans look like they’re always having a great time. Some may enjoy just sitting back, having a beer and enjoying the atmosphere that way. The best thing I’d tell someone is to find another fan who has been there multiple times and ask their opinion on what their favorite thing to do on the weekend, where to go, where to watch the race. You’ll definitely get different opinions the more you talk to people. When I do have friends that come to the track, I can show them the cars up close and talk to them what we experience as drivers. But the best advice I can give anyone is to find and talk with other fans. I’ve always found sports car fans to be super approachable. They’re all obviously knowledgeable and very much fans of the race. Even at big events like Le Mans, you have people there that understand what’s happening in the race and have a good perspective on how best to enjoy themselves.”
NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Even comparing Le Mans to other sporting events I’ve been to, Le Mans is one of the top ones in the world. It’s been different the last couple of years. Yes, we are a racing team and we go to concentrate on our racing. That’s what we’ve focused on the last couple of years. When I first went to Le Mans, I wasn’t prepared for the scale and amount of people that watch and follow it. People make a holiday out of it. It’s just incredible. For our sport as a whole, it’s great that we have our showpiece back in its normal slot, back open and back where people can see the cars during scrutineering in the city. I’ve not seen a lot of friends and family that are always in the same spots for the driver parade each year. That’s part of the week. It’s great for everyone that we’re back to how it should be. I hope it goes smoothly so everyone can enjoy what we’re doing.”
Recommendations for first-time fans at Le Mans: “Learning from other people’s experiences from the times they’ve been there is helpful. When you’re open to moving around, that’s ideal. I know people who have made friends in France that are now life-long friends back in the UK. They don’t live near each other but they meet at places like this and have similar vested interests. People go there for the social side of it, meeting and talking and sharing the same passions is just as much of a draw as seeing the cars, the drivers and action on-track. One of the draws of a 24-hour race is that you don’t have to sit there for an hour-and-a-half to follow it. You can dip in and out. You can go around to different parts of the track. You can go and have dinner in one village and then have breakfast in another to meet other people to get involved with what’s going on. I’ve always said that if I wasn’t driving at Le Mans, I’d definitely go there with friends to have a good time and enjoy the event.”
ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “To me, this is what Le Mans is about. The size of the event is enormous. I’ll always remember the first Le Mans I did, I had been in single-seaters to that point and was around Formula One. I knew of Le Mans but it wasn’t until I went there and realized the scale of the event and how it completely surpassed any F1 weekend I had been to. It’s still the same with the times I’ve been to Le Mans. Even last year with limited fans, you still had the sensation of it being an awesome event with loads of people that are coming from around Europe and across the world. Having done the drivers’ parade, it’s just madness! Fans are standing five- and six-people deep during the parade and well before it! It’s bonkers and you realize how big an event this is. To be a part of that is really cool and an amazing experience of life, much less in motorsport. It’s unrivaled.”
Recommendations for first-time fans at Le Mans: “The things that stand out are the driver parade in town… and I’ve never done it, but my wife has ridden the Ferris wheel. She went up at night and said it was really cool seeing the cars buzz around underneath you. It really gives you a sense of the enormity of the occasion. Those are two really cool things to do to soak up some of the atmosphere of Le Mans.”
Corvettes show form on Sunday Test Day in second trip to Circuit de la Sarthe
CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Sims, 64 C8.R Quickest in Testing Corvettes show form on Sunday Test Day in second trip to Circuit de la Sarthe
LE MANS, France (June 5, 2022) – Corvette Racing’s Alexander Sims set the fastest GTE Pro time in testing Sunday ahead of next weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans – the second time at the French endurance classic for the mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.
Sims set the fastest GTE Pro time of 3:54.001 (130.239 mph) behind the wheel of the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R during the second of two four-hour sessions. Sims led a GTE Pro category that was separated by a bit more than a half-second – an amazing development around an 8.5-mile circuit. He will drive next weekend with Tommy Milner – who was fastest in class during the morning session – and Nick Tandy.
The Milner/Tandy duo are full-season teammates in the FIA World Endurance Championship, of which Le Mans will pay double points toward. They are third in the championship after two races.
Antonio Garcia was the quickest driver in the No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette at 3:54.504 (129.991 mph). He, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg are racing the GTE-spec C8.R for the first time since last year’s Petit Le Mans in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The WEC Corvette has given the entire Corvette Racing team much-needed insight and data on a wide variety of items that will be key at Le Mans. Things like pit stop procedures, tire selection and performance, and racing rules will be key to the team’s outcome.
Meanwhile, the Garcia/Taylor/Catsburg trio spent Sunday relearning the GTE C8.R instead of its GT Daytona (GTD) configuration from IMSA, which features less power, an ABS system for driver assistance and a common Michelin tire that is available to all teams, as opposed the GTE Michelin that is designed specifically for the Corvette.
Corvette Racing is going for its ninth class win at Le Mans since 2001.
Corvette Racing will contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 11-12 with the green flag set for 4 p.m. CET and 10 a.m. ET. MotorTrend TV will air the race live with the MotorTrend App adding coverage of official practices and qualifying on June 8-9. Live audio coverage will be available from Radio Le Mans starting with Wednesday’s first official practice session.
ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “It’s nice to be back at Le Mans and back in the Corvette. It was a little bit of a crazy night flying here from Formula E in Indonesia and doing a decent chunk of laps, something I wasn’t able to do last year. It was nice just to get a good feeling of the car and find my rhythm. We learned a lot about tire longevity; I was fortunate to have a couple of safety cars and slow zones to go through the Le Mans-specific rules and things that can happen in the race, so that was really useful. Things like this and getting to double-stint the tires will prove helpful, too. In general, it was a good day.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “All in all, it was a pretty good day. A lot of work that we did in the offseason to improve the car, we felt today which was great. There were a couple of issues here and there, but they aren’t things we can’t solve. I’m happy with the progress the team has made since the offseason and the progress the team has made today. We came here with a plan of what we needed to learn about the tire here at Le Mans. It’s a new compound for us here. We accomplished what we needed to. The Corvette is quite comfortable for us, which is a nice improvement from last year. On lap-time, we seem certainly better than last year, which is good since we’ve had some power taken away. So far, so good.”
NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “For sure, having everything and everyone ready from doing the previous two WEC races has given us a head start. Day One here at Le Mans and things went really smooth and we got through everything we wanted to do. It’s great to have Alex back with us and to get some laps. The track looks good and it looks clean. The Corvette feels good. Things can change between now and the race, but we’ve definitely started with our best foot forward.”
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “I’m pleased. I was expecting rain, a lot of red flags and all that. At the end of the day – especially compared to last year – we managed to put in a lot of laps. We did 50 laps this afternoon, which around here is plenty. There is a lot of data to see and compare to all the pre-event data we had. We will look and see what the best way is to start practice Wednesday. A lot of things have been tested, so know we need to figure out the best package for the raceweek.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “It’s our first time back since last year, which was our first time here with this car. Obviously since then we’ve done a lot of work in the simulator to make developments and came back with some new setup strategies, so it was nice to put these to the test in real life as opposed to the virtual world. I think we’re pretty happy with how we rolled off the truck here. The car seemed to be a bit of a step ahead of where we were last year from a balance perspective. Obviously it's good to get all three of us back in the car. For us on the 63 side, we’re racing a much different car in IMSA these days, so adjusting to a different tire and no ABS is definitely an adjustment. It was nice that all of us got a good amount of running today. We can come back tomorrow and Tuesday and look at some data and hit the ground running on Wednesday.”
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “It was really good to get back in this spec of the C8.R. The biggest thing between here and IMSA is the lack of ABS, which I like and is nice. It requires more skill and is more of a challenge, so you do have to adjust to that. It was about a bit of that today and getting back into the rhythm of the track. I really loved it today. I always love getting back in the Corvette after a few months away. We made some improvements on the car since last year. Also doing the WEC season on the 64 side has helped. The car feels nice and is good to drive. I can’t wait for the rest of the week.”
Two Corvette C8.Rs entered in GTE Pro category in search of ninth class win
CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: “Winning is the Goal” Two Corvette C8.Rs entered in GTE Pro category in search of ninth class win
· Return to June date, open fan events among highlights of French classic · Milner, Tandy welcome back Sims in WEC championship chase · Garcia, Taylor, Catsburg back in GTE-spec Corvette
DETROIT (May 31, 2022) – The Corvette Racing band is back together for the first time in three months with the team channeling all its efforts into another shot at a class victory at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Two of the familiar yellow Corvettes are part of a seven-car entry in the GTE Pro category for factory and factory-supported teams. This will be the second time at Le Mans for the mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.R after a runner-up class finish in its debut last August. The program is going for its ninth class victory at the French endurance classic.
This year’s race is back in its traditional June spot with the race set for June 11-12. The biggest change from last year’s event is that all public-facing events are back including scrutineering in downtown Le Mans, pit walks and autograph sessions and the Friday drivers’ parade.
Before practice and qualifying gets under way, though, first comes eight hours of track time Sunday during the annual Le Mans Test Day. It’s the one opportunity for the 62 cars entered in the race to get much-needed track time ahead of Wednesday’s first practice and qualifying sessions. Time is critical given the unique nature of the circuit – 8.47 miles of asphalt featuring a mix of permanent racetrack and public roads through the French countryside.
The Corvette Racing lineup in each of the two C8.Rs remains the same as a year ago. Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg – primarily competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – will team in the No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette and hope to improve on their second-place showing from a year ago. Already, the trio has a blue-riband victory together in at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in a GT Daytona (GTD) PRO version of the C8.R.
On the other side of the garage is the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM C8.R of Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy and Alexander Sims. Their entry is a full-time one in the FIA World Endurance Championship – a first for Corvette Racing. It’s already been a successful run for Milner and Tandy with a runner-up finish in the Sebring 1,000 Miles.
The duo stand third in the GTE Drivers World Championship with Le Mans being a double-points race. That makes it even more important for the No. 64 Corvette to show well at Le Mans… and keep the other manufacturers off the top step of the podium as well.
The plan of having a Corvette full-time in WEC was focused around optimizing the team’s chances at Le Mans. Corvette Racing’s last win at Le Mans came in 2015, although the team has been agonizingly close to getting its ninth win there since with a second- and third-place showing in the years since.
The WEC Corvette has given the entire Corvette Racing team much-needed insight and data on a wide variety of items that will be key at Le Mans. Things like pit stop procedures, tire selection and performance, and racing rules in a variety of scenarios make this the most prepared that Corvette Racing has been for Le Mans in what will be its 22nd appearance in the race.
One of the most key benefits is that the No. 64 Corvette can focus more on race setup and development on the Test Day while the three No. 63 drivers can get used to the GTE version of the Corvette, which features more power, no ABS system and Michelin tires specifically designed for the C8.R. In IMSA, the GTD PRO Corvette runs on a common Michelin tire that is available to all teams.
Corvette Racing will contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 11-12 with the green flag set for 4 p.m. CET and 10 a.m. ET. MotorTrend TV will air the race live with the MotorTrend App adding coverage of official practices and qualifying on June 8-9. Live audio coverage will be available from Radio Le Mans starting with Sunday’s Test Day.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Le Mans shouldn’t be too different this year. It would be way different if we were running the GTD PRO spec. We are going back to our regular GTE setup in the C8.R, and I’m looking forward to that. Part of it won’t be ideal as Jordan, Nicky and myself will need to readapt to that car a little bit. Having the 64 car in the WEC will help the whole team, though. We will need to get up to speed at the start and maybe the 64 car will start some development early on. We’ve done this race so many times and have raced the GTE spec so many years that it won’t take much to get on the pace. To be honest, it is more difficult to drive the IMSA car compared to what we have driven for the last 15 years!
“It’s been too long since I have won Le Mans. We’ve been on the podium several times and could have won all those. That also tells you that you’re one of the most angry people because coming in P2 or P3 is not ideal, especially if you have a chance to win. In these races, only one car can win. If you give it everything you had and you didn’t win, then someone did it just a tiny bit better than you. Last year, I think we had everything lined up. The pace was great but we didn’t have enough to gain those 20, 30 and 40 seconds to get ahead. It seems like very little over a race distance but we know that’s how Le Mans works. Every second you lose is very difficult and gaining that back in GTE Pro is a tough task. We need to be the ones leading and let the rest catch us. I think that is what works best at Le Mans.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “I got to do some tire testing with Nick (Tandy) a couple of days after Sebring in the GTE car. But I still think it’s going to be a big adjustment for us going back to that, especially with it being such a tight schedule on the race week. There is such limited time to get three guys through the car with such a long lap and adding in the car development we want to do. Hopefully we can hit the ground running and get comfortable right off the bat to get into development. So it will be a little bit more of a challenge but having the 64 guys over there all year in WEC takes away some development time, so hopefully that will help us when we get there.
“It’s frustrating to look back at last year to know we did nothing majorly wrong, didn’t make any mistakes and still came up short. That part is frustrating but I think we can rely on the fact that we did a perfect race. We can have that confidence going back this time. We’ve developed the car further than where it was last year for the first time with the C8.R. We did miss a lot of practice on the 63 side throughout the beginning of the week so I think we were behind the eight-ball a little bit compared to the other car once the race started. So we maybe were missing a little bit of performance on our own. But going into this year with what we learned last year and the confidence of a good race we had, we know we are going back with a stronger car and good position.”
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Having now done Le Mans with Corvette Racing, I can go into the weekend a little more relaxed. I know how the team operates and even the most basic things – where I stay and where I sleep, how processes work. From that point of view, I will be a little more relaxed going into the event. In terms of race prep and how we are going to execute, I don’t think there is anything different than the previous year other than the fact that everyone has a little more experience with the C8.R at Le Mans and in the WEC. I feel we should be pretty well prepared.
“There is some mojo from our win at Sebring. The car felt really good last year at Le Mans. Maybe Ferrari had a little bit of the upper hand, but I feel like this year we should be in a better position. The only downside is the 63 car guys have driven the car less in GTE spec. The last time I drove a car without ABS was Petit Le Mans in the Corvette. That’s a bit of a handicap but we’re all more than capable to make that adjustment and be ready for it. I’ve always been going back and forth between GTE and GT3 whenever I would come race in the States last year. You’d always have to take some time to adjust to the car. Really the biggest difference is the ABS, and I honestly prefer a car without ABS. We’re all in the same boat and we can all do this, for sure. Le Mans is one of my favorite events of the year. The track obviously is fantastic and abnormal in that way. I really, really can’t wait!”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Winning obviously is the goal. I feel like every time we’ve been to Le Mans, we’ve done all our due diligence beforehand in testing to show up as competitive as we can be. Having some experience this year in WEC and data running on this tire will be helpful for the entire team. From that perspective, this will prove to be very helpful. We’re going to be as prepared for Le Mans as we can be. We saw last year that the car already was fast and competitive. Hopefully with the potential for more data for the ACO and FIA to compare our cars, the balance is as good as it can be for a good GTE Pro race for 24 hours. Based on the pace we’ve show in the WEC and last year at Le Mans, I think we have a great Corvette.
“Running WEC doesn’t change anything for me in terms of preparation. No matter what, we finish the race and we finish as strongly as we can. It hasn’t been in the past where if we can’t win then we park it. It’s not our mantra at Corvette Racing. We race hard to the end no matter what our position is. Now that we have some concerns for points in the full WEC championship, we’ll race with that in mind. But it doesn’t change the fact that winning Le Mans would be the crown jewel for this season. This is how we’ve always raced and it won’t change. It just means that the points at the end of the weekend will mean a little bit more.”
NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Le Mans is Le Mans. It’s always been its own event. Now it’s a part of our championship and a double-points one at that. So it takes on extra significance now for us this year, at least on the 64 side. One of the reasons we entered the WEC is that it gives us more preparation, information and experience of the series’ rules and regulations. It’s things like pit stop sequences, maximizing strategy information and bits and pieces that are different from series to series. We have more information about what we can do better going into Le Mans. We’re coming into Le Mans with the best level of preparation that Corvette Racing has ever had.
“Certainly from the crew and engineering side, everyone on our side is ready to go with what we’ve been working on for the last six months effectively. When the track goes green for the Test Day, we’ll be ready to go and crack on with our performance work. When we’ve been there before as a single event, it does take a little bit of time to get into the differences – where the guys are running the car being on the pit wall, people worried about making regulation errors in the pitlane or things like this that we aren’t used to. From that point of view, this is one of the key points of running the full championship. The more experience you have, the better it is. Past that, everyone on the 63 side have all been here and done this many times. It’ll be the first time that we’ll run the low-drag aero kit so the car will be a little different than what we were used to at Spa. The other good thing is that we have last year’s experience and data to look back on. We’re not coming into this with a brand new car.”
ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “The fact that this will be a bit more familiar to me will be a nice thing. The biggest factor me is the length of time that it’s been since I was last in the car at Petit Le Mans. That likely will be the biggest challenge to get on top off… just to get back in the swing of things. I’m fortunate that I am doing some GT racing at the Nürburgring this year, so I’ll have driven a GT car but not the Corvette. That’s really the main thing – getting back into the swing of driving the C8.R. To be fair, the last time at Le Mans and by the time the race came around, I felt fully in tune and that’s the aim again this year.
“There is plenty of track time available but I need to make sure I do my homework and work very hard to get up to the required level that I expect from myself and that the team deserves from me. That will be the main point of focus for me early in the week. I go back there with reference points from the car from last year in terms of my driving. I kind of know what to expect in terms of how the car should feel, driving lines and all of those things that I don’t have to learn again. It’s a slightly more manageable task than last year.”
Rain, bad luck conspire against Milner, Tandy in fourth-place run
CORVETTE RACING AT SPA: Tough Day for No. 64 Corvette Rain, bad luck conspire against Milner, Tandy in fourth-place run
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (May 7, 2022) – Misfortune and Mother Nature worked against Corvette Racing on Saturday as an early-race advantage turned into a fourth-place class finish for the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R at the Six Hours of Spa.
Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy finished a lap down in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s GTE Pro class but had hopes for much more early on. Nevertheless, the team will take all the information it gained from this weekend into its next event – the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Saturday’s race was a disjointed one, to say the least, with a mix of 11 full-course yellow or safety-car periods, plus three red-flag stoppages. All totaled, there were less than three hours of green-flag time in the race.
Tandy started third in class and was in a position to gain track position and potentially the lead by going a lap longer than the rest of the GTE Pro field before his first stop for fuel and tires. An untimely safety-car period for a heavy prototype crash and a subsequent red flag closed the pit entry and exit just before the Corvette could make it into pitlane, which meant Tandy had to stop for a five-second emergency service for fuel.
Not only did that cost Corvette Racing a shot at the lead, it also meant a loss of more than a lap of track position. Due to the sporting regulations, Tandy wasn’t allowed to leave the pitlane until the field made a full lap past the pit exit after race officials lifted the red flag. Heavy rain showers arrived at the track during the stoppage as the GTE Pro field went to grooved wet-weather tires.
More rain halted the race twice more as Tandy stayed in the Corvette past the halfway point. He swapped over to Milner a little after three hours running but with the No. 64 C8.R back on the lead lap. More rain fell on the circuit to cause another red flag with about two hours and 40 minutes left. As the track began to dry during the next hour, Milner began to lose performance as the fully grooved rain tires grew hot and lost grip.
He stopped with an hour and 45 minutes left for a driver change and newer rain tires for Tandy, who eventually went on slick tires 30 minutes later under another full-course yellow with Milner closing for the final hour.
The next event for Corvette Racing is the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 11-12 with two Corvette C8.Rs set to compete in GTE Pro.
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FOURTH IN GTE PRO: “It’s a little unfortunate for us. The pace of the car, as we saw in qualifying and practice, was pretty good. We basically got punished for stretching our fuel on the first stint… just unlucky in reality. I don’t think we really ever got back from that situation. It’s nothing that anyone else did or that we did. It’s just the way the rules are. But it was fun. I really enjoyed my laps around Spa. The Corvette was very good. The race conditions were very difficult but we had fun.”
NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FOURTH IN GTE PRO: “It was an interesting race. We started well and made our way to second position. We were trying to stretch the fuel out a bit to give us some options on strategy. In the end, it hurt us with a safety car and red flag. Obviously we were out of fuel so we had to pit. The rules state that if you pit under red, you have to wait a lap which put us behind. Through good work, strategy and taking a risk on tires, we made that lap back and got on the back of things. But we were always that step behind from then on in. We maximized what we could in the end. It’s good practice to see all these scenarios work out ahead of Le Mans. It wasn’t our day today. The luck didn’t fall our way but we learned a lot and got decent points in the championship.”
Steady progress for Milner, Tandy through two days in WEC’s second round
CORVETTE RACING AT SPA: Tandy, No. 64 C8.R Qualify Third in Class Steady progress for Milner, Tandy through two days in WEC’s second round
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (May 6, 2022) – Nick Tandy qualified Corvette Racing’s No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R third on the GTE Pro grid Friday ahead of the Six Hours of Spa, the team’s second race in this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship.
Tandy set a time of 2:16.606 (116.383 mph) in the Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette. It put him three-tenths of a second off Gianmaria Bruni’s GTE Pro pole-winning time and has Corvette Racing in a strong position to challenge again for a victory Saturday in its first full season in the WEC.
This is the second straight appearance for the mid-engine C8.R at Spa, but the gap in qualifying shows how quickly the team has gotten back up to speed at a still-unfamiliar location. The Corvette Racing engineering team and crew spent much of Thursday and Friday running through a number mechanical and aero adjustments to get the C8.R into a good configuration for Saturday’s race.
This is Milner’s first career appearance at Spa while Tandy is a former winner at the circuit and has two previous WEC starts to his credit at the 4.35-mile, 19-turn circuit. Both drivers were satisfied with the feel and balance of the Corvette after Friday’s sessions with optimism present within the team heading into Saturday. They are looking to equal or improve on a runner-up finish from Sebring in the season opener.
The Six Hours of Spa for the FIA World Endurance Championship is scheduled for 7 a.m. ET/1 p.m. CET on Saturday, May 7 from the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. The race will air live on MotorTrend TV with live streaming coverage of the race on the MotorTrend On-Demand app. TV and streaming coverage will begin at 6:30 a.m. ET, as does Radio Le Mans’ live audio broadcast.
NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED THIRD IN GTE PRO: "Overall, I'm really pleased with the second day here - not just the qualifying but also the two free practice sessions. We obviously came here without the vast knowledge that our competitors have in their toolboxes. So we've been making steps every session. To be this close to pole position and the front row in qualifying is very pleasing. It seems a bit like a Sebring situation where we don't have the outright, single-lap pace of the Porsche but a six-hour race isn't won in qualifying. We've been working hard in practices to make the car good over the two-hour stints and not one lap. Hopefully that will pay off tomorrow." Saturday outlook: “The weather for tomorrow looks like it could be changeable. The best-laid plans may be thrown out, but we need to take each lap and each hour as it comes in order to react to the situations as they present themselves in the best way we can. As a team, Corvette Racing knows how to do that as well as anyone, so we're confident we can put up a fight for the win."
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “It was very good this morning. It was great for me with the laps from yesterday now coming in this morning. Not that I feel that I already have all the experience that I need here, but I felt very comfortable in the Corvette. I’m very happy with the pace overall. For me obviously this is a bit of an unknown. Every time you come somewhere new, you wonder if you are going to be on the pace but I’m quite happy with the progress so far. “This morning it was all about getting the car a bit better and Kyle (Millay, chief engineer) has done an awesome job with the setup changes and the ideas overnight to help improve the car. By the end of the session, the car was the best it has been all weekend. We stayed on old tires the whole session when everybody else changed tires at some point. So in that respect we’re super happy.”
Fourth in GTD PRO for Garcia, Taylor and No. 3 Corvette with Le Mans up next
CORVETTE RACING AT LAGUNA SECA: Just off the Podium Fourth in GTD PRO for Garcia, Taylor and No. 3 Corvette with Le Mans up next
MONTEREY, Calif. (May 1, 2022) – Corvette Racing made the right strategy calls Sunday and put itself in position for another incredible comeback in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Things didn’t exactly pan out in the best way but Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor still came out better than where they started with a fourth-place finish at the Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
The No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R challenged for a third straight podium in the new-for-2022 GTD PRO class. The team now takes a break from IMSA competition and will prepare for its annual trip to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June with eyes on a ninth class title in France.
Starting at the back of the GTD PRO grid Sunday and in the middle of the regular GTD field, Corvette Racing elected for a three-stop strategy in attempt to gain early track position. Taylor brought in the No. 3 Corvette 25 minutes into the race on the strategic call from team engineers for fresh Michelin tires and fuel. The move paid off as Taylor got back around ahead of the No. 14 Lexus, which stopped a lap later in an attempt to mirror the Corvette Racing strategy.
Things got better with a full-course caution on the following lap. The Corvette strategists called Taylor back to the pitlane for a fuel top-off under yellow once the GTD pits opened, sending the No. 3 C8.R to the class lead.
Misfortune struck on the restart with Taylor falling back slightly and suffering contact, which pushed the No. 3 Corvette to third in class. Any damage was minimal as Taylor drove another 57 minutes until giving way to Garcia, who went the final 60 minutes without another stop. Garcia whittled a four-second deficit to the third-place BMW of Connor de Phillippi to a half-second inside the final seven minutes, with both within 1.5 seconds of the second-place Lexus at the same time.
Faster prototype traffic and slower GTD cars stymied Garcia’s challenge in the final laps.
Corvette Racing’s next round in IMSA is the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on June 24-26 from Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FOURTH IN GTD PRO: “Things almost played out our way. We stopped first and the Lexus followed us from the same position to cover us. In a way, I think it was a smart race from our point of view. We got the most out of the pace we showed over the weekend. I knew I had to do more than 40 laps on the last stint on the same tires so I didn’t want to kill them. I think everyone was struggling with tires. It was difficult. The different cars achieve lap times in different ways, so when we race BMW for example, it’s very difficult. I got close to them for about four or five laps before traffic got very bad. Without that, maybe I would have had a shot but it’s the way it is around here. Traffic is always very bad at Laguna when we are all struggling with tire degradation. Coming out fourth and being able to maybe get P2 with what we had, I think we have to be happy. I feel just a little disappointed that I couldn’t find my way through to gain those positions.” On to Le Mans: “It will be fun. Going from this race track with the least amount of grip in GTD PRO, it will feel like we are in LMP1 at Le Mans! It will be nice to get back into WEC and GTE Pro mode as fast possible. I can’t wait to work with the 64 guys again to get a good result for both Corvettes.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FOURTH IN GTD PRO: “From where we started the race, we had to take risks with strategy to make things happen. Fortunately the first call to pit early and the early yellow put us to the lead. I didn’t have a good restart, which shuffled me back to third. I think we were going to be third or fourth on pace with the other guys’ strategies. So it’s not the greatest day but looking at the weekend as a whole, the race is what counts for points. We’ve learned a little bit so hopefully we can go to Watkins Glen and be in a little stronger position.” On to Le Mans: “I’m already thinking about it. It’s nice to shift gears and go back to the GTE spec of the C8.R. I’ll go to the simulator in the next week-and-a-half to do some Le Mans prep, and I’m looking forward to that. It’ll nice to get back over there and redeem ourselves from last year.”
Taylor sixth in GTD PRO qualifying in No. 3 Corvette C8.R
CORVETTE RACING AT LAGUNA SECA: Progress is the Goal Taylor sixth in GTD PRO qualifying in No. 3 Corvette C8.R
MONTEREY, Calif. (April 30, 2022) – Jordan Taylor and Corvette Racing will start sixth on the GTD PRO grid Sunday for the Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship as the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R goes for its second victory of the season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Taylor qualified the No. 3 C8.R on Saturday with a time of 1:24.160 (95.731 mph) to put him 1.018 seconds off Mathieu Jaminet’s pole time. Taylor and Garcia have placed second the last two years at Laguna Seca, but the deficit in performance will make the team’s huge task of winning for the ninth time in Monterey – and maintaining the lead in the GTD PRO points standings – even tougher.
The circuit is one of two that the team has raced at in each of its 24 seasons to date. Sebring is the other, and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta will join the list at the end of the season with the 10-hour Petit Le Mans.
The Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. ET/12:10 p.m. PT on Sunday, May 1. The race will air live on the NBC Network and stream on Peacock starting at 3 p.m. ET/Noon PT. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions at IMSA.com along with XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED SIXTH IN GTD PRO: “There’s not too much to say. The car was pretty good but we’re still sixth. We’re doing all we can to get toward the front but we’ve been last in every session. It’s been somewhat comfortable to drive. We’ve been on pole here and won races here. The car feels like it should be close to the front, but unfortunately it isn’t. Tomorrow we’ll do everything we can in our control to move forward. The only way we’re going to do that is on strategy. We’ll have to stay out of trouble at the start being in the mix of the other GTD guys. We’ll try and stay out of trouble and leave it to the guys on the engineering stand to make some good calls.”
Corvette Corral -see below Corral Parking will be valid on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Includes commermorative hat and parade lap. Corvette and Porsche Parade Laps will take place on Saturday, April 30. Porsche will be at 2:45 p.m. Corvette will be at 6:45 p.m. All others corrals, the Parade Lap will take place on Friday, April 29 at 6:25 p.m. General Admission & Paddock ticket must be purchased separately. BMW and Mazda will park in Blue 3. Corvette, Ferrari, Lexus, and Porsche will park in the Lakebed.
Press Release: GTD PRO points lead for Garcia, Taylor, No. 3 Corvette and Chevrolet
CORVETTE RACING AT LAGUNA SECA: Monterey on our Mind GTD PRO points lead for Garcia, Taylor, No. 3 Corvette and Chevrolet
DETROIT (April 26, 2022) – Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Corvette Racing will complete the west-coast swing of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship this weekend with an eye toward the horizon and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Sunday’s Monterey Sports Car Championship is the final IMSA round for Corvette Racing ahead of the team’s challenge for a ninth class victory at the French endurance classic. But first thing’s first: maintain the lead of the new GT Daytona (GTD) PRO championships in the Driver, Manufacturer and Team standings heading into the break.
Garcia and Taylor lead in points as they seek their third straight IMSA championship together, having taken the GT Le Mans (GTLM) titles in 2020 and 2021. This time around, they’re in the GTD-spec No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R that differs from the GTLM version in a couple of key ways.
For one, the Corvette has 80 additional kilograms of mass (176 pounds) and a 12 percent decrease in air flow, per updated GTD rules. The other big difference is the use of customer Michelin tires for GTD instead of specially designed Michelins that were allowed in GTLM.
Lots of testing and hours of hard work have paid off as the team continues to understand how best to extract the maximum amount of performance from the current Michelin tire. That should come in handy given the high amount of tire degradation that typically occurs around the 2.238-mile, 11-turn circuit. What’s more, this is the first “normal” two-hour and 40-minute IMSA race of the season. The previous three events have been 24 hours (Daytona), 12 hours (Sebring, a Corvette victory) and 100 minutes (Long Beach).
Garcia and Taylor would like nothing more than to win on the Monterey coast and head into the Le Mans break with the championship lead. They placed second in GTLM the last two years, but there is a considerable amount of experience and success that they can use to challenge for a victory this year.
Corvette Racing has won eight times at Laguna Seca since 2004, and the circuit is one of two that the team has raced at in each of its 24 seasons to date. Sebring is the other, and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta will join the list at the end of the season with the 10-hour Petit Le Mans.
The Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. ET/12:10 p.m. PT on Sunday, May 1. The race will air live on the NBC Network and stream on Peacock starting at 3 p.m. ET/Noon PT. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions at IMSA.com along with XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: "Laguna Seca always has been a track where you need to make the tire work at its best. Usually the performance window is narrower than it is anywhere else on our calendar. We’ve never run this specification of car there or this tire there. We have some information that can transfer from other tracks, so I hope we are in the right spot when we get there. Everything is so dependent there on weather conditions so we won’t know where are until we get to the track.” Away from the circuit: “Running in the area is always great around the Monterey coast. I try to do that every time I go there… one or two training sessions while I’m there. Golf, for sure. You have so many good options in the area. The food is usually really good in the area with a lot of great places. All three make a great trip and are really, really good.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “We’ve already learned quite a bit this year about tire management and how important tire degradation will be. Sebring was a great learning experience for us in a positive way for understanding the car and tire. Laguna Seca is usually a big tire degradation race. Whoever can manage that the best is usually at the front at the end. Historically we’ve run well there so we have a good understanding of what we need to do.” Travel tips for Monterey: “There is an Italian restaurant in Carmel with a little bar where you can watch the chefs cook right in front of you. It’s really good and most of the stuff is handmade. Running on the beach is cool there. It’s a great spot. Coming from Florida, there’s no humidity. At the track, I like going around the circuit. I always walk up to the Corkscrew and walk up turns Nine and 10. It’s great viewing up there when we have time to watch some of the other races.”
2022 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTD PRO (After Three of 11 Events) Driver Standings 1. Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 990 2. Mathieu Jaminet/Matt Campbell – 960 3. Ben Barnicoat/Jack Hawksworth – 919 4. Cooper MacNeil – 830 5. Alex Riberas/Ross Gunn – 816
Team Standings 1. No. 3 Corvette Racing – 990 2. No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports – 960 3. No. 14 VasserSullivan – 919 4. No. 79 WeatherTech Racing – 830 5. No. 23 Heart of Racing Team – 816
Manufacturer Standings 1. Chevrolet – 1,000 2. Porsche – 960 3. Lexus – 949 4. Mercedes-AMG – 938 5. Aston Martin – 886
CORVETTE RACING AT LAGUNA SECA: By the Numbers • 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 24 years at Laguna Seca: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette. • 3: Tracks where Corvette Racing has competed in each of its 23 previous years: Sebring, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (later this year). • 4: Generations of Corvette Racing entries since 1999 – Corvette C5-R (2000-04), Corvette C6.R (2005-13), Corvette C7.R (2014-2019) and Corvette C8.R (2020-present). • 4: Laguna Seca victories for the current Corvette Racing lineup – Antonio Garcia (three) and Jordan Taylor (one). • 8: Number of Laguna Seca victories for Corvette Racing dating back to 2004. • 12: Victories at Laguna Seca for Chevrolet in IMSA competition. • 13: Drivers who have competed for Corvette Racing at Laguna Seca. Of those, eight went on to win at Monterey. • 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001. • 25: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen. • 121: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 109 in North America and eight at Le Mans. • 254: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999. • 13,294.73: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 23 previous trips to Laguna Seca. That represents 6,023 laps… or more than 780 trips around Carmel’s famous 17-Mile Drive. • 339,546.96: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history – covered “just” 248,655 miles. Simply put, the program has raced to the moon and back… and then some.
Corvette Racing at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (wins in bold) 1999 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel – 2nd in GTS
2000 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Andy Pilgrim – 2nd in GTS (Fellows pole) No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Justin Bell/Kelly Collins – 4th in GTS
2001 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GTS No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins – 3rd in GTS
2002 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 5th in GTS No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins – 3rd in GTS
2003 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GTS No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Oliver Gavin/Kelly Collins – 3rd in GTS
2004 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 1st in GTS (O’Connell fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GTS (Beretta pole)
2005 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT1 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Gavin fastest race lap)
2006 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 3rd in GT1 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GT1 (Beretta fastest race lap)
2007 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT1 (Magnussen pole, fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1
2008 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT1 (Magnussen pole, fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1
2009 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT2 (Magnussen pole, fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 10th in GT2
2010 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 6th in GT2 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 3rd in GT2
2011 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner – 7th in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 5th in GT
2012 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GT (Gavin fastest race lap)
2013 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 9th in GT
2014 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM
2015 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 7th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GTLM
2016 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 7th in GTLM
2017 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 8th in GTLM
2018 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM (Gavin pole)
2019 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GTLM (Milner fastest race lap)
2020 No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GTLM (Taylor pole) No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GTLM (Milner fastest race lap)
2021 No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GTLM (Taylor pole) No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 1st in GTLM (Tandy fastest race lap)
Garcia, Taylor, No. 3 Corvette drive back to take third in wild sprint race
CORVETTE RACING AT LONG BEACH: Points Lead in GTD PRO Garcia, Taylor, No. 3 Corvette drive back to take third in wild sprint race
LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 9, 2022) – Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor left the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday with a third-place class finish and the championship lead after three rounds of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Garcia and Taylor recovered from a mid-race, drive-through penalty in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R for a second consecutive podium finish in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO class. The pairing parlayed the result into an early-season points lead in the category’s Manufacturer, Driver and Team standings heading to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in three weeks.
Taylor began from pole position after a sterling qualifying effort Friday. One of the biggest early keys to the race occurred at the drop of the green. Taylor perfectly timed his jump at the start and protected his lead down the long frontstretch and into the heavy braking zone into Turn One. From that point, he slowly and methodically opened a margin due to the strategic fuel and tire management.
Taylor made the No. 3 Corvette’s one and only pit stop with 61 minutes left. Garcia took over after what appeared to be a perfect tire change and refuel by the Corvette Racing crew – carrying on the good work from the victory at Sebring last month.
Unfortunately, the team had to serve a drive-through penalty for losing control of a portion of its pit equipment. Garcia fell back to fourth in class and a lap down, but the race’s first full-course caution only minutes later (for part of the track curbing coming up) allowed Garcia to gain back his lap and move back into podium position.
A pair of full-course cautions inside the final 30 minutes stymied any hope Garcia and the Corvette team had to move back into the lead.
Corvette Racing’s next event is the Hyundai Monterey SportsCar Championship from Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif., on May 1.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED THIRD IN GTD PRO:“Knowing that you had the pace and everything ran really smooth, I think we should have won. But I do agree that it was fair that we had a drive-through. It’s a bit of a shame. We worked very hard. We know we are strong over a lap, but to race the other GTD cars is very tough. The way every car achieves a lap time is completely opposite to us. That makes it very difficult in order to gain back positions, especially here. Maybe if we had a full 30 minutes of green after the penalty, who knows what would have happened. We will take the result but it’s a shame for sure. That’s another one to add to my list of ways to not win at this race!”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED THIRD IN GTD PRO:"All things considered, it was a pretty good save for a points day. Unfortunately because we had such a strong car and I think we had a winning car, it’s tough to swallow to not maximize the points. As a whole, we had a decent lead at the beginning of the penalty didn’t destroy our race as much as it could have. It was such a fluke of an accident. It’s unfortunate that it happened in the race. We’ll leave here with the championship lead, which is great. We’ll go to Laguna Seca with more that we’ve learned this weekend and build on that.”
Second straight Long Beach pole for Corvette Racing, first in GTD PRO
CORVETTE RACING AT LONG BEACH: Pole for Taylor, No. 3 C8.R Second straight Long Beach pole for Corvette Racing, first in GTD PRO
LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 8, 2022) – Corvette Racing’s Jordan Taylor qualified on pole position in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Friday as the team looks for its ninth victory at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Taylor posted a best lap of 1:18.048 (90.774 mph) on his final lap around the 1.968-mile, 11-turn street course in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R that he will share with Antonio Garcia. The pairing are coming off a big win in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring three weeks ago with Nicky Catsburg. The pole was the first for the team in the new GTD PRO category and Taylor’s second in a row at Long Beach following a GT Le Mans (GTLM) pole last season.
Unusually hot temperatures Friday didn’t do any of the competitors any favors looking ahead to Saturday’s 100-minute race (5 p.m. ET on USA Network/IMSA Radio).
A projected drop of 15-20 degrees in the air temperature for Saturday means much of the data gathered won’t apply to the 100-minute race. Having said that, there were considerable lessons learned, specifically in the ABS braking package on the GTD PRO Corvette – one of the key differences between the current class and the GTLM version of the C8.R.
Suspension setup and compliance over some bumpier parts of the racing surface also were focal points Friday with some of those observations collected from the Sebring race and a subsequent test after the 12 Hours.
The combination of moving to GTD PRO plus a 100-minute race placed even more importance on qualifying than normal. With such a short race, there likely will be just one planned pit stop for fuel and change of tires and driver. With all 20 GTD cars having roughly the same performance levels, track position will be at a premium throughout.
The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. ET/2:05 p.m. PT on Saturday. The race will air live on USA and stream on Peacock starting at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT. IMSA Radio will air the race at IMSA.com along with XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTD PRO POLE WINNER: “We definitely put a lot of emphasis on qualifying around here because it’s so difficult to pass. Adding ABS makes it tougher. Practice One didn’t go that well. In Practice Two, we made some changes to get closer to the front of the field. Qualifying was super-tight. I thought my first 1:18.1 was quite a good lap and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to beat it. I was disappointed to hear on the radio that we were six-hundredths off. I kept trying and slowing down and trying and slowing down. I made a couple of mistakes in turns nine and 10 on my second-to-last laps, and then I got turns 10 and 11 right to make all the difference. It was tight. With points in qualifying, it was another reason to qualify well. It’s a good day for Corvette Racing.”
CHANGES TO THE TRACK BETWEEN TURNS SIX AND EIGHT: “I don’t know what it is. It looks like a sealant or something. In the first session on the first 10 laps, the track was the fastest it was in that practice because that started peeling up. It looked like marbles at first but I think it was the track surface. It made it a little tricker and made it like a one-line run. If you ventured out, it was difficult. That will be something tomorrow as well when traffic comes through more for the prototypes or if we get pushed out into that it could be an issue. “I think at Turn Six and Turn Eight, it seems like the walls are more rounded. I remember Six in the past had a sharper edge at the apex that would poke out a little bit. I don’t know if that was the change but that seems better.”
DIFFERENCE IN APPROACHING THE RACE AS A ONE-CAR TEAM: “I wouldn’t say we have dropped down (in class). The field is just as competitive (as GTLM) and it’s nice to have more cars to race against. It does make it more difficult having one car in the team. We showed up today for Practice One with a setup we thought was going to work. Usually we would come out with two setups to start that session. Our setup for Practice One wasn’t ideal so we spent the whole session chasing it and guessing for Practice Two, where in the past we’d have a second car to rely on. So we just lose half the time in development throughout the weekend. The way the team uses our simulator and all the tools we have, we can develop a setup close enough and rely on the history we have in the team and understand what the car is going to do from session to session especially at a track like this that changes so much.”
STAYING OUT IN QUALIFYING WHEN OTHER TEAMS STOPPED: “I didn’t have that much confidence that I was going to go faster but I thought it was worth trying. The fuel load and the weight of the fuel burning off is a big part of it that the driver doesn’t necessarily feel that much from lap to lap, but it shows up in laptime. I knew that was going to be one aspect. The balance also was changing, and I knew that if I kept pushing throughout the run, the balance would shift more to oversteer and that’s what I needed… more rotation. I definitely was sliding around a lot more than I was at the beginning of the session, so I didn’t know if that was going to be a positive or negative. I figured hopefully with the weight loss of the fuel and the balance shifting would be just enough to get another lap in and thankfully enough it was.”
FIRST POLE IN GTD PRO AFTER A SLOW START TO THE SEASON: “Daytona wasn’t ideal. Sebring obviously went well. That was a big turning point from a car setup point of view and understanding what the car needed to work on this tire. The tire has been the biggest thing for us to understand and understanding ABS. Sebring was big for us and it has some similarities to Long Beach so I think that’s why we can rely on our Sebring history here to know what the car setup is going to do. Once we get to Watkins Glen or Road America, there could be some new things to learn.”
HOW MUCH OF A PREMIUM DID THE TEAM PLACE ON QUALIFYING? “It is so difficult to pass here. ABS makes it that much tougher. If other guys are 1-2 seconds off, they can probably hold you off by attacking brake zones and holding on that way. We definitely put a premium on track position and qualifying. The race is a big question mark with how many red flags we had in practice and if we are going to have yellows and cautions and are guys going take that risk to pit early. One positive is that we do have a 35-minute driving minimum so guys just can’t jump out five or 10 minutes in. Track position is going to be key. Thankfully we got the pole and hopefully we can stay out in front and control things.”
CORVETTE RACING AT LONG BEACH: By the Numbers • 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 14 years at Long Beach: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette. • 3: Generations of Corvette Racing entries at Long Beach since 2007 –Corvette C6.R (2007-13) and Corvette C7.R (2014-2019) and Corvette C8.R (2021). All three generations have won at least once at Long Beach. • 4: Number of Long Beach race victories for Corvette Racing’s duo of Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor. • 8: Number of drivers who have competed at Long Beach for Corvette Racing – Olivier Beretta, Antonio Garcia, Oliver Gavin, Jan Magnussen, Tommy Milner, Johnny O’Connell, Nick Tandy and Jordan Taylor. Each driver has won at least once at Long Beach. • 8: Number of Long Beach victories in 13 appearances for Corvette Racing – more than any other IMSA entrant at the circuit. • 10: Number of Long Beach sports car victories for Chevrolet. Throw in 11 IndyCar wins, and Chevrolet has claimed 21 victories in the event’s two premier races. • 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001. • 19: Number of street circuit victories for Corvette Racing – more than any other IMSA entrant at the circuit. • 25: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen. • 30: Number of wins in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Corvette Racing since the start of 2014. • 121: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 113 in North America and eight at Le Mans. • 253: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999. • 3,945.82: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 12 previous trips to Long Beach. That represents 2,005 laps around the 1.968-mile street circuit. • 339,411.24: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon… and then some!
Corvette Racing at Long Beach (wins in bold) 2007 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT1 (Magnussen fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Gavin pole)
2008 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1 (Magnussen pole) No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Gavin fastest race lap)
2009 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT1 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Beretta pole, fastest race lap)
2010 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GT2 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 9th in GT2 (Gavin fastest race lap)
2011 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner – 5th in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT (Magnussen fastest race lap)
2012 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GT (Gavin fastest race lap)
2013 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 5th in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GT (Gavin fastest race lap)
2014 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTLM (Magnussen pole) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 3rd in GTLM (Milner fastest race lap)
2015 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 7th in GTLM
2016 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 9th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 2nd in GTLM
2017 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 5th in GTLM (Magnussen pole) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GTLM
2018 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GTLM
2019 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 3rd in GTLM
2021 No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 1st in GTLM
After Sebring win, No. 3 Corvette duo looks for more success in 100-minute race
CORVETTE RACING AT LONG BEACH: Set for a Sprint After Sebring win, No. 3 Corvette looks for more success in 100-minute race
DETROIT (April 5, 2022) – After winning for the 12th time at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring three weeks ago, Corvette Racing moves to a completely different style of racing when it returns to the Long Beach (Calif.) street circuit for the continuation of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor will pilot the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in Saturday’s 100-minute Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on the streets of southern California. It’s the third race for Corvette in the new GT Daytona (GTD) PRO class and first on a street circuit.
Garcia and Taylor sit second in GTD PRO points after two races, including their victory at Sebring with Nicky Catsburg. The goal is to continue adding to Corvette Racing’s lengthy list of successes, including those at Long Beach.
The team has won eight times at the circuit including a win last year for Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy in the now-extinct GT Le Mans (GTLM) category. Garcia and Taylor finished second and this time around face a tough field of five other manufacturers in GTD PRO.
The GTD PRO Corvette differs in several ways from the C8.R that ran at Long Beach in 2021. Chief among the differences are additional weight, restricted power and customer Michelin tires that are mandated for all GTD entries as opposed to Michelins specifically designed for the C8.R in GTLM trim. The combination of moving to GTD PRO plus a 100-minute race places even more importance on qualifying than normal. With such a short race, there likely will be just one planned pit stop for fuel and change of tires and driver. With all 20 GTD cars having roughly the same performance levels, track position will be at a premium.
Chevrolet Motorsports Display On-Site at Long Beach In addition to the many series and events on the racetrack at Long Beach, fans will have plenty to see and experience from Chevrolet. The Chevrolet’s Motorsports Display will be full of Chevy vehicles that spectators can learn more about throughout the weekend.
The Chevrolet Motorsports Display opens at 8 a.m. Friday through Sunday and is located in the Long Beach Convention Center. Numerous Chevrolet vehicles and other highlights include:
• The 2023 Corvette convertible 3LT • Additional Chevrolet products such as Blazer RS, Trailblazer RS, Camaro 2SS 1LE, Silverado Trail Boss and • A Corvette Racing C8.R showcar and LT6.R engine • An opportunity to receive a 2022 Chevrolet t-shirt
The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. ET/2:05 p.m. PT on Saturday, April 9. The race will air live on USA and stream on Peacock starting at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions beginning at IMSA.com along with XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: "Traffic won’t be such a factor because you won’t be lapping as many cars as you normally would. It’s more of a single-group deal and working your way through that. That race is always about qualifying and doing a perfect stop and driver change. I don’t see a lot of difference in GTLM and GTD PRO at Long Beach. I hope the car behaves as well as it did at Sebring because it was really good. I hope it’s as warm as possible. It feels like when we have those conditions and as we saw at Sebring, we have something of an advantage.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: "There’s going to be a lot to learn about this car and tire at pretty much every track we go to. We were shocked at how different things were at Sebring. It was a wake-up call to see how far the setups were from GTLM. Having seen success at Sebring gives us some promise that we know the right direction to take the Corvette. Long Beach is always a different animal but I can’t wait for it.”
CORVETTE RACING AT LONG BEACH: By the Numbers • 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 14 years at Long Beach: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette. • 3: Generations of Corvette Racing entries at Long Beach since 2007 –Corvette C6.R (2007-13) and Corvette C7.R (2014-2019) and Corvette C8.R (2021). All three generations have won at least once at Long Beach. • 4: Number of Long Beach race victories for Corvette Racing’s duo of Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor. • 8: Number of drivers who have competed at Long Beach for Corvette Racing – Olivier Beretta, Antonio Garcia, Oliver Gavin, Jan Magnussen, Tommy Milner, Johnny O’Connell, Nick Tandy and Jordan Taylor. Each driver has won at least once at Long Beach. • 8: Number of Long Beach victories in 13 appearances for Corvette Racing – more than any other IMSA entrant at the circuit. • 10: Number of Long Beach sports car victories for Chevrolet. Throw in 11 IndyCar wins, and Chevrolet has claimed 21 victories in the event’s two premier races. • 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001. • 19: Number of street circuit victories for Corvette Racing – more than any other IMSA entrant at the circuit. • 25: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen. • 30: Number of wins in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Corvette Racing since the start of 2014. • 121: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 113 in North America and eight at Le Mans. • 253: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999. • 3,945.82: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 12 previous trips to Long Beach. That represents 2,005 laps around the 1.968-mile street circuit. • 339,411.24: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon… and then some!
Corvette Racing at Long Beach 2007 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT1 (Magnussen fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Gavin pole)
2008 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1 (Magnussen pole) No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Gavin fastest race lap)
2009 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT1 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Beretta pole, fastest race lap)
2010 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GT2 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 9th in GT2 (Gavin fastest race lap)
2011 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner – 5th in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT (Magnussen fastest race lap)
2012 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GT (Gavin fastest race lap)
2013 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 5th in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GT (Gavin fastest race lap)
2014 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTLM (Magnussen pole) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 3rd in GTLM (Milner fastest race lap)
2015 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 7th in GTLM
2016 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 9th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 2nd in GTLM
2017 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 5th in GTLM (Magnussen pole) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GTLM
2018 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GTLM
2019 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 3rd in GTLM
2021 No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 1st in GTLM
A little behind the scenes look at our Sebring 12 Hour win. Huge thanks to the whole crew at Corvette Racing. It was a perfectly executed race to get us the win. Thanks Mark Urban for all the sweet on track footage.
Garcia, Taylor, Catsburg, No. 3 Corvette C8.R take team's 12th victory in 12 Hours
CORVETTE RACING AT SEBRING: What a Win! Garcia, Taylor, Catsburg, No. 3 Corvette C8.R take 12th victory in 12 Hours
SEBRING, Fla. (March 19, 2022) – Corvette Racing made it a dozen victories in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Saturday, the first victory in America’s oldest sports car race for the mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.
Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg teamed for the landmark win with the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette in the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The trio combined to led 247 laps or 913.9 miles for Corvette Racing’s first Sebring 12 Hours win since 2017 and 12th since 2002.
It also marks the first win for the GTD PRO-spec Corvette C8.R in its second race as part of the new class. The result goes along with a runner-up GTE Pro finish for Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy in Friday’s 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the FIA World Endurance Championship.
"Congratulations to Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor, Nicky Catsburg and everyone on the No. 3 Corvette C8.R team," said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. vice president, Performance and Motorsports. "Winning in class for the 12th time at the 12 Hours of Sebring is the result of great driving, race strategy and execution of pit stops. The Corvette C8.R’s 5.5-liter, flat-plane V-8 engine delivered the right combination of performance, reliability and efficiency throughout the race.
“This win is even more special thanks to the support of so many Corvette owners and fans at the track and around the world,” Campbell added. “This has been a great weekend with a runner-up class finish in the World Endurance Championship on Friday and now this win in IMSA. I'm proud of everyone at Corvette Racing and our technical partners at Mobil 1 and Michelin."
The No. 3 Corvette also won the Sebring round of the Michelin Endurance Cup – a championship consisting of Sebring, the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and Petit Le Mans. Points were awarded at the four-, eight- and 12-hour marks.
Corvette Racing wasted little time going to the front in the race. Garcia set the table from the beginning as he advanced from his third-place starting position to the head of GTD PRO. He passed six cars in his opening two hours before handing off to Taylor for an impressive three-hour run.
Catsburg drove an equally stirring three hours, 18 minutes in the middle of the race. He soldiered through four full-course caution periods and enjoyed a highlight-reel battle with Pfaff Motorsports’ Matt Campbell for the GTD PRO lead at the seven-and-a-half-hour mark. The two raced side-by-side for three corners before Catsburg pulled ahead.
That left Taylor to drive one stint before Garcia closed with a triple-stint to score the victory.
Corvette Racing engineers dedicated significant time at a February test to gain a better understanding of the performance and degradation levels of the GTD Michelin tires, which are different than what the team has used in past seasons. That combined with more than 51,000 racing miles across the familiar bumps around the 3.7-mile, 17-turn Sebring circuit was the right combination.
Corvette Racing’s next event in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is April 8-9 at the Long Beach (Calif.) street circuit.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTD PRO WINNER: “We had to carry on after Daytona and do all we can. There we didn’t have the pace and little issues we had put us back and out of contention. The main thing here was to stay up front, don’t make any mistakes and have no failures that would set us back. That was the first goal. I was the first guy surprised about our pace. We started seventh and slowly started to make our way through. I wasn’t expecting to be leading after the first stop. I thought our car was the best during the day and when it was as warm as possible. I was a little bit afraid of the rest of the field at night. It seemed like everything was switching on for them, the track would go toward them and maybe all the advantage we had went away a little bit. It was up to us to control the pace and keep the gap. If we had been in a situation to catch another car, it would have been difficult. It was perfectly executed by everyone at Corvette Racing, good strategy and amazing drives by Jordan and Nicky.”
ON 12TH WIN FOR CORVETTE RACING AT SEBRING: “It’s amazing. I said before the race that whenever you come to Sebring in a Corvette, it is always a good feeling. You know something good is going to happen. In the end and having the pace or not having pace, there is still a Corvette factor. It’s the best team to be on when you race here. I’m very happy with that.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTD PRO WINNER: “Daytona was frustrating for us. We lacked pace there and had a mechanical issue in the middle of the night. We learned a lot after that and used it as a test session. That really helped us here. Zero issues around here is a big feat in itself. Twelve hours at Sebring is tougher than 24 at Daytona or Le Mans. It’s a big accomplishment for the team. We won Daytona and the championship last year, so it’s nice to get another major endurance race for the C8.R and start our championship fight again.”
HOLDING THE LEAD THROUGHOUT: “I was surprised how quick we were. I think we were quick in clean air. If we had been stuck behind guys, it would have been difficult for us to get ahead. Once we got to the front, the name of the game was to maintain our track position whether it be saving fuel and extending windows or saving tires. The guys nailed the strategy and kept us out front all day. That’s what really won us the race.”
IMPORTANCE OF FEBRUARY TIRE TEST: “That was big for us. If we showed up here with no test time or setup and development for this track, we would have been out to lunch. Two days here of testing with the guys doing the development and going back and doing their homework really made our weekend.”
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTD PRO WINNER: “Daytona is a lot about going in a straight line on the banking. This was difficult for us. Sebring was always going to be a bit easier. At the start of the weekend, we really struggled. We got a little break which definitely helped us and brought us back into contention, but it wasn’t easy. Not at all… definitely not. I was struggling on the tires in the middle of the race. It was tough. You never know where you really are until the race. In practice, you don’t know what people are doing in terms of fuel loads, qualifying runs or race runs. It’s difficult to say how much we picked up.”
GETTING THE CORVETTE BACK UP FRONT MID-RACE: “We stuck to our initial plan. We didn’t try anything too crazy. The Lexus and Porsche were going out of sequence but we always stuck to our original plan. It worked out well.”
IMPORTANCE OF FEBRUARY TIRE TEST: “That was huge. It was a huge role. We are still quite new to this tire and to this class. The team had two really good days here. They learned a lot and turned the car around. If we hadn’t done that, we would have had to do it here this week and we probably wouldn’t have won the race. It made a lot of sense.”
No. 3 Corvette C8.R seeking improvements in GTD PRO after Rolex 24, Sebring testing
CORVETTE RACING AT SEBRING: Finding a Footing No. 3 Corvette C8.R seeking improvements in GTD PRO after Rolex 24, Sebring testing
DETROIT (March 15, 2022) – Corvette Racing is entering a bit of unknown territory this weekend when the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship resumes at an all-too-familiar venue. The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring is the second round of the 2022 championship and the next challenge for the new GT Daytona (GTD) PRO-spec Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.
Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg will team together in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM C8.R – the lone Corvette competing in the 12 Hours. It’s the first time the program has entered a single car for an IMSA round since 2000 – the second year of the Corvette Racing program. The team is still running two Corvettes during 2022: one in IMSA and another in the GTE Pro category of the FIA World Endurance Championship, which also is competing on the “Super Sebring” doubleheader weekend. The Garcia/Taylor/Catsburg lineup is coming off a sixth-place GTD PRO finish in the Rolex 24 At Daytona to begin the new season. Two weeks later, Garcia and Taylor were at Sebring to continue the testing and development program for the GTD-spec Corvette C8.R, which has some significant differences from the GT Le Mans (GTLM) trim in which the Corvettes raced a year ago.
The mass of this year’s Corvette is 60 kilograms (132 pounds) heavier than 2021 at Sebring. Per GTD regulations, the 5.5-liter, flat-plane crank V8 in the C8.R will have less power compared to a year ago; due to the required air restrictor, air flow has been reduced by 15 percent. The C8.R also will compete with 10 liters less fuel than a year ago – and eight liters less than any other GTD car in this year’s Sebring race.
The biggest area of learning for Corvette Racing continues to be the customer Michelin tires that are mandated across all GTD cars as compared to Michelins specifically developed for the C8.R in GTLM. Corvette Racing engineers dedicated significant time at the February test to gaining further understanding of the performance and degradation levels of the new Michelins. That combined with the familiar bumps all around the 3.7-mile, 17-turn Sebring circuit puts a premium on initial chassis setup ahead of Thursday’s first practice.
Corvette Racing has won 12 times at Sebring since 2002 with 11 of those coming in the 12 Hours. Garcia is a three-time winner at Sebring with Taylor winning once. Chevrolet ranks second in all-time manufacturer victories in the 12 Hours with 40.
Sebring and Corvette share a rich history going back nearly 25 years with more than 51,000 miles worth of racing plus many more miles in testing and development over the last quarter-century.
Chevrolet Motorsports Display, Ride and Drive Return to Sebring In addition to the many happenings on the racetrack at Sebring, fans will have plenty to see and experience from Chevrolet. That’s because two locations at the circuit – Chevrolet’s Motorsports Display and the Chevrolet Ride and Drive – will be full of Chevy vehicles that spectators can learn more about throughout the weekend.
The Chevrolet Motorsports Display opens at 9 a.m. Thursday, 8:30 a.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday in the Sebring Midway. Numerous Chevrolet vehicles and other highlights include:
• The highly anticipated 2023 Corvette Z06 convertible and a rolling cut-away example of the Z06 • Additional Chevrolet products such as Camaro 1SS, Blazer RS, Colorado ZR2, Tahoe High Country and Silverado Crew ZR2 • A Corvette Racing C8.R showcar • An opportunity to receive a 2022 Corvette t-shirt
Also beginning Thursday, fans visiting the Sebring Skidpad outside of Turn 17 can sample a Chevrolet vehicle for themselves at the Ride and Drive event. Starting at 9 a.m. each day, spectators have the chance to test a wide variety of Chevrolets including Blazer RS, Camaro LT1, Colorado ZR2, Equinox RS, Silverado 1500 Trail Boss, Tahoe High Country and Traverse Premier.
The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring is scheduled for 10:10 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 19. The race will air on USA Network from 3:30-10:30 p.m. ET with full streaming coverage on Peacock at 10 a.m. ET. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions beginning at IMSA.com along with Sirius 216, XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: "I always have a good feeling coming to Sebring. The fan support is always great with so many Corvettes. We have had many really good and fun races there over the years. Much of that comes down to how often Corvette Racing tests and prepares at Sebring each year. We know just about every bump and curb around the track. That knowledge helps when there is so much new in our Corvette that we are still learning. We made some good progress during our recent test there so let's see where we can arrive for the first session."
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: "Sebring gives us a chance to regroup after what was a tough race at Daytona. We learned a lot there that carried over into some testing a few weeks ago. There still is a lot we are working to understand, but the biggest thing continues to be the Michelin tires. This will be a critical area at every race in IMSA. Corvette Racing is always at the top when it comes to engineering and execution so there's not a group I'd rather have to work with through these challenges. I'm confident we will be just fine at Sebring."
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “I don’t think the approach changes for Sebring much. We unfortunately will have half the information we usually have. In practices with two cars, you can run one car on one level of downforce, different tire pressures and others to learn quickly. It will be a new challenge for the team but we won’t have to change the approach but it will be different. “I think the will be insane! We saw last year that the restarts at Sebring can be intense. We were pushed out of the lead last year, and I think this year will be even more intense. There will be so many more GT cars to manage and it only make things that much more intense.”
CORVETTE RACING AT SEBRING: By the Numbers • 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 23 years at Sebring: Corvette Racing and Chevrolet. • 3: Tracks where Corvette Racing has competed in each of its previous 23 years: Sebring, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. • 4: GT class pole positions at Sebring for Oliver Gavin and Ron Fellows, tied for most in event history. • 8: Sebring victories – a race record – for Johnny O’Connell, a Sebring Hall of Famer who drove for Corvette Racing from 2001-10. It includes one overall and seven class wins. • 12: Number of Sebring victories for Corvette Racing – the most of any venue in program history. Eleven of those have come in the 12 Hours. • 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001. • 25: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen. • 28: Number of GT Le Mans wins in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Corvette Racing, ending in 2021. • 32: Number of drivers for Corvette Racing since 1999. Marco Sorensen was the newest, joining the team at the Rolex 24. • 120: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 112 in North America and eight at Le Mans. • 251: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999. • 51,739.32: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing at Sebring. That’s more than two full trips around the Earth at its equator (approx. 24,900 miles). • 337,892.80: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon!
Corvette Racing at Sebring International Raceway 1999 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel/John Paul Jr. – 4th in GTS (Fellows pole) No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Scott Sharp/John Heinricy – 7th in GTS (Pilgrim fastest race lap)
2000 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel/Justin Bell – 6th in GTS (Fellows pole) No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 5th in GTS
2001 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Chris Kneifel – 3rd in GTS No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 2nd in GTS
2002 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GTS (Fellows pole) No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 4th in GTS
2003 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Franck Freon – 1st in GTS No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Oliver Gavin/Kelly Collins/Andy Pilgrim – 3rd in GTS (Gavin pole)
2005 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Max Papis – 2nd in GT1 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 3rd in GT1
2006 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Max Papis – 4th in GT1 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1
2007 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT1 (Magnussen pole, fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Max Papis – 1st in GT1
2008 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Max Papis – 2nd in GT1 (Gavin fastest race lap)
2009 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GT1 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Marcel Fässler – 2nd in GT1 (Gavin pole, fastest race lap)
2010 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell/Antonio Garcia – 8th in GT2 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Emmanuel Collard – 9th in GT2
2011 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen/Richard Westbrook – 4th in GT
2012 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GT (Magnussen pole) No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook – 3rd in GT
2013 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 11th in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook – 1st in GT
2014 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ryan Briscoe – 8th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Robin Liddell – 6th in GTLM (Gavin fastest race lap)
2015 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ryan Briscoe – 1st in GTLM (Daytona/Sebring double) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Simon Pagenaud – 9th in GTLM
2016 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 9th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 1st in GTLM (10th Sebring team win)
2017 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 1st in GTLM (3rd straight Sebring team win) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 10th in GTLM
2018 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 8th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 6th in GTLM
2019 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 3rd in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 8th in GTLM No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 8th in GTE Pro (FIA WEC)
2020* No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GTLM (Taylor pole) No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GTLM
2020 No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 5th in GTLM (Garcia pole, Catsburg fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 6th in GTLM
2021 No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 4th in GTLM (Taylor pole, Garcia fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy/Alexander Sims – 5th in GTLM
Successful and trouble-free weekend ahead of first full-time WEC event
CORVETTE RACING AT SEBRING: Post-Prologue Thoughts Successful and trouble-free weekend ahead of first full-time WEC event
SEBRING, Fla. (March 14, 2022) – Corvette Racing’s Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy completed two days of solid, trouble-free testing over the weekend ahead of Friday’s 1,000 Miles of Sebring and the start of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship.
During the course of the 12 hours of testing, the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R ran for 12 hours and tallied 245 laps / 906.5 miles around the 3.7-mile/17-turn layout at Sebring International Raceway. The two Corvette drivers posted the third- and fourth-fastest times among all GTE Pro runners over the two days – Milner’s best lap was a 1:56.409 (115.637 mph) Sunday morning, just ahead of Tandy’s 1:56.476 (115.575 mph) effort later in the day.
Evaluations of the Michelin tires for Sebring and the 2022 season – Corvette Racing’s first full campaign in the WEC – along with continual operational practice and strategies were the order of business for the weekend. The latter is especially key as there are notable differences in pit stop and race procedures for the WEC compared to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, in which Corvette Racing will also compete in Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with a separate Corvette C8.R for the GTD PRO class.
Opening practice for the 1,000 Miles of Sebring is scheduled for 11:05 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
The 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the FIA World Endurance Championship is scheduled for noon ET on Friday. Qualifying is set for 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 17. The race will air live on MotorTrend with live streaming coverage of the race and qualifying on the MotorTrend app. Radio Le Mans will broadcast the race, qualifying and all practice sessions.
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: "All things considered, these were two very good days. We didn't really have an issues, which was great. It was a good chance to understand the tires that we will use in the WEC throughout the season. It was an important two days not just for Sebring but also looking toward Spa, Le Mans and beyond. It's great to have a good baseline and we'll learn as we go. We're all generally pretty happy about the amount of information we got over the two days. So it was a very successful test. "When you have essentially the work of running in two championships, there is a chance for some things to be overlooked or missed. But we had none of that... no issues that prevented any running, which was important for us to learn as much as we can to prepare for this race at Sebring and beyond.”
NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: "It was a worthwhile couple of days for us. Even though we've run this car at Sebring a lot, it's kind of the first time we've run it here in WEC configuration. We have different tires, different power levels, different weight levels than what we run in IMSA spec. Even though the car and track is very familiar to Corvette Racing, we had a lot to get through. The good thing is that a mix of conditions – it was quite warm Saturday and Sunday was very cool in the morning with a quite a change in track temperature –it gave us some good work on getting an idea of tire windows and the like. We're all very pleased with how the test. We got through a lot of the work we wanted to. It sets us up nicely for the race week."
PRESS RELEASE: Milner, Tandy start FIA WEC title hunt at familiar spot for Corvette Racing
CORVETTE RACING AT SEBRING: World Championship Chase Begins Milner, Tandy start FIA WEC title hunt at familiar spot for Corvette Racing
DETROIT (March 10, 2022) – Competing at Sebring International Raceway is nothing unusual for Corvette Racing. Competing there in the FIA World Endurance Championship… that’s a different story.
Nevertheless, this is the latest chapter for Corvette Racing as it begins its first full season in the FIA WEC. Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy will team together in the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R for all six rounds of the World Championship – starting with the 1,000 Miles of Sebring – in the GTE Pro category for factory race teams.
Ahead of the March 18 are two days of testing at the 3.7-mile, 17-turn Sebring circuit Saturday and Sunday. It’ll be the first time that the No. 64 mid-engine Corvette will run in a primary yellow livery after two years in silver during the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The No. 64 will run in the same configuration as the last two seasons in IMSA’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) category as well as GTE Pro at Le Mans last August.
Sebring and Corvette have a rich history going back nearly 25 years with more than 51,000 miles worth of racing and at least 10 times that in testing and development over the last quarter-century. Part of that total came during the 2019 season when Corvette Racing entered one C7.R in the FIA WEC round at Sebring in a one-off in addition to entries in that year’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Both Milner and Tandy are no strangers to competition in the FIA WEC, albeit in differing degrees. This will be Tandy’s third full-season campaign in the WEC with the British ace claiming a pair of victories and four pole positions in 19 starts.
Milner has two starts in the FIA WEC outside of the 24 Hours of Le Mans: 2014 at Circuit of The Americas and 2018 at the Six Hours of Shanghai – each in a Corvette C7.R.
To prepare for its World Championship challenge, Corvette Racing has a full-time crew and engineering team that is dedicated to the full season, all of whom have logged significant time with Corvette Racing in IMSA and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The lessons learned and data gained at Sebring and the next WEC round at Spa-Francorchamps will go a long way toward Corvette Racing’s return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
The 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the FIA World Endurance Championship is scheduled for noon ET on Friday, March 18 from Sebring International Raceway. Qualifying is set for 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 17.
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “I’m really excited about our full-season run in the WEC. Something about each event is exciting. They’re all new tracks for me – outside of Sebring and Le Mans. I’ve raced in Europe and Japan before but not the tracks on our calendar. So starting that off at Sebring is a cool throw-back to how it used to be for us in the American Le Mans Series. Once we get to Sebring, I’m sure it will feel different. It will be a different path for us. For personally, I’m excited to do this and race in a new championship on some new racetracks. It’s a great chance to show off the mid-engine Corvette to fans all around the world.”
NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “In our usual season, Sebring is our second event which is kind of normal. But for the WEC, it’s the start of our season. We plan to take the whole Prologue event as a testing event, but this the start of the WEC season. Sebring is a bit like Daytona. You look at it and it feels familiar with how the structure of your season is playing out. Everything beyond that is different. There is something exciting about doing something different like this. One of the things I’m really looking forward to in seeing how it’s going to work, we’ll have our whole Corvette Racing family together, racing in two events separately for the first time. I’m really glad that the first time we split off as single-car entries, we’re actually all going to be there together. That’s very cool. It’s not a situation where what we do with one car will necessarily help the other, but at the same time we’ll have multiple sets of eyes on two sets of situations that are happening on the same track throughout the weekend. Corvettes will be on track a lot over the two days. Hopefully that will be a benefit; I can’t think of a way it’s a determent. It is interesting to start our full-season begins at Sebring again and not Daytona. It’s for a very good reason: the fact that we’re doing something new and different in going for a World Championship, and the good thing is that it starts in North America.”
Virtually all of my racing friends know David James, who has been part of Corvette Racing since its beginning, serving as pit crew member, mechanic, and truck driver. Equally important, DJ has been a mentor to younger crew members coming on board, and a true friend to race fans around the world. He’s the guy who put countless numbers of children into the seat of a Corvette race car and gave them a thrilling memory they will carry forever. He’s the guy who always has a joke to tell, a story to share, and a few minutes to spare for anyone with a question or two. He’s the one who carried on the now-famous train horn blowing tradition at Le Mans. He’s the one who went out of his way on many occasions to detour while driving the transporter to and from a race to make a surprise visit to the National Corvette Museum or to visit a child who was unwell. Just imagine what it did for a child suffering with a serious illness when a team transporter pulled up to his house, the liftgate came down, and a factory Corvette race car came out! Since the beginning of the program, DJ has been front and center helping bring Corvette fans from around the world together into one unified family --- the Corvette Nation. Now DJ faces a battle against cancer, and though he continues to work while undergoing intensive radiation treatment, mounting medical bills are creating financial stress that is making his struggle to recover that much more difficult. Anyone wishing to help Dave and his wife Denise can do so here:
Milner, Tandy preview FIA WEC season, Sebring 1,000 Miles
CORVETTE RACING AT SEBRING: FIA WEC Zoom Transcript
Ahead of the 1,000 Miles of Sebring and the kick-off of the FIA World Endurance Championship, Corvette Racing drivers Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy – teammates in the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R – discussed the team’s first venture into a full WEC season and touched on preparation for the Sebring weekend in the GTE Pro class. FULL TRANSCRIPT: ATTENTION EDITORS
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R YOU’RE STARTING YOUR SEASON AT SEBRING, AS WAS THE CASE FOR YEARS IN ALMS. WHAT’S THE MINDSET GOING INTO THIS EVENT? “I was a bit surprised at making 125 starts with Corvette … that’s more than I would have thought. But along those lines while the team is starting a new endeavor by racing in the WEC, it still feels very much like home. It feels normal in some ways by starting off our championship at Sebring. It’s the same team, same co-driver as last year with Nick and lots of carry-over, which is the name of the game in many ways for Corvette Racing. While it is new in the sense of racing in a new championship, the feeling I get from the team is not business as usual because there is a lot more behind the scenes that makes this happen than just that, but it still feels very familiar and very normal, but also very exciting to get started with a new chapter in Corvette Racing’s history.”
THERE HAVE BEEN TWO STAND-ALONE WEC RACES FOR THE C8.R AND BOTH WERE TOUGH RACES, PARTLY BECAUSE OF THE BoP. HOW DO YOU FEEL THAT MIGHT AFFECT THINGS? “In both of those situations and events for the team, there was some planning to make those events happen but there were add-ons and extras to our calendar. In those situations, and looking specifically at performance, we were hoping for a more competitive situation. Both those races were unique. The COTA race (in 2020) was pretty early on with the C8.R, and last year’s race at Spa was a super cold event. In this situation for this year and knowing as long as we’ve known that this was the plan to split the two cars, this feels much more like (normal). While this is a new championship in general for Corvette Racing, the experience we have at Le Mans is a part of that. But we do have some new tracks that the team hasn’t been to. We’ll use the DiL (Driver in the Loop simulator) as much as we possibly can for the engineers and us as drivers to get as much time as we possibly can leading up to these events. We finished last year and started this year knowing what the program is. The BoP process does play a big role at times in the pace, performance and results. For us, it’s probably the best-case scenario in some ways starting at Sebring. We know the racetrack, we know the tires, we know the car. We should be pretty competitive out of the box, I would imagine. If that’s not the case, then we will have some data that us as a team and the WEC can use to hopefully make the racing close and exciting as this class always seems to provide.”
AS IT’S YOUR FIRST WEC SEASON, IS THERE A CIRCUIT YOU’RE LOOKING AT VISITING FOR THE FIRST TIME? “To be honest, I’m excited about all of it. I’ve never raced at Spa, Monza, Fuji or Bahrain. For many of these races, it will all be new for me. Over my racing career, I’ve been a big fan of and done a lot of sim racing, so I’ve driven all these tracks multiple times in different sims. I’m excited to have the opportunity to go to these places on our DiL and also in real life. In general, I feel as prepared as I can be for these new tracks. As always, going to these new places in real life, it’s always a little bit different. There are always elevation sensations that you don’t get in the sims. While most of the bumps and things like that are there, the different track surface changes don’t always translate over very well on these sims. There definitely is a learning curve that will be involved there. We have lots of tools and experience from Nick, our engineers and other drivers that we can pull from to get us all up to speed as quickly as possible. It’s exciting to be part of a World Championship and have a chance to go for a World Championship. It’s exciting to take Corvette Racing and be one of the drivers of the car around the world and showcase this Corvette C8.R – especially now with the Corvette street car being available worldwide, it just seems like a perfect fit for this team.”
YOU’LL DO THE 1,000 MILES AT SEBRING AND THE OTHER WEC RACES OUTSIDE OF LE MANS WITH JUST TWO DRIVERS. WILL THAT HAVE AN IMPACT? “It’ll probably be about the same driving as it has been in the past with a little bit of a shorter race. Obviously, Sebring is tough physically and mentally. From my point of view, I’ve found that the more driving you do in a race, the more comfortable you get. You have more time to really understand what the car needs from every lap and every corner to figure out how to get the most out of the car. Not that I don’t like driving with multiple drivers. For 24-hour races, it’s a necessity. But there have been times at some Sebring races – while for 12 hours having only two drivers would be difficult – it’s a situation where at the end of the race and when it’s all over, the ones I’ve done quite a bit of the driving, you are tired for sure. But there is a sense that you had every opportunity to maximize the potential of the car. I’ve always enjoyed the races where, for whatever reason with the way the drivetimes worked out, I drove a lot of the race. There is a sense of accomplishment at the end of it all where you feel like you’ve had a big role in the performance of the car, and you feel like you get the most out of it. From that point of view, I’m excited about that challenge. There’s nothing extra special; it’s business as usual with what I’ve done in the past with training has always worked well for me. I’m continuing on that path as I always have. For me, I think the biggest challenge will fundamentally be getting used to new racetracks and getting up to speed. Our competitors will have had quite a bit more experience than I have at these tracks. That, for me, will be the biggest challenge – finding the maximum out of the car and getting the most out of the car on these new tracks.”
NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R YOU’RE GOING BACK TO FIA WEC COMPETITION FULL TIME AND HAVING BOTH CORVETTE RACING ON THE GROUND AT SEBRING ALONGSIDE THE IMSA ENTRY. “The thing I’m looking forward to most is seeing how the different weekend plays out. The fact that we have our first weekend in the WEC as a single-car team, we’re actually sharing the weekend with our teammates, even though they are different race and different category. I’m looking forward to having another car to cheer on in another class and in another race and how the weekend plays out. It will be the first time that all of our crew that will be working in WEC all year will be split from the IMSA side. The good thing is that we know how to make our No. 64 Corvette go well around Sebring. Yes, the race is a bit less in time than what we are used to with the 12 Hours. But it’s still an endurance race at Sebring, so this is a good way to start the year. I’m glad we get to start the year in North America. It’s a familiar place to race and get things started. Hopefully, it’s a good start and something we can learn on the way the races are structured, the way we work as a team and take that through the rest of the season.”
HOW IMPORTANT IS A TOOL LIKE THE DRIVER IN THE LOOP SIMULATOR GIVEN NEW TRACKS ON THE CALENDER FOR CORVETTE RACING? “I’m off to Huntersville (North Carolina) on Wednesday. We have some work to do on not just Sebring but also the upcoming races after that in both IMSA and WEC. Having these tools available to us … there are certain things that stay pretty similar with the car and how the setup of the car is from track to track. But there are a lot of things that are track specific. Going to places like Monza and Fuji, for example. I know from previous experience that these places – maybe not Monza because it’s more of a Le Mans-type setup of aero level – like at Fuji with a great long straight but also a technical infield, you can run through simulations of aero level and not just figure out what makes the car work but what makes the best lap time. The trade-off between downforce and drag at certain places like Le Mans and Daytona is pretty simple to work out what makes the lap time. At somewhere like Fuji and Spa to a certain degree, you can trade off some of the cornering ability to make up time on the straight. The DiL sim that we have for this sort of thing is quite useful. We can test things to see how much time we are giving away in certain areas and how to then tune around it. We like to have two kinds of setups ready to go that we can try in testing. It gives us a head start before we get to the track. Going to new circuits, it will be even more important and play a bigger role than ever.”
IT'S YOUR FIRST FULL WEC SEASON IN QUITE A FEW YEARS. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT AND IS IT STRANGE TO NOT DO A FULL IMSA SEASON FOR THE FIRST TIME IN AWHILE? “There are mixed kind of feelings. I think all of us are excited to do a World Championship, to do something new and something different. This is exciting. But we are leaving a lot of people, a lot of tracks and races, and a lot of fans and stuff that we are used to seeing and racing with on a week-to-week basis in IMSA. I will miss going places like Virginia, Watkins Glen and events like this. But we are going for a World Championship and that is something not a lot of people get the chance to go for. Le Mans is always big, but a full World Endurance Championship season is something else. It was really nice to start the year in Daytona. When you do the IMSA series and then you get to do Le Mans in the same year, that’s a fantastic calendar. To do a full WEC calendar and include Daytona as a single event from our side, it was a really nice thing to do. To have this opportunity to do these races and have the chance to be successful in not just a series but in these big, single events is something that’s always good. We were lucky to start off at Daytona and we’ve got this full chance at a World Championship, which is the aim of what we are doing. I’m looking forward to it. But I am not looking forward to not looking back to going to Silverstone, though. It used to be a home race in the WEC. I’m a bit sad we don’t go to Silverstone anymore. But I’ll be looking forward to going back to Monza. It’s been since 2017 since the last time I’ve raced there so looking forward to that.”
THERE HAVE BEEN TWO STAND-ALONE WEC RACES FOR THE C8.R AND BOTH WERE TOUGH RACES, PARTLY BECAUSE OF THE BoP. HOW DO YOU FEEL THAT MIGHT AFFECT THINGS? “Tommy was probably more involved in previous WEC single events. I was part of the team when we did Spa last year. We know that the BoP process from all the series is getting better and better. They have the tools to make this process as fair as possible. Yes, we have run the car in normal configuration at Spa last year. Nothing has really changed since then, and of course we had all the running at Le Mans last year. We also have the Prologue this year. I hope everything will be a decent window to start with. I have no reason to think they won’t. Of course, the process takes time, but cars evolve and tires evolve, and from track to track it’s different. It’s pretty simple that we make sure our car and everything on our side is 100 percent. You just hope for a fair run at it.”
YOU’LL DO THE 1,000 MILES AT SEBRING AND THE OTHER WEC RACES OUTSIDE OF LE MANS WITH JUST TWO DRIVERS. WILL THAT HAVE AN IMPACT? “From a strategic point of view, when you have only two drivers you get more time, like in practice. You don’t just have more driving time in practice. With things that you’re testing in free practice, you don’t have to worry about changing drivers as much. There is a strategic advantage to having less drivers a lot of the time. You can get through more work in practice. Of course, when it comes to the actual racing, we typically do the Six Hours of The Glen regularly with two drivers in GTLM. That’s been the normal kind of thing. With GTE being nearer to one-hour stints on fuel stops, the four-, six-, eight-hour races become a bit easier to manage with two drivers. With classes that have maybe 40- or 45-minute fuel stints, you would have more options with more drivers from that point of view. The 1,000 Miles and even in the eight hours at Bahrain, it’ll be tough. As Tommy says, doing a 12-hour or 24-hour race with three, that’s still a lot of driving time. If we both do three stints in Sebring, it’s still three double-stints, which isn’t out of the ordinary in testing. A lot of the time when we do long endurance testing, we drive a lot more. If you can get away with having less drivers, then it’s better for the team as a whole. The problem comes if someone has an issue, as I know about from Spa last year. Doing the Spa 15 Hours with two drivers is quite difficult! Having the extra guy sometimes gives you a bit of safety net if one driver has an issue. Other than that, we’re good to go with two and I think you’ll see all the other teams in GTE Pro doing the same.”
PRESS RELEASE: Corvette C8.Rs, team soldier through to complete full 24 hours
CORVETTE RACING AT DAYTONA: Tough Debut in GTD PRO Corvette C8.Rs, team soldier through to complete full 24 hours
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 30, 2022) – Corvette Racing made it through a tumultuous Rolex 24 At Daytona on Sunday and gained valuable information on its Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs in their new GT Daytona (GTD) PRO configuration.
The No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette of Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg – 2021 winners in the GT Le Mans class – led Corvette Racing’s charge with a sixth-place finish. It was a solid drive back from ninth place in the middle of the night when an electrical issue cost the team 13 laps in the garage.
The No. 3 C8.R is the team’s full-season entry in the new-for-2022 GTD PRO class. Other than the visit in the garage late Saturday night, things ran almost like clockwork for the Garcia/Taylor/Catsburg trio.
The same couldn’t be said of the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette of Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy and Marco Sorensen. Their C8.R appeared to be the strongest of the Corvette Racing entries in the opening hours until rear contact after a restart with Sorensen at the wheel caused significant damage near the 8.5-hour mark.
Sorensen had to brake hard to keep from hitting the wayward LMP3 car, which also just missed collecting Catsburg in the No. 3 Corvette. The No. 4 team lost nearly 2.5 hours replacing the diffuser, exhaust pipes and starter, among other components. It eventually salvaged a top-10 class finish.
Daytona marked the only scheduled IMSA appearance for the No. 4 Corvette, which moves to the FIA World Endurance Championship’s GTE Pro class starting with the 1,000 Miles of Sebring (Fla.) on March 18. It is part of a combined weekend with IMSA, which will see Garcia, Taylor and Catsburg race in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on March 19.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SIXTH IN GTD PRO: “This was one of those races where you wanted it to be shorter. We learned a lot and there is still more for us to learn. We had 25 or 26 stints to learn this tire. So it was a proper first real test in race conditions. We were lacking pace both days. There still was a lot to be gained. If you add some extra testing and something else, then maybe we can be in the hunt. In the last stint, I could tell we were missing a tiny bit. If we were on the lead lap, it would have taken a tiny bit for us to be competitive. We’ll carry on to Sebring.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SIXTH IN GTD PRO: “Other than the alternator issues, we’ve had a faultless and flawless race. The strategy and pit stops have been great. It’s good to see the team executing so well. It’s unfortunate we had that issue otherwise we’d be fighting in the top-five somewhere. It’s good to get the extra miles and it’s good the guys got us back out there because we have a championship to fight for at the end of the day. We’ve made up some points by attrition.”
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SIXTH IN GTD PRO: “This was nice to continue and get more experience on this tire. I think it was the right decision to keep on going and never giving up. It was a learning experience. I enjoyed it. Hopefully we will get more pace at Sebring and we can be competitive.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – 10TH IN GTD PRO: “It’s obviously frustrating to have the problems we did. Even so and looking at the ultimate pace, I don’t think we had the car today to race for the win potentially. You never know in these kind of races. If you’re there at the end and you’re close, anything can happen. That was kind of our goal today and obviously we didn’t achieve that. It’s frustrating from that point of view. Even though we (the No. 4 Corvette) won’t be racing in IMSA for the full season, it’s exciting for the 3 car guys and the fans to see the racing we should have this year in GTD PRO. We haven’t really had that kind of door-to-door racing in some time.”
NICK TANDY, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – 10TH IN GTD PRO: “This sort of thing does happen in motor racing. We spent way too much time in the garage today than we expected. We bring two cars to this race for a reason, and that’s to have two shots. To have the luck that strikes both in the middle of the night is tough to take, to be sure. It’s so surprising because it doesn’t often happen with this team. This is motorsport and there are a lot of things that go into putting a car out on track, especially in going around for 24 hours. Sometimes we have good days like last year and sometimes it’s not so great like today.”
MARCO SORENSEN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – 10TH IN GTD PRO: “It’s been a great few weeks with Corvette Racing. Of course you come to these races wanting to compete and win. So it hurts a little bit that we didn’t get that. But in the end, it has bene a fantastic experience with this team. It’s a great bunch of guys and I like their way of going racing and how they do it. I’m just really happy to have had this chance.”
IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA CORVETTE RACING HALFWAY REPORT
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 30, 2022) – Disaster struck Corvette Racing in the seventh and eighth hours of the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Saturday. Despite lengthy visits to the garage, both Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs were still circulating around Daytona International Speedway at the halfway point of the opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
The No. 3 Corvette ran ninth in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO class in the program’s debut in the category. Jordan Taylor was at the wheel but 13 laps down to the class leader after the car lost time with an electrical issue that required a change of the alternator near eight-and-a-half-hour mark. Antonio Garcia was in the Corvette when the team noticed a voltage issue on the No. 3 C8.R.
Things weren’t any better for the12th-place No. 4 Corvette, which lost nearly 2.5 hours replacing the diffuser, exhaust pipes and starter. Marco Sorensen was hit from behind while trying to avoid a spinning prototype following the race’s fifth full-course caution.
Sorensen had followed double-stints by Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner. He had to brake hard to keep from hitting the wayward LMP3 car, which also just missed collecting Nicky Catsburg in the No. 3 Corvette. Sorensen was nailed from behind, which resulted in the damaged components and sent the No. 4 C8.R back to the garage.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “It was unfortunate. We were up there, probably not in the best place overall but we were staying out of trouble. That wasn’t the easiest thing to do with the conditions and all the mixing of the categories. We were P4 when the team realized we had an alternator issue. Everything was going smooth and all we needed to do was make it through the night. We’re back out there but down some number of laps. We’ll carry on and be as close to the lead lap if the yellows permit that. We knew it would be a crazy race.”
MARCO SORENSEN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: "We got hit from behind and that caused some big damage. There wasn't really anywhere for me to go. There was a spinning LMP3 car ahead of us and I had to brake hard because there wasn't anywhere I could go. Then I got the contact from behind. I don't know who it was. The car was fine after that. I could still keep doing good laps and we were still in the game. Everything was good. Then just before I came into the pits, the car fully shut off on me. When Nick jumped in, we couldn't start it and that started a big snowball that kept on rolling with issues. It's tough. It was a long fix."
Team statistics, changes for C8.R to GTD PRO, quotes and more...
CORVETTE RACING AT DAYTONA: Pre-Race Notes
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 26, 2022) – Corvette Racing begins its 24th season of competition this weekend with the Rolex 24 At Daytona to start the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It’s a new season in more than one way as it marks the team’s first foray into GT Daytona (GTD) PRO competition.
The team logged three days of testing plus Sunday’s 100-minute qualifying race to set the Rolex 24 grid. Throughout the weekend, Corvette Racing engineers gathered useful data on a number of new items that are unique to the GTD-spec version of the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.
The twice-around-the-clock endurance race around at the 3.56-mile road course inside the Daytona International Speedway presents a number of challenges and elements that aren’t found anywhere else in racing, according to two members of Corvette Racing:
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/Sirius XM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “I love this event and being at Daytona. You’re going to straight into it and starting the season with one of the most important races. There’s no way to ease into things. You have to be on it, and this sets the tone for the season. It’s a unique situation compared to Europe. I’ve done this event several times now, so I’m used to it. Plus it’s a unique setting. The track is cool and fun with the banking. Plus you have a GT class that is this big. It’s an event we all look forward to every year.”
NICK TANDY, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Daytona is always cool because it’s this big, standalone event. Yes, it’s part of a points-scoring championship but it’s still the Daytona 24 Hours. So it’s always cool. It’s different this year, especially for us on the 4 Corvette side for two reasons. For one, we have this new-spec C8.R GTD car so that’s different and new. I was telling someone the other day that Corvette Racing have been coming here for years and years and years with the same kind of formula and the same knowledge about how things should play out. This year it’s all a bit different and new. It’s fresh and very interesting to go into something new while learning and experimenting while not really knowing how things will work. Plus it’s a single event for our side of the garage before we go off to the WEC. But Daytona still has that big atmosphere and big levels of anticipation of what’s coming and what’s ahead of you.”
CORVETTE RACING BY THE NUMBERS AT DAYTONA
• 0.034: As in seconds – the winning margin of victory in Corvette Racing’s 1-2 finish at the 2016 Rolex 24. It is the closest finish in race history. • 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car going on 24 years: Corvette Racing and Chevrolet. • 2: Number of the overall winning Corvette C5-R in the 2001 Rolex 24. Ron Fellows, Johnny O’Connell, Chris Kneifel and Franck Freon completed 656 laps for 2335.36 miles in the winning effort. • 4: Rolex 24 wins in 11 tries for Corvette Racing: 2001 overall, 2015 GTLM (Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen/Ryan Briscoe), 2016 GTLM (Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler) and 2021 GTLM (Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg) • 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001. • 29: Number of GTLM wins for Corvette Racing since the start of 2014. Corvette Racing moves to GTD PRO starting with this year’s Rolex 24. • 24: Drivers who have driven for Corvette Racing at Daytona – Justin Bell, Ryan Briscoe, Nicky Catsburg, Kelly Collins, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Marcel Fässler, Ron Fellows, Franck Freon, Antonio Garcia, Oliver Gavin, John Heinricy, Chris Kneifel, Robin Liddell, Jan Magnussen, Tommy Milner, Simon Pagenaud, John Paul Jr., Andy Pilgrim, Mike Rockenfeller, Scott Sharp, Alexander Sims, Nick Tandy and Jordan Taylor. The list will grow by one with the addition of Marco Sorensen for this year’s race. • 25: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen. • 31: Number of drivers for Corvette Racing since 1999. • 69: Years since Corvette was introduced to the world on Jan. 17, 1953 in New York City. A total of 300 were produced that year. • 120: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 112 in North America and eight at Le Mans. • 250: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999. • 49,723.16: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing at Daytona. That’s more than two full trips around the Earth at its equator (approx. 24,900 miles). • 333,179.36: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon!
What’s New on the GTD PRO Corvette? There have been lots of questions about changes to the Corvette C8.R for the IMSA GTD PRO class. There is quite a bit of work the Corvette Racing team has undertaken to transition the car from GTLM spec to meet GTD technical regulations. Here are a handful of key areas:
1. The mass of the C8.R is increased by 65 kilograms (143 lbs.) relative to Daytona 2021. To accommodate the ballast box required by the GT3/GTD regulations to hold the extra weight, the Corvette Racing team had to reconfigure the entire passenger side floor compartment. This required the move of the air conditioning unit, fire bottle, battery box and other electronics. This was no small feat with integration requiring significant effort by the Corvette Racing engineering team.
2. The 2022 Corvette GTD entry is running on customer Michelin tires, which are required for the category. This is a change from GTLM where the C8.R ran on confidential tires – ones that were specifically designed for Corvette Racing.
3. The power output of the C8.R's flat-plane V8 is significantly reduced under GTD rules. The difference between the size of this year's Daytona air restrictor and 2021 is nearly 1.7 mm.
4. Related to that, the GTD PRO Corvette is running with a higher angle of attack on the rear wing than previous years. This creates a greater level of drag on the race car and significantly reduces top speed.
5. The addition of ABS is required under GT3/GTD rules. As many observers are aware, Corvette Racing tested this in competition for the first time last year at Belle Isle in the GTLM Corvette. The system continued to be improved throughout testing late last year and early this season both virtually and in the real world.
6. The differential of the Corvette C8.R must now comply with GT3/GTD regulations. A limited slip differential configuration is permitted with a single homologated set of ramps. This required removal of some tuning options previously available on the GTLM Corvette.
7. Unlike other GTD teams, the C8.Rs are required to run with torque axle sensors. These directly measure the output of the Corvette engine and the data is used by IMSA for the BOP process.
The Chevrolet Fan Experience Chevrolet aficionados will have no shortage of things to see and do at the Rolex 24. That’s because three locations around Daytona International Speedway – the Chevrolet Experience Center, the Chevrolet Injector and Chevrolet Motorsports Display – will be full of Chevrolet vehicles that spectators can learn more about throughout the weekend.
Each location will open at 9 a.m., Friday and Saturday; and 8 a.m., Sunday.
The Chevrolet Experience Center is located next to Victory Lane. The main attraction for Corvette enthusiasts is the 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 – a nearly mirror image of the Corvette C8.R race car. Among its features is a 5.5L, flat-plane V8 capable of reaching 8,600 rpms. The 670hp output is the highest for any naturally aspirated V8 produced by any production car in the world.
In addition, Chevrolet vehicles on display at the Experience Center include the 2022 Corvette Stingray IMSA GTLM Championship Edition, Camaro ZL1, Tahoe High Country and Colorado ZR2, plus a Corvette Z06 chassis.
The Chevrolet Motorsports Display in the Fan Midway will have a number of attractions: • Production vehicles such as the Corvette Stingray with the Z51 package, Tahoe RST, Blazer RS, Colorado Z71, Silverado 2500 HD Crew Carhartt, Camaro ZL1, a Corvette C8.R showcar and a Stingray cutaway chassis. • Samples of Chevrolet engines, performance parts and accessories available to fans for purchase from local Chevrolet dealers • Corvette Racing t-shirts for fans who sign up with Chevrolet
At the Chevrolet Injector, nearly 20 different Chevrolet vehicles are on display throughout the four levels of fan access. Models include Trax LT, Equinox RS, Traverse Premier, Trailblazer ACTIV and RS, Blazer Premier and RS, Silverado 1500 Trailboss, Silverado HD and 2500 Crew Cab LTZ, Corvette Stingray Convertible, Camaro ZL1 and 2SS Coupe, Colorado Z71 Crew Cab and ZR2, Suburban 4WD High Country and Tahoe LTZ
As at the Chevrolet Motorsports Display and Chevrolet Experience, Chevrolet product specialists will be on-hand to answer questions on each model of Chevrolet vehicle throughout the weekend.
Corvette Z06 at Barrett-Jackson Also of note, the first 70th Anniversary Edition 2023 Corvette Z06 off the production line will be auctioned Saturday at the annual Barrett-Jackson event in Scottsdale, Ariz. Corvette Racing veterans Oliver Gavin and Ron Fellows will be on-hand and take part in the auction.
Net proceeds from the sale of these cars benefit Operation Homefront. Celebrating 20 years of serving America’s military families, Operation Homefront is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to build strong, stable, and secure military families so that they can thrive – not simply struggle to get by – in the communities they have worked so hard to protect.
Corvette Racing at Daytona 1999 No. 2 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel/John Paul Jr. – 3rd in GTS No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Scott Sharp/John Heinricy – 12th in GTS
2000 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel/Justin Bell – 2nd in GTS No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 10th in GTS
2001 No. 2 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Chris Kneifel/Franck Freon – 1st in GTS (overall win) No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Dale Earnhardt/Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 2nd in GTS
2014 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ryan Briscoe – 10th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Robin Liddell – 5th in GTLM
2015 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ryan Briscoe – 1st in GTLM (Magnussen fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Simon Pagenaud – 3rd in GTLM (Gavin pole)
2016 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 2nd in GTLM (Garcia fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 1st in GTLM (Winner by 0.034 second)
2017 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 4th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 9th in GTLM
2018 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 3rd in GTLM (Magnussen pole) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 4th in GTLM
2019 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 6th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 8th in GTLM
2020 (Rolex 24 – January) No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 4th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 7th in GTLM
2020 (WeatherTech 240 – July) No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 1st in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM
2021 No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 1st in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy/Alexander Sims – 2nd in GTLM
Corvette C8.Rs eighth, ninth in new GTD PRO category in qualifying race for IMSA opener
CORVETTE RACING AT DAYTONA: Rolex 24 Comes into Focus Corvette C8.Rs eighth, ninth in new GTD PRO category in qualifying race for IMSA opener
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 23, 2022) – Corvette Racing finished up its first three days of official testing and competition in the new GTD (GT Daytona) PRO class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Sunday with work to do ahead of the upcoming Rolex 24 At Daytona.
The team finished eighth and ninth in class and 14th and 18th among GTD cars following a 100-minute qualifying race to set the grid for the Rolex 24 on Jan. 29-30. Sunday’s race was the first for the evolved Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, which ran for all three days in GTD spec for the first time in a full-field setting. The results show the uphill battle facing last year’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) race-winning program. Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor – last year’s GTLM champions and Rolex 24 winners with Nicky Catsburg – in the mid-engine No. 3 Corvette C8.R led the team’s efforts but finished a lap behind the class-winning Lamborghini.
The C8.R has undergone a number of changes from its two-year GTLM campaign to bring it in line with the existing GTD cars. Corvette Racing is running with more weight, less power, a higher level of drag, customer Michelin tires and an ABS system for 2022 compared to 2021. Even with a mid-week Balance of Performance adjustment by the sanctioning body in an attempt for more evenly balanced competition, the Corvettes still faced a significant performance deficit in Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race.
Sunday’s race ran green for the full 100 minutes. Garcia ran the first half of the race and gained three spots in class in the opening 10 minutes. He remained there before the GTD pit stop cycle began and handed off to Taylor, who rejoined in the same position after Sorensen made the class’ final stop with 45 minutes remaining.
Tommy Milner and Marco Sorensen teamed in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette in their first race together. Sorensen turned his first laps in competition as a member of Corvette Racing as the pair will drive with Nick Tandy. Milner opened with the longest stint of any GTD PRO drivers at 55 minutes but the top-speed deficit hurt his progress before the pit cycle began.
Corvette Racing returns to the Daytona track Thursday for the opening practices for the 60tth Rolex 24 At Daytona. The race begins at 1:40 p.m. ET on Saturday, Jan. 29. Television coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC before transitioning between the USA Network and the Peacock streaming service before the final two hours of NBC coverage Sunday afternoon. The full race will stream on Peacock while live IMSA Radio coverage will air on XM 202, SiriusXM Online 992 and IMSA.com, which also will host live timing and scoring.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – EIGHTH IN GTD PRO: “Knowing how little testing we did before the Roar, we used this race as a big test for tires. There are a lot of different things with the tire regulations where you have to run a certain pressure, and we learned a lot about that. It’s the first experience we’ve had with this. I was driving and learning how to maximize the tire performance. Even if we didn’t have the overall pace to be farther up, I think we can a lot from here for the race. Even if it’s only learning how to run a double-stint, it’s better than nothing. Almost all the other GTD teams have been running this tire on their car for a long time so there is a lot of catching up we need to do on this little thing. Let’s see if we can come back stronger in a few days so we can be where we need to be.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – EIGHTH IN GTD PRO: “The race was a qualifying race so you can’t really win too much in that event. It’s pretty much just about setting us up for the Rolex. For us, we know the car we have now. Throughout the Roar, we made some developments and gathered more data to hopefully set us up well for next week. That’s the one that counts. We still have some more work to do in order to understand the ABS, the new tire and everything. The guys will have a busy week ahead but I know we’ll come back strong next week. Understanding the racecraft of this category was important. We’re now mixed into a new class with GTD and Am drivers as well. Understanding how they race and how we will interact is useful. It’s a lot harder to get by them now that we have the same BoP, so it will make for a long and interesting 24 hours. It will make staying out of trouble that much more important than years past.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – NINTH IN GTD PRO: “We’re obviously not thrilled with our ultimate pace. There is still a lot learn with tires and things like that – experience that will help us for the race. Today was good for us as drivers to learn more about the tires and about interacting with the other competitors in GTD. This played out as we probably expected. The plan, of course, was to learn as much as we could. From my perspective, learning where some of the other cars are fast and where they aren’t, how they race… that will be a huge part of 24 hours here with 35 cars all near our pace. From that standpoint, it was successful. The car is in one piece and we stayed out of trouble. There’s lots of race data for the engineers to pour over and make our Corvettes as fast as they can.”
MARCO SORENSEN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – NINTH IN GTD PRO: “First off, it’s amazing to drive a whole stint in the Corvette. I got to understand the car in a totally different way. The tires we are on now are new for the team, so it was good to get some data on how much as a driver you can push on these tires. I’m still on a very steep learning curve with this car and I want to keep that curve going up so we are 100 percent ready for next week. I was a little surprised it was green all the way. You drive to the limit of the car and then you just sit on the straights and wait! There were some silly overtakes out there that people probably didn’t have to make in a qualifying race. I’m happy to have done my first race in a Corvette now. We have to now keep it going for the next week.”
Corvette Racing at Daytona 1999 No. 2 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel/John Paul Jr. – 3rd in GTS No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Scott Sharp/John Heinricy – 12th in GTS
2000 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel/Justin Bell – 2nd in GTS No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 10th in GTS
2001 No. 2 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Chris Kneifel/Franck Freon – 1st in GTS (overall win) No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Dale Earnhardt/Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 2nd in GTS
2014 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ryan Briscoe – 10th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Robin Liddell – 5th in GTLM
2015 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ryan Briscoe – 1st in GTLM (Magnussen fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Simon Pagenaud – 3rd in GTLM (Gavin pole)
2016 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 2nd in GTLM (Garcia fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 1st in GTLM (Winner by 0.034 second)
2017 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 4th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 9th in GTLM
2018 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 3rd in GTLM (Magnussen pole) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 4th in GTLM
2019 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 6th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 8th in GTLM
2020 (Rolex 24 – January) No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 4th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 7th in GTLM
2020 (WeatherTech 240 – July) No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 1st in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM
2021 No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 1st in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy/Alexander Sims – 2nd in GTLM
First weekend for team, Chevrolet and Corvette C8.R in GTD PRO category
CORVETTE RACING AT DAYTONA: New Year, New Challenge First weekend for team, Chevrolet and Corvette C8.R in GTD PRO category
· Three-day test ahead of Corvette Racing’s quest for repeat Rolex 24 wins · 100-minute race Sunday to set grid for 2022 IMSA opener · Pair of Corvette C8.Rs part of 13-car GTD PRO field
DETROIT (Jan. 18, 2022) – Corvette Racing starts a new year in a new classification this week with the annual Roar Before the 24 – a three-day test at Daytona International Speedway ahead of next weekend’s Rolex 24 At Daytona.
For the first time since 2014, Corvette Racing will participate in a new category of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: GT Daytona PRO (GTD PRO). It serves as a successor to GT Le Mans (GTLM), a classification in which Corvette Racing won more races and championships than any other program since 2014. The next goal is to replicate that same success in a full season of GTD PRO competition, which will feature 13 entries at Daytona.
The team’s Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs for the Roar and Rolex will look similar to the GTLM trim. A revised wing profile will mean a slightly different level of downforce at the rear of the Corvette. The C8.R will run on customer Michelin tires, per GTD regulations.
Under the skin, the GTD-PRO Corvette will retain the same 5.5-liter, flat-plane V8 with a slightly decreased power output over the GTLM rules package. An anti-lock braking system (ABS), tested by Corvette Racing at Belle Isle’s race in June, also will be featured on the IMSA C8.R along with other driver aids that are mandated by the class regulations.
Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg won last year’s Rolex 24 in GTLM to lead a 1-2 finish for Corvette Racing. The trio in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R is back for a chance at two in a row. Full-season teammates Garcia and Taylor won the last two GTLM Driver championships and seek to use Daytona as a springboard to another full-season championship run.
While Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy will contest the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2022, they will return to Daytona in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R alongside new teammate Marco Sorensen. Milner and Tandy were second to their Corvette Racing teammates in the 2021 Rolex 24 with Sorensen set for his second Daytona start.
The learnings from the Roar and the Rolex 24 also will serve to further development of the customer Corvette Z06 GT3.R that will be available to independent teams beginning in 2024.
The Roar Before the 24 is set for Friday-Sunday with the 100-minute qualifying race set for 2:05 p.m. ET on Sunday. Live coverage will be available on Peacock in the United States and IMSA.com outside the U.S.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Every year, we see how important the Roar test is for race preparation. With the Rolex 24 being the first race for us in a new category, it will be difficult to learn and understand things that every other team that has raced in GTD already knows. We will have to play catch-up to be competitive. But I have a lot of faith in Corvette Racing. Our experience can help us achieve that.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “I'm super excited to get back to Daytona. Even with it being a shorter offseason than usual, it feels like it’s been forever since we’ve been at the track. We’ve got a lot of new things to look forward to with the new GTD PRO class and a little different C8.R than we've raced before. It’ll be our first time having the car out on track with competition in this spec, so it’ll be interesting to see where we stack up. There’s going to be a long list of items we’ll be wanting to check off throughout the Roar test to give us confidence going into the Rolex 24.”
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: "The Roar will be super important for us - maybe even more than the last couple of years. It's an all new class and the field is much bigger and very diverse... simply bigger than years before. So it will be interesting in learning about who is strong where, which drivers are strong and where we fit in. It's going to be interesting to find out where we are with our car compared to the other GTDs. We haven't had an extreme amount of running in this spec so we are definitely going to use the Roar as a big learning tool. I'm excited to jump back in the car. It's a little different now with ABS of course and some minor differences. It's going to take some adjusting again. Coming off our Rolex win last year, it's definitely a positive feeling coming into the Roar. I'm looking forward to it."
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “At the end of last season, I didn’t think we would have the chance to race in IMSA this year. So this is a nice bonus to get us back into the groove of racing. Things will be a little different with some changes to our Corvette C8.R for the new GTD PRO category but they are items we’ve tested before in the simulator and on the track. So much of the success you have at Daytona is down to the preparation going into the race. I feel that’s where we are really strong. It looks like it’s going to be a deep and competitive field so let’s see how myself, Nick and our new teammate Marco pick up over these three days.”
NICK TANDY, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Daytona this year will be a challenge but it’s one we’re looking forward to. It’s looking like a very strong grid in GTD PRO, which should make great racing but also means getting a top result that much harder. It’s a brand new class to IMSA racing, however it shares many technical and sporting regulations with GTD and some of the teams transitioning from GTD to Pro might have a bit more experience and knowledge. One thing that Corvette Racing knows is how to win long endurance races so we go with high hopes, but we also know we still have work to do. For example the Roar test will be the first time the C8.R will run in GTD spec at Daytona. For me personally, it will be the first time I drive the car in GTD trim with the spec Michelin tires used for our class. The test days often don’t seem to last very long so we’ll need to be well prepared to make the most of all the on-track running we can get. I’m also personally excited to work with Marco for the first time. We first raced against each other back in 2007 in Formula Ford so I’ve known him a long time even though we’ve never shared a cockpit together. I’m sure he’ll fit in perfectly and be a big asset to our team alongside Tommy and myself."
MARCO SORENSEN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: Honestly, I can’t wait to meet and work with the full Corvette Racing team and get things going. To go racing with a team like this is going to be a real pleasure. I met some of the team at the race shop and got my first real look at the C8.R and spent some time in the simulator last week. It's a really good setup and very useful to help me get ready for Daytona. The Roar and the qualifying event are obviously good opportunities to get some laps in the car and get comfortable with everything so we can get the job done in the real race.”
Corvette Racing at Daytona 1999 No. 2 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel/John Paul Jr. – 3rd in GTS No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Scott Sharp/John Heinricy – 12th in GTS
2000 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel/Justin Bell – 2nd in GTS No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 10th in GTS
2001 No. 2 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/Chris Kneifel/Franck Freon – 1st in GTS (overall win) No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Dale Earnhardt/Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 2nd in GTS
2014 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ryan Briscoe – 10th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Robin Liddell – 5th in GTLM
2015 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ryan Briscoe – 1st in GTLM (Magnussen fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Simon Pagenaud – 3rd in GTLM (Gavin pole)
2016 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 2nd in GTLM (Garcia fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 1st in GTLM (Winner by 0.034 second)
2017 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 4th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 9th in GTLM
2018 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 3rd in GTLM (Magnussen pole) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 4th in GTLM
2019 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 6th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 8th in GTLM
2020 (Rolex 24 – January) No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 4th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 7th in GTLM
2020 (WeatherTech 240 – July) No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 1st in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM
2021 No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 1st in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy/Alexander Sims – 2nd in GTLM
Marco Sorensen to join Milner, Tandy in second GTD PRO Corvette for Rolex 24
Corvette Racing Entering Two C8.Rs for Daytona Marco Sorensen to join Milner, Tandy in second GTD PRO Corvette for Rolex 24
DETROIT (December 10, 2021) – Corvette Racing will enter two Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs for the 2022 Rolex 24 At Daytona in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s new GT Daytona (GTD) PRO category.
For the Rolex 24, Marco Sorensen will join the driving roster and share the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette with Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy, who will race at Daytona ahead of their full program in the FIA World Endurance Championship. As previously announced, Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg will pilot the No. 3 Corvette as they go for their second straight class victory at Daytona to start another full-season push for an IMSA championship.
The 31-year-old Sorensen has competed at the highest levels of GT racing with two titles in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s GTE Pro category to his credit. He also placed third in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2020 and was the fastest GTE Pro qualifier in 2019.
The appearance in the Rolex 24 will be Sorensen’s second in the race and in the WeatherTech Championship. He raced in the GTD category in 2017 and was third in qualifying for the race. Sorensen also has a strong background in single-seater racing with victories in GP2, Formula Renault 3.5 and the German F3 series.
Corvette Racing returns to the Daytona after a 1-2 finish in 2021 for the mid-engine Corvette C8.R as part of the GT Le Mans (GTLM) category, which ended at the end of the 2021 season. The GTD-PRO Corvette C8.R will look similar to the GTLM trim. A revised wing profile will mean a slightly different level of downforce at the rear of the Corvette. The C8.R will run on customer Michelin tires, per GTD regulations.
Under the skin, the GTD-PRO Corvette will retain the same 5.5-liter, flat-plane V8 with a slightly decreased power output over the GTLM rules package. An anti-lock braking system (ABS), tested by Corvette Racing at Belle Isle’s race in June, also will be featured on the IMSA C8.R along with other driver aids that are mandated by the class regulations.
Corvette Racing will open the 2022 season with the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 27-31 from Daytona International Speedway. The week prior, the team will participate in the three-day Roar Before the 24, which will include a 100-minute qualifying race to set the grid for the Rolex 24.
MARCO SORENSEN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “I’m super happy to join Corvette Racing. It’s a great opportunity for me personally to be with this team and try to achieve together the result that everyone is wanting – that’s of course winning! I love the mentality of Corvette Racing. It has a great car and from what I know, there are some really great people that I will team up with. So I’m really looking forward to this. Corvette Racing has always been a standout team to me because of the way they go racing. They go race and they race hard. They have been around for a very long time so to have the opportunity to go with the team to Daytona is a great one.”
Please read below and help Roger and his wife with her medical bills. Many of us own a piece of Roger's artistic Corvette Racing prints and paintings. Let's show Roger that the Corvette Nation is behind them. To purchase his art click here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RogerWarrick ... amp;search_query=Corvette
Marshall Pruett created the GoFundMe page to help Motor racing artist Roger Warrick and his wife Whitney. They have reached the end of their savings after a medical condition recently struck Whitney that makes it impossible for her to work as she seeks treatment.
Left with one income rather than two, the Warricks face the need to sell their home and other key possessions to cover their mounting house and medical bills. Whitney, a military veteran, and Roger are accustomed to working tirelessly to support themselves, but for once, a helping hand is truly needed.
Roger is also among the most giving members of the racing community, helping to raise tens of thousands of dollars over the years through donating his art and cartoons to various charities for auction at IndyCar and IMSA events. So, if you can, please help us to give back and pull the Warricks out of financial despair and provide the security they need as Whitney fights through her illness.
GTLM championship sweep takes sting out of tough finishes at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta
CORVETTE RACING AT PETIT LE MANS: Big Heartbreak in 2021 Finale GT Le Mans championship sweep takes sting out of tough finishes
BRASELTON, Ga. (Nov. 13, 2021) – Corvette Racing had hopes of going out of the GT Le Mans (GTLM) era in winning style, but fortune had other ideas at the 10-hour Petit Le Mans. Despite setbacks to both Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs in the final race of this year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the program still celebrated a second straight sweep of the full-season GTLM titles.
Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor wrapped up their second straight class Drivers Championship as the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R took the green flag for the race start. It also locked up consecutive Manufacturers championships for Chevrolet and the Team title for the No. 3 Corvette squad.
A mid-race accident, however, forced the No. 3 C8.R’s retirement just before the halfway point. Taylor was part of a long train of cars coming to a restart over a blind crest and crashed heavily into another GT car that had spun and stopped only seconds before. He was evaluated and released from the infield care center.
Corvette Racing still had hopes of a ninth Petit Le Mans victory with the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R of Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy and Alexander Sims.
The trio led a race-high 313 laps with all three drivers taking turns at the front of the field. While lacking overall performance, clever strategy and pit work kept the No. 4 C8.R at or near the lead for the first three-quarters of the race. Fuel savings by the Corvette drivers meant shorter fuel fill times, and the No. 4 pit crew helped capitalize by gaining 11 spots during the first six pit stops in the race.
In a fight for track position late and running second in class, Tandy was hit and pushed off-track by the eventual race-winning prototype. The impact broke the left-front suspension of the Corvette with 10 minutes left.
Corvette Racing will return to IMSA in January for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona in the new GTD PRO category. That effort will go along with a single-car entry in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R - 2021 GTLM CHAMPION
TALK ABOUT WINNING YOUR FIFTH CHAMPIONSHIP TODAY. “A good first lap for sure knowing that we had clinched the championship You forget about that right away because you are in race mode. Everything was running super smooth for the first full stint or half-stint then I was able to save fuel and jump first and second place on the first pit stop. Then it felt the car came back to me and was really pretty good. I saw Nick (Tandy) behind me and we pulled a good gap over the other cars. So I settled in and everything seemed to be going to plan. Actually it caught me by surprise because yesterday the car didn’t feel very good. Somehow we had pace today. It's just a shame about what happened to Jordan. I could anticipate something happening after the three or four restarts I did because traffic was very severe not only on the restarts but with all the class splits out there. There was a lot of tension you could see out there. As Jordan said, the good thing is he is okay that’s the best thing so what I’m very grateful for.”
ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON: "This year was a really good year. We started by winning the Rolex 24. It felt like a really long time since my last one. It was starting to be a little bit like last year. Corvette was super strong and probably even stronger this year. We just kept doing what we did last year, Jordan and I. We seem to be really good together. Everything was working really good. We just kept doing what we did. We didn't think about the championship but somehow everything came back to us. Other than this year, my only downside was Sebring. I thought we had a really good race going until six minutes to go. Now for sure I'll remember this championship. Not winning Petit does hurt, though."
MOVING TO GTD PRO IN 2022: "We're definitely looking forward to that. That opens up the opportunity to win this race, for one! This championship has really, really good racing. Getting back to race again at Daytona, Sebring, here and the other good tracks we go to, I'm really happy for that. As you can see today, GTD looks like good fun. I'm looking forward to that, too."
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R - 2021 GTLM CHAMPION JORDAN, HOW ARE YOU FEELING?
“Just a little sore, thanks. It's just really tight, a muscle spasm. I’ll be fine in a couple of days. Thankfully, Corvette, Chevrolet and Pratt Miller built a very strong car that kept me safe. It's definitely a scary moment when you come over the crest in fifth gear and everyone stops on the other side. It's something we can learn from in the future on restart procedures. But thankfully I got out of the car and am okay, and we still had another Corvette in the fight."
TALK ABOUT THE RACING OUT THERE AND SECURING THE CHAMPIONSHIP. “Like Antonio said, as soon as you start the race, you kind of forget about the championship and go for the win because it is Petit Le Mans. When you come into these events, such high-profile events, it’s unfortunate you have such a mix of drivers and classes that don’t mix well and makes the traffic and the racing so difficult. My first stint was kind of messy with traffic in and out. Then the way it worked we were starting in the back for that restart. The stack-up effect is always there and 10A and 10B, which was way more extreme today. It was unfortunate to catch us out, but definitely amazing to get a championship for Antonio and I and two in a row. Amazing to finish up the GTLM era with two championships like that and I think Antonio is the winningest driver in the class over its existence, so I am proud to have been his teammate for nine of those wins and looking forward to fighting for a third one next year.”
JORDAN, IN YOUR OPINON, WHAT HAPPENED? “When we were restarting, I don’t know where we were in line, maybe 30th or 35th. The leaders were coming out of 10B and they start accelerating out of the chicane. So they start going and then when you get back to 15th or 20th, they are still braking in the chicane and it starts the accordion effect. We were so far back, we were pretty much flat-out all the way down the back stretch trying to kind of keep up with everyone. By the time we got to the crest, I was behind the 79 or 97 and at that point I’m in fifth gear. I’m just basically following him and trusting him that he knows where he is going and he could see where we were going. As soon as we crested, he went left and I went right. Basically where he had gone turned out to be the only safe place and when I popped up next to him, there were two cars stopped in the middle of the racetrack. I had nowhere to go so I slid into them about 110 miles an hour. Thankfully everyone was fine. The first thing I thought was I thought I broke my back, that is how hard it was and probably hurt the guy in front of me with how hard I hit him directly in the back. Thankfully he was fine. “I already saw someone already and it is muscle spasms in my lower back. Thankfully nothing right now is too serious. When I got to the medical center, I was the worst one.”
PERSPECTIVE: "This was the first time I've had a big crash in an event... we're a family of racers - my dad and my brother. It's the first time one of us has had a big accident. It's always a fear for a family member to get injured. Antonio's family probably watches at home and they don't get answers as fast as this if something happens. I knew Ricky was in the 10 car and when I walked over the wall, my first thought was that he was going to drive by this mashed car and he'd be looking for a thumbs up. I knew he'd be freaked out, so it was an emotional moment to be honest. It brings a lot of things back into reality. You're on track racing these guys and wanting to beat everyone. But as soon as an accident happens, it becomes a lot more human and brings out that back into the big picture. So I want to say thank you to everyone on the team for the safety and the IMSA safety team, as well."
SEEING YOUR DAD AFTER THE ACCIDENT: "Ricky was one of the first ones I saw on the track. I was on the wall and he was looking for a thumbs up, so I gave him a thumbs up just to put him at ease considering his position for the championship. Then I was carted off to the medical center, where I knew my mom and my girlfriend were outside. I called my mom from someone's cell phone and told her I was OK and hopefully relay that message to my dad. I saw him about an hour-and-a-half later. He was still crying, which I can imagine. I hated watching him race for the same reasons, and I can't imagine what it's like for him to watch his kids every day. Thankfully to this point, it was smooth sailing but in this sport anything can happen. Today was a bit of a reality check for everyone. I'm sure everyone we'll all be really happy once we get home safely."
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SIXTH IN GTLM: “The season started amazing with winning Daytona. I think at Sebring we were in a very good position to win the race as well until we were taken out in the last little part of the race. Le Mans wasn’t too bad. So yes I can look back on a good season. And the boys can look back on an even better season because they won the championship. Today was very unfortunate. We are all happy that Jordan is feeling well and got away with just some muscle pain. Of course I would have loved to drive and not sit on the sideline for the whole race, but other than that it was super nice this season and we get to celebrate a championship. “It is only one-and-a-half months and we are back in Daytona GTD PRO. New challenge and I think the competition is bigger. The field is bigger. That is going to be interesting. I can’t wait to be honest.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: “Going into the race I said our biggest competition would be the Porsches because they had such a big advantage in performance. They already had a fast car last year and on paper, they should have been significantly faster which they were as we saw toward the end of the race today. It is kind of a shame for Corvette Racing that this happens. We don’t go into a race thinking we are going to lose. We use any possible advantage we can find, and today we used whatever advantage we could find to be competitive at the end. It was just a little bit too big of a mountain to climb. Then at the end, Nick got taken out by the Mazda. It happens all the time. As soon as we are out of their view they just decide to move over. We can’t just disappear, and it has ruined races for a lot of GT cars over the years. They're never really ever penalized as much as they should. The race today was a great race for us for most of it. We were able to find ways to keep the car at the front. It didn’t end like we wanted it to, but we can look back on a great season. There were lots of highlights for both the 3 and the 4 car all year. Nick and I both were happy with the last half of the season with three wins in a row. And we get the Manufacturers and Team championships for Corvette and Chevy. I'm happy with all that. It's hard to reflect on the good when you had a sour end. I'm very, very proud of this Corvette Racing team and proud to be a part of it.”
NICK TANDY, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: “I was passing a GTD car late and the Mazda came through to make us three-wide down the straight into the braking zone in (Turn) 10. I was in the middle and all of a sudden the Mazda decided he would try to take the racing line. He was on the inside and came straight across the track and hit the side of our car and broke the suspension. It’s a shame that the season ends like this. Unfortunately into the night toward the end, I didn’t have the pace in the car to challenge the Porsches. It’s a shame not to finish on the podium, but we have a lot to be happy for this season. We wrapped up the Endurance Cup for the No. 4 car, we won a lot of races along the way and we got Manufacturers, Drivers and Team championships. All-in-all its been a successful season even if it ended very disappointing.”
ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: "A large part of today's race went really, really well. In the first seven hours or so, we were in the mix and showing like we were getting stronger and stronger. We had really good strategy and good pace to make the fuel economy work. We were at the front or near the front most of the time. As the temperatures got really cold, the pace dropped away from us and we couldn't hang on to the Porsches in the final couple of hours. Unfortunately the race was lost on pace but the final contact on Nick was the final nail in the coffin. I had it happen to me in my stint where a DPi got into me. They just pass three-quarters of the way and then expect you to evaporate. It's frustrating when we are trying to do our own thing. But I've loved the year. It's been fantastic to drive the C8.R. The team has been brilliant. It feels a bit disappointing because we had a bad Sebring, a bad Le Mans and now a bad Petit Le Mans. But I've enjoyed every bit of it except for the results! I'm looking forward to more next year."
14th IMSA GT Manufacturers Championship for Chevrolet ; Garcia, Taylor go back-to-back as GTLM Drivers champions
Chevrolet, Corvette Racing Claim Final GTLM Championships
· 14th Manufacturers Championship for Chevrolet in IMSA competition · Garcia, Taylor go back-to-back as GTLM Drivers champions · Milner, Tandy secure second place in GTLM points · Corvette Racing closes GTLM era with 15th Team Championship
BRASELTON, Ga. (Nov. 13, 2021) – For the second straight season, Chevrolet and Corvette Racing captured all three full-season GT Le Mans (GTLM) titles of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Corvette Racing program completed a repeat sweep of the GTLM Manufacturers, Drivers and Team championships with the start of Saturday’s 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Chevrolet claimed its 14th Manufacturers title in GT racing, Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor went back-to-back as Drivers champions while the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R repeated as Team title-winners.
“Chevrolet is proud to win the 2021 Manufacturers Championship and the final for the GT Le Mans category,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S Vice President, Performance and Motorsports. “The mid-engine Corvette C8.R is building a strong legacy thanks to the ‘One Team’ approach of the Corvette race team, our powertrain engineers, and Corvette production engineers and designers. We are excited to continue the development of the C8.R onward in 2022.
“Congratulations also to Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and everyone on the No. 3 Corvette C8.R team,” Campbell added. “This was a challenging season in many aspects but the competitive spirit within the two Corvette C8.R teams has never been stronger.”
Chevrolet and Corvette Racing won seven times in IMSA entering Petit Le Mans including 1-2 finishes in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the three most recent rounds of the championship. Corvette Racing also claimed pole position in each GTLM race heading into Petit Le Mans.
After winning five times during their 2020 championship run, Garcia and Taylor backed that up with four wins to date including the Rolex 24.
Garcia won his fifth IMSA title, tying Oliver Gavin for the most among all Corvette Racing drivers. The rapid Spaniard took pole positions at Sebring and the Watkins Glen Six Hours and was the fastest GTLM driver at Sebring.
Taylor is now a four-time IMSA champion with two in GTLM to go along with a pair of Prototype titles. The American has five pole positions to his credit this season – all consecutively from the Watkins Glen Six Hours to Long Beach.
No. 4 Corvette C8.R teammates Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy wrapped up second in GTLM points with the start of today’s race. They also were contributors in the Manufacturers Championship with three victories and two pole positions.
C8.Rs to start third, fifth in GT Le Mans category finale
CORVETTE RACING AT PETIT LE MANS: Garcia Sets Corvette Pace in Qualifying C8.Rs to start third, fifth in GT Le Mans category finale
BRASELTON, Ga. (Nov. 12, 2021) – Corvette Racing will line up on the second and third rows of the GT Le Mans (GTLM) category grid Saturday for the 10-hour of Petit Le Mans and the final race of this year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as well as the GTLM category.
Antonio Garcia was the quickest Corvette driver in Friday’s 15-minute GTLM qualifying in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R at 1:15.930 (120.426 mph). He’ll start third in the mid-engine Corvette he shares with Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg as the trio looks to end the season in the same way they began it – a victory in a blue-riband endurance race.
Garcia, Taylor and the No. 3 Corvette need only to start the race to complete a second straight sweep of the full-season GTLM Drivers and Team titles. Chevrolet will clinch its 14th IMSA GT Manufacturers Championship if either of the two Corvettes take the green flag.
Nick Tandy, in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R, qualified fifth at 1:16.051 (120.234 mph). He’ll drive with Tommy Milner and Alexander Sims with the Tandy/Milner duo coming in on a three-race win streak in GTLM.
The 10-hour Petit Le Mans is Corvette Racing’s 250th event all-time, dating back to the 1999 Rolex 24 At Daytona. – will serve as a Corvette Racing celebration as the race’s green flag will officially bring another sweep of the GTLM Manufacturers, Drivers and Team championships to Chevrolet and Corvette Racing for the second year in a row.
In addition to the full-season GTLM titles, Corvette Racing and Chevrolet also lead the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup standings in the Manufacturers, Drivers and Team categories. Points are awarded at the four-, eight- and 10-hour marks. The two Corvettes and their drivers are 1-2 in the standings while Chevy leads the Manufacturers race by two points.
Corvette Racing has eight class wins at Petit Le Mans and is seeking its first win at Road Atlanta since 2010. It would be a fitting end to the GTLM era as the program has more wins (29) than any other entrant in the class since its debut in 2014.
Petit Le Mans is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. ET on Saturday from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. The live television broadcast begins at noon ET on NBC followed by 7.5 hours of coverage on NBCSN from 3 to 10:30 pm. ET. The full race will stream on TrackPass and NBC Sports Gold. Live IMSA Radio coverage will air on XM 202, SiriusXM Online 992 and IMSA.com, which also will host live timing and scoring.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED THIRD IN GTLM: “That was interesting – a minute-15 lap with 21 cars! To have 20-plus cars on this track was pretty stressful. Everyone wants to find a gap. It’s difficult to gauge how much faster we are than the GTDs, so I probably lost three-quarters of a session trying to find a gap until everyone started setting lap times and pulling into the pits. Those were really my first two laps that I could do. The car was still coming in. I didn’t nail the lap. It wasn’t a clean qualifying for me, for sure. I gave everything I could to get a decent lap. Tomorrow will be way cooler with a very long race and a lot of cars out there plus five hours of dark. Today was challenging and tomorrow will be even more.”
NICK TANDY, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALFIED FIFTH IN GTLM: “It was a bit of a frustrating session. It was difficult to find space on track. You would do one lap. catch traffic, back off and the tires would cool. You’d try to go again so it was difficult to get a rhythm and the tires to work consistently. I’m sure we weren’t the only ones to have this. In the end, we kind of missed the potential of the car. Congratulations to the 24. It was a good run for them. Of course this isn’t a 100-minute race; it’s a 10-hour race. This isn’t the end of the world.”
PRESS RELEASE: Another close battle with Milner second in GTLM with No. 4 Corvette
CORVETTE RACING AT LONG BEACH: GTLM Pole for Taylor, No. 3 C8.R Another close battle with Milner second in GTLM with No. 4 Corvette
LONG BEACH, Calif. (Sept. 21, 2021) – Corvette Racing continued its perfect run of pole positions in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as Jordan Taylor earned fastest-qualifier honors Friday ahead of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Taylor, in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, set a time of 1:16.801 (92.248 mph) around the 1.968-mile, 11-turn street course in Southern California. It’s his fifth consecutive pole position in GT Le Mans (GTLM) this season ahead of Saturday’s 100-minute race.
Taylor and teammate Antonio Garcia enter Saturday leading the GTLM Drivers Championship on the strength of four wins and six pole positions this year. The No. 3 Corvette C8.R duo also won five races in 2020 en route to the class title.
Taylor was 0.297 seconds clear of teammate Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. He and Nick Tandy were winners in the most recent GTLM race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca two weeks ago.
Saturday’s race will be the first at Long Beach for the mid-engine Corvette C8.R as the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled last year’s race and delayed this year’s running from April.
All four drivers have previous victories at Long Beach. Milner and Taylor each of three while Garcia and Tandy have one each.
Corvette Racing will contest the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday from the Long Beach Street Circuit in Long Beach, Calif. Live television coverage will air live on NBCSN at 5 p.m. ET with live streaming coverage on TrackPass and NBC Sports Gold. Live audio coverage from IMSA Radio will be available on IMSA.com, XM 202 and SiriusXM Online 992.
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTLM POLE-WINNER: “Track position obviously is crucial here. It’s nice to for us to be on pole and have another 1-2 for Corvette Racing. It’s the first time we’ve brought the C8.R here. It suited the track really well. We rolled off the truck strong, so preparation-wise the guys did a good job. Looking ahead to tomorrow, it’s always a one-stop race so it’s all about execution in that one stop and maintaining track position. You always put an emphasis on qualifying to try to get the pole and get a good run into Turn One. Hopefully we can control the race from there and make a good call on when to make that stop. It seems like we had a couple of yellows throughout the practices so we might be able to count on one of those at some point. Obviously I couldn’t be happier to get another pole this year.”
SECRET TO QUALIFYING? “I think we just made good decisions. Setup-wise, we’ve had a different setup for qualifying than the race. We put a big emphasis on that knowing where the car needs to go in the race. We spent Practice Two adjusting for race conditions and had in the back of our mind what we wanted to do in order to extract the most laptime when the tires are fresh. We did a long run at the end of Practice Two, and we’re pretty happy with things.” INFLUENCE OF SIMULATOR WORK: “It’s tough to know where the track is going to go. IndyCar only had one session today and they’ll do more running tomorrow. The track was a bit different when we went back out on it this evening. It will go in another different direction, I’m sure. It makes it that much more stressful. The street courses are great, and we love coming to them. But as a driver it’s very stressful when you have to get the maximum out of the car in a session like qualifying. It’s always nice to get through unscathed. We’re in a good spot. We’ve done a lot of sim work to understand what the car will do over a long run. We made those adjustments in practice to confirm what we learned in the simulator.”
DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING DETROIT AND LONG BEACH AND DIFFERENT TIRE RUBBER: “We did. It was our first street course race with this car. It was good and bad, I’d say. It was stressful, like I said earlier, but it was even worse when you’re racing for no points and there’s no real incentive be pushing! But you want to push to learn lessons about the car, be on the limit of it to understand how the tire works, how it degrades and what we want from setup and development points of view. It was crucial for us to understand that. Every race we go to, we have multiple tire compounds to pick from so understanding how that comes into play with different rubber on the track and what will suit the car best… Corvette Racing does a great job on the engineering side to log data, make notes, study it and take those notes to the simulator to confirm things. It makes our jobs as drivers a lot easier when we go to a track like this where we’ve not been to with this car. We’re not fighting with the car in the first session; we know we can go in confidently that the car is going to be pretty well-suited already so we only need to make fine adjustments. Honestly this is probably the best car I’ve ever had at Long Beach. I’ve been here a few times before, and this was the nicest car I’ve driven here. It was stressful to drive but it was probably one of the easier cars I’ve driven, and it was still quick. That speaks a lot to the car setup.”
CHAMPIONSHIP OUTLOOK: “We’re in a good position. I think the 4 car and the 79 are close on points. So trying to build their gap will be more important. Looking at the way the BoP has gone and you compare it from this year to last year of where Porsche is, they should have a decent jump. These sprint races suit us. We’re pushing the whole time. But when you get to an event like Petit Le Mans where you have 10 hours of racing, that’s where you can see their advantage grow. At the same time, we’ve seen races won by the slowest car on track. So we’ll never give up.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED SECOND IN GTLM: "Realistically, I'm not completely happy. I haven't qualified a lot in my career but have had some good race cars. Getting beaten by your teammate isn't ideal, but they're the best comparison you can possibly make. Those guys are doing a great job and you can't take anything away from them. Our guys are pushing super-hard and I'm trying super-hard. I probably threw away my last lap locking up the right-front tire on the backstretch. That's unfortunate but the name of the game when you're trying for every last little bit. I think we have a good Corvette. We were fast right away in the first practice. We can tweak on it a little bit but I think we fundamentally have a good race car. For the entire lifetime of this C8.R, we show up to the track and the cars are really good and we're never lost. It gives us the chance to find every last little bit. Awesome job by Jordan but hopefully we can switch it around tomorrow again."
PRESS RELEASE: First race in southern California for mid-engine Corvette C8.R
CORVETTE RACING AT LONG BEACH: Southern California Street Fight
· First race in southern California for mid-engine Corvette C8.R · Milner, Tandy coming off GTLM victory at Laguna Seca · All four Corvette Racing drivers with previous Long Beach victories
DETROIT (Sept. 21, 2021) – Corvette Racing’s mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.R has been on a global tour since its debut in January 2020. It has raced at racetracks throughout North America, plus Belgium and France since then.
Now the Corvette Racing program is set to make its return to southern California this weekend for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – postponed from its traditional spring date due to COVID-19.
Long Beach is the second street circuit event of the season for Corvette Racing, following the Chevrolet Sports Car Challenge in June at Detroit’s Belle Isle. Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy teamed for a GT Le Mans (GTLM) victory there in a non-points outing in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R, and the pair is coming off a win at Laguna Seca two weeks ago up the coast in Monterey.
Second went to GTLM Drivers Championship leaders Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette. The duo has four wins on the season and five pole positions, plus a runner-up finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The combined efforts have Chevrolet in the Manufacturers Championship lead.
All four drivers have previous victories at Long Beach. Milner and Taylor each of three while Garcia and Tandy have one each.
Chevrolet on Display at Long Beach The return of Corvette Racing and Chevrolet to Long Beach will carry extra flare with the inclusion of the Chevrolet Motorsports Display to the event weekend. Located inside the Long Beach Expo Center, the Chevrolet Motorsports Display will be open to fans throughout the weekend and will be full of Chevrolet vehicles that spectators can learn more about during a busy event.
The Chevrolet Motorsports Display opens at 8 a.m. Friday through Sunday. Numerous Chevrolet vehicles and other highlights include:
• A 2022 Corvette Stingray IMSA GTLM Championship Edition coupe • A 2022 Corvette Stingray convertible • Additional Chevrolet products such as the 2020 Blazer, 2021 Camaro 1LE and 2021 Silverado Trail Boss • A special display with various Corvette Racing artifacts • An opportunity to receive a Corvette T-shirt
Corvette Racing will contest the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sept. 24-25 from the Long Beach Street Circuit in Long Beach, Calif. Live television coverage will air live on NBCSN at 5 p.m. ET on Sept. 25 with live streaming coverage on TrackPass and NBC Sports Gold. Live audio coverage from IMSA Radio will be available on IMSA.com, XM 202 and SiriusXM Online 992.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: "I think there are a few things we can transfer from Detroit to Long Beach. In a way, there are some similarities and those are mainly the walls! The track surface and the way the circuit is laid out is a little different. We need to work a little bit and look at some past race data. I'm sure we will come up with a good setup to start. It won't be the first time for the C8.R on a street circuit, so that's a good start. We can learn a lot from that.
"I've led in the Hairpin two years in a row and didn’t win either time! Those are memories that you sometimes have - which races you've won and which ones you've lost. Especially the way we lost those races will probably stick in my head for a long time! A win there would definitely help forgetting about those moments."
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Detroit was a good lesson for us to have that weekend and understand what the C8.R is going to be like on a street course. Long Beach is always a different animal. It’s always difficult there with how limited the track time is and keeping up with the track evolution. The Corvette guys have had so much history there that we can understand how the track will develop so focus on the car itself and what the drivers need. I have a lot of confidence. Long Beach is always super-intense. I’ve been there many times in a prototype but this is my first time in a GT class. It’s always looked like a proper street fight in the GT classes so I’m sure it will be like that again this year, as well.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: "Both Detroit and Long Beach have track surfaces that are comparable. I think Long Beach is a little more difficult because it used more as a public road throughout the rest of the year, so it is quite dirty. As seems always the case, it's very dirty and dusty, and we spend an hour of the first two-hour practice cleaning the track. With Detroit under our belt – the first street race for the C8.R – we can take some of those lessons, setup options and things we tried to see how they carry over to Long Beach. Hopefully we can make the most of an already compressed schedule and limited track time to get our Corvette in a place that is comfortable for Nick and I."
NICK TANDY, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: "Long Beach is always one of the events I look forward to most of the season. The actual race is different in that it's a short race, a single stop and different to what we normally do. The track is what I personally look forward to most. It's a street circuit, yes, but it's quite different to some other street tracks I've raced on before. You have that long open blast down Shoreline Drive and some fast stuff in the middle sector as well. It's an enjoyable track to try and get the car to the limit. We did have a good run at Detroit in the No. 4 Corvette. We know the cars work well in this configuration. It's been something I've looked forward to since our success at Detroit."
2021 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTLM (After Seven of 10 Events) Driver Standings 1. Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2,562 2. Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 2,375 3. Cooper MacNeil – 2,314 4. Matt Campbell – 1,702 5. Augusto Farfus/Jesse Krohn/John Edwards – 1001
Team Standings 1. No. 3 Corvette Racing – 2,562 2. No. 4 Corvette Racing – 2,375 3. No. 79 WeatherTech Racing – 2,314 4. No. 24 BMW Team RLL – 1,001 5. No. 25 BMW Team RLL – 966
Manufacturer Standings 1. Chevrolet – 2,615 2. Porsche – 2,460 3. BMW – 1,052 4. Ferrari – 330
CORVETTE RACING AT LONG BEACH: By the Numbers • 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 13 appearances at Long Beach: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette. • 2: Generations of Corvette Racing entries at Long Beach since 2007 –Corvette C6.R (2007-13) and Corvette C7.R (2014-2019). That number increases to three this year with the first Long Beach appearance for the mid-engine Corvette C8.R • 3: Number of Long Beach race victories for Corvette Racing teammates Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor. • 6: Number of drivers who have competed at Long Beach for Corvette Racing – Olivier Beretta, Antonio Garcia, Gavin, Jan Magnussen, Johnny O’Connell and Tommy Milner. That number will grow to eight this week with the additions of Jordan Taylor and Nick Tandy • 7: Number of Long Beach victories in 12 appearances for Corvette Racing – more than any other IMSA entrant at the circuit. • 9: Number of Long Beach sports car victories for Chevrolet. Throw in 11 IndyCar wins, and Chevrolet has claimed 20 victories in the event’s two premier races. • 13: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001. • 18: Number of street circuit victories for Corvette Racing – more than any other IMSA entrant at the circuit. • 25: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen. • 27: Number of GT Le Mans wins in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Corvette Racing since the start of 2014. • 118: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 110 in North America and eight at Le Mans. • 247: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999. • 3,650.62: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 12 previous trips to Long Beach. That represents 1,855 laps around the 1.968-mile street circuit. • 330,966.34: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history – covered “just” 248,655 miles when it went it orbited the moon. Simply put, the program has raced to the moon… and then some.
Corvette Racing at Long Beach (wins in bold) 2007 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT1 (Magnussen fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Gavin pole)
2008 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1 (Magnussen pole) No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Gavin fastest race lap)
2009 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT1 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Beretta pole, fastest race lap)
2010 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GT2 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 9th in GT2 (Gavin fastest race lap)
2011 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner – 5th in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT (Magnussen fastest race lap)
2012 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GT (Gavin fastest race lap)
2013 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 5th in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GT (Gavin fastest race lap)
2014 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTLM (Magnussen pole) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 3rd in GTLM (Milner fastest race lap)
2015 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 7th in GTLM
2016 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 9th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 2nd in GTLM
2017 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 5th in GTLM (Magnussen pole) No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GTLM
2018 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GTLM
2019 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 3rd in GTLM
Milner, Tandy team for hard-fought GTLM win; Taylor, Garcia take second in No. 3 C8.R
CORVETTE RACING AT LAGUNA SECA: Long-Awaited Victory for No. 4 Corvette Milner, Tandy team for hard-fought GTLM win; Taylor, Garcia take second in No. 3 C8.R
MONTEREY, Calif. (Sept. 12, 2021) – Corvette Racing’s Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy took a hard-earned victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) category Sunday with their second win of the season in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.
The duo scored a one-lap victory – their first full-points win of the year – at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for Corvette Racing’s first triumph there since 2014. It came as the program marked 23 consecutive years of racing on the Monterey Peninsula.
GTLM Drivers Championship leaders Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor placed second in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette as the pair of mid-engine C8.Rs combined to lead every lap Sunday.
Milner and Tandy won a non-points race earlier this year at Detroit, and the No. 4 Corvette also won a 100-minute qualifying race ahead of the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January. Sunday was a break-through for the pairing in scoring maximum race points.
Milner started second in class and drove the first 58 minutes of the two-hour, 40-minute race before handing over to Tandy, who drove a double-stint to the end. He finished a lap clear of the sister Corvette as each car in the category made two stops due to a two-hour, 26-minute, green-flag run to the finish.
Taylor led for the entirety of his stint to open things in the No. 3 Corvette, which was the first of the C8.Rs to stop at the 51-minute mark. He handed off to Garcia, equipped with a full tank of fuel and fresh Michelin tires. Milner followed suit a couple of laps later, and Tandy set off in hot pursuit of the No. 3 C8.R.
He and Garcia engaged in a spirited battle with the two exchanging fastest GTLM race laps multiple times. Tandy, who set a GTLM track record at 1:21.827 (98.461 mph), got alongside his teammate at one point and inherited the lead for good when Garcia made his final stop with 49 minutes left.
The No. 4 Corvette came in a lap later and came out just ahead of Garcia, despite a trip through the gravel along Laguna Seca’s winding pitlane exit. Undeterred, Tandy slowly but steadily built a gap over Garcia to the end of the race.
Corvette Racing returns to action at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, Sept. 25.
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTLM RACE WINNER: "For us on the 4 car side, it feels like we have a monkey off our back a little bit with getting a full race win. We've had really fast Corvettes all year long, even last year with Olly (Gavin). For one reason or another, we couldn't put it together – problems here and there, driver mistakes, problems on the pit stops, whatever it was. We'd have fast race cars but one little thing would trip us up. When you're racing against guys like our teammates Jordan and Antonio... those guys are obviously on their game. Credit to those guys. They've done a phenomenal job for the last year-and-a-half and perfect pretty much all the time. It feels great today to get that win. We had a little issue with the car that felt like déjà vu as usual with something going wrong. Fortunately it didn't put an end to our race and we were able to finish it out on top."
WHAT WAS THE ISSUE WITH THE CAR? DID YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAD THE MEASURE OVER THE 3 CORVETTE? "It looked good at the start. The car felt really good, the balance was great and pace was good. We had talked about splitting strategies between the two cars. Whoever was out front would do a three-stop and whoever was next would do a two-stop. I was just saving tires and fuel as best I could and wait for the opportunity for the 3 car to pit, then use everything left in fuel and tires before we stopped and hopefully have an advantage. The yellow kind of put an end to multiple strategies there. Still, saving tires helped me quite a bit in the first stint. Because the car was as good as it was, we were able to save tires... we weren't driving it absolutely for every last little bit possible and killing the tires. This track is so tough on tires that you have to be nice to them to have good ones at the end.
“The problem we had, maybe I'm making a bigger deal out of it than it actually was because in the end it didn't affect our race. It was an alternator issue. It was still functioning but it wasn't functioning as well as it should. There was some concern for a little bit and it was a little hot in there for a little while. But in the end, everything was OK and the team was happy with the state it was in. When you hear that radio transmission, your first thought - especially for us - was here we go again. That wasn't the case today.
“The Corvette was fantastic. The balance lately has been good. Here again today it was really good. It was great to finally show a result for all the hard work that all the crew guys have put in for so long. They deserve a lot of credit. They're here first at the track and leave last. Those guys want to win just as much as we do. It's frustrating for them to have little issues and not get a result. So I'm happy for Nick and myself, but most of all I'm happy for the crew guys on the 4 Corvette who have soldiered through quite a bit over the last year or two with these new cars and getting the result they deserve."
NICK TANDY, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTLM RACE WINNER: "I'll echo a lot of what Tommy said. My first year with Corvette Racing has been such a kind of mixed set of emotions. The car is great. It's great working with this team in a superb atmosphere with guys that know exactly what they are doing. We were just kind of missing that final result. We had the win at Detroit, which I'll always count as a bona-fide win, but we haven't had a points-paying win. It was getting a little bit long in the tooth. Going to all these races, running well and up front, we just weren't winning races... it was similar the last time out at Le Mans. It's great to get that slate wiped and know that we still have three more races this year. We've got momentum. The car was fantastic all weekend. It gives me hope and looks good for the rest of the season. It's been such an emotional roller-coaster. A lot of the time, you think you put the work in and you just see the result just in front of you but it just doesn't get there. To finally get there and stand on the top step with my buddy, it feels good. We want to do it three more this year."
THE LAST PIT STOP: "When you're racing guys like Jordan and Antonio in the 3 Corvette, you've got to be on your game and you can't afford to give away any time. The problem is that the previous stint I exited the pit and braked way too early (before returning to the track) and thought I'd given up too much time. Knowing it was going to be close on where we were going to come out on the last stop, I braked a little later - not by much! - but she didn't want to stop. The front wheel locked and took a little trip across the gravel. I managed to get back into the pit exit before blending on the track. There was no real harm done. We gave up a little bit of time but we still managed to stay in front."
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTLM: "It was good for a 1-2 finish for Corvette and that we could cover the Porsche on any possible strategy. Having such a clean race with just one yellow made things a tiny bit easier. Today it went our way. Another Corvette 1-2 even if it was another super-tight battle with our teammates. Those are always fun to have. As I've said many times, there is no worse adversary than your teammates because they have the same tools. Whatever advantage you have they have it too, and whatever weakness you have they have the same. This time the win went to Tommy and Nick. They were just a tiny bit better than us, but I'm happy we showed well and had a nice, clean race between the two Corvettes. I gave everything I had, for sure. I didn't have anything else."
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTLM: “It’s a little disappointing not to get the win. At the same time it was a good day for Corvette Racing with another 1-2 finish. It was nice for the 4 car guys to get the monkey off their backs. We had a good Corvette. From the pole, leading most of the race and with the pit stop cycle and strategy, we just missed it a little bit. In these races, you can’t make any little mistakes. Once the yellow came out at the beginning, it kind of put everyone on a three-stop strategy. There were some options for a three-stop but you needed it to be green the whole race for that to work. Once the yellow came out at the beginning, everyone was locked in to the same strategy. But it wasn’t a bad day for the championship, so we can look forward to Long Beach and focus on that one.”
Press Release: All-Corvette front row in GTLM after tight battle with Milner, No. 4 C8.R
CORVETTE RACING AT LAGUNA SECA: Taylor, No. 3 Corvette Take GTLM Pole All-Corvette front row in GTLM after tight battle with Milner, No. 4 C8.R
MONTEREY, Calif. (Sept. 11, 2021) – Corvette Racing’s Jordan Taylor won his second straight GT Le Mans (GTLM) pole position at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Saturday, setting a track record in the process.
Taylor, driving the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R with Antonio Garcia, set a lap of 1:21.151 (99.281 mph) ahead of Sunday’s Hyundai Sports Car Championship to best his qualifying mark from 2020 by 0.332 seconds.
Tommy Milner made it a 1-2 for Corvette Racing and just missed claiming pole position for he and Nick Tandy in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R. Milner’s best lap was a 1:21.267 (99.139 mph) and also below last year’s pole time as well.
Taylor and Garcia lead the GTLM Drivers Championship as they seek to repeat their title win from 2020. The pairing have won four times this year including the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona to start the year.
Milner and Tandy are second in GTLM points, and they were quickest in the two practice sessions leading up to qualifying. Both Taylor and Milner stressed the importance of race setup to help conserve their Michelin tires over the course of a full stint instead of going for single-lap pace.
This is Corvette Racing’s 23rd consecutive start at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The program has won seven times in Monterey but is seeking its first victory there since 2014.
Corvette Racing will contest the Hyundai Monterey SportsCar Championship at 4:10 p.m. ET on Sunday. Live television coverage from NBCSN will start at 4 p.m. ET with live streaming coverage on TrackPass and NBC Sports Gold. Live audio coverage from IMSA Radio will be available on IMSA.com, Sirius 219, XM 202 and SiriusXM Online 992.
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTLM POLE-WINNER: "It was good. We were a little bit behind the 4 car all weekend. They seemed to be a little bit stronger throughout practice. We made some big changes in Practice 2 and even into qualifying to separate the two setups (for qualifying and the race). We found some things for pure laptime but I don't think they're going to work for a race setup. It's nice to get the pole and get those points. We have an idea of what we need to do for the race from a setup point of view. So it's nice to start out front but at the same time, I think tomorrow is going to be a different picture."
KEYS TO WINNING THE RACE: "Last year was our first year here with this new Corvette. Having that under our belt and understanding more about tire degradation, what tire compound to be on and the strategy of when to pit when we're catching GTD cars (are important). Every year we are learning new lessons. We learned a lot last year and already have learned a lot through yesterday and today. We're in good shape but at the same time, you never know what's going to happen in these races with yellows and the different strategies. We'll have to stay on top of our game."
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED SECOND IN GTLM: "All things considered, the cars are good. We were fastest in the two sessions that don't count and on the one does kind of count, we were a little bit off. It was a good lap from Jordan. I was happy with our car, though. I didn't put it all together but I think we have a good Corvette for the race. This track is super-tricky with tires and strategy. You can get cars stuck in the gravel pretty easy, so cautions play a big role in the outcome of the race, as well. We need to be on top of our game and do whatever we can early on in the first part of the race to build as big a gap as we can to hold off the Porsche." HAPPY WITH RACE SETUP? "You definitely have to manage the tires at this track. The surface is pretty low-grip but it's also pretty high-wear, too. It makes our job pretty difficult but it's the same for everyone. We saw in the GTD class that some of those guys did only one lap for their qualifying and parked it. (In GTLM), we don't have to start on our qualifying tires, so we were able to push for the whole session. We definitely have an eye toward making the car and tires maybe not fastest over one lap but fastest over one stint."
2021 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTLM (After Six of 10 Events) Driver Standings 1. Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2,207 2. Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 1,993 3. Cooper MacNeil – 1,984 4. Matt Campbell – 1,372 5. Augusto Farfus/Jesse Krohn/John Edwards – 1001
Team Standings 1. No. 3 Corvette Racing – 2,207 2. No. 4 Corvette Racing – 1,993 3. No. 79 WeatherTech Racing – 1,984 4. No. 24 BMW Team RLL – 1,001 5. No. 25 BMW Team RLL – 966
Manufacturer Standings 1. Chevrolet – 2,230 2. Porsche – 2,108 3. BMW – 1,052 4. Ferrari – 330
Press Release: Twenty-third consecutive appearance in Monterey for Corvette Racing
CORVETTE RACING AT LAGUNA SECA: California Dreaming
· Twenty-third consecutive appearance in Monterey for Corvette Racing · Team’s first race in IMSA since runner-up finish at 24 Hours of Le Mans · Track saw program clinch GT Le Mans Drivers, Team titles in 2020 · GTLM points leaders Garcia, Taylor part of12:30p ET Zoom today
DETROIT(Sept. 7, 2021) – After a strong showing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Corvette Racing is back in the U.S. and returns to its quest of a second straight GT Le Mans (GTLM) title as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship starts its West Coast swing this weekend.
Picturesque WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif., is the site of the Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship and the second race at the circuit for the mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. Sunday’s race is the seventh of 10 points-paying events for Corvette Racing, which is coming off second- and sixth-place finishes in the GTE Pro class at Le Mans.
Laguna Seca has been a fixture on Corvette Racing’s calendar since the program’s first year of competition. It’s one of two tracks at which the team will have competed in each of its 23 years to date. The other is Sebring, and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta will be the third with the season-ending Petit Le Mans.
The Corvette C8.R raced at Laguna Seca during its 2020 debut season with Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor finishing second. The result was enough to clinch the GTLM Drivers championship and the Team title for the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R. Chevrolet went on to claim the Manufacturers title.
Garcia and Taylor return to Monterey again leading the GTLM points standings on the back of four wins including the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona. No. 3 Corvette Media Zoom
They also were second at Le Mans in the first race there for the C8.R. Garcia has three wins at Laguna Seca and Taylor two.
Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy, teaming in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette, look to close the gap on their teammates in the GTLM standings. They teamed for a victory at Detroit and the Rolex 24 qualifying race, and added runner-up finishes at Daytona, the Watkins Glen sprint round and Lime Rock Park.
Milner, a past Laguna Seca winner, has set the fastest GTLM race lap the last two years in Monterey while Tandy was third in GTLM a year ago.
Corvette Racing will contest the Hyundai Monterey SportsCar Championship on Sept. 10-12 from WeatherTech Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. Live television coverage will air at 4 p.m. ET on Sept. 10 with live streaming coverage on TrackPass and NBC Sports Gold. Live audio coverage from IMSA Radio will be available on IMSA.com, Sirius 219, XM 202 and SiriusXM Online 992.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:"As we have seen everywhere we've gone, the C8.R has been an upgrade in every single aspect compared to C7. I could feel that also at Laguna Seca last year. I felt like we were more competitive there than over past years. This year will be different again because we have a year's worth of development. I'm looking forward to getting back there. I like the area, I like the track and everything about the event. Maybe we can give the C8.R its first victory there."
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:“Laguna Seca is such a unique track and is always a tricky one to get right. The surface is very slippery which usually leads to pretty high tire degradation throughout the race. Last year was obviously great. Going there and clinching the championship. This year we have the same goal, going there to execute as well as we can all weekend. We’re in a good spot in the championship, but we’re going there to win the race.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:"Laguna Seca is definitely one of the most challenging tracks we go to. It's not just about its layout but also the track surface and weather conditions. It's a place that seems like all the tire data that we learn all throughout the year doesn't apply for whatever reason. It's a tricky one for sure for that reason with very low grip and traffic. I feel like we are always used to high-grip surfaces and then going there, it's quite a bit different with high degradation. Having been there already once with the C8.R, we'll have some knowledge and data to go off of."
NICK TANDY, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:“I’m very keen for a victory at Laguna Seca. For one, Tommy and I have been so close to winning races. We just need one or two things to go our way on the No. 4 Corvette side. Second, Laguna Seca is one of the few tracks in IMSA where I haven’t won a race. It would be nice to check off both those boxes and end the season strong. It’s never easy at this track and will require a lot of work and study to get us in optimum shape going into the race. If we can keep controlling the things we can at Laguna Seca then I think we will have an excellent weekend.”
2021 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTLM(After Six of 10 Events) Driver Standings 1. Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2,207 2. Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 1,993 3. Cooper MacNeil – 1,984 4. Matt Campbell – 1,372 5. Augusto Farfus/Jesse Krohn/John Edwards – 1001
Team Standings 1. No. 3 Corvette Racing – 2,207 2. No. 4 Corvette Racing – 1,993 3. No. 79 WeatherTech Racing – 1,984 4. No. 24 BMW Team RLL – 1,001 5. No. 25 BMW Team RLL – 966 Manufacturer Standings 1. Chevrolet – 2,230 2. Porsche – 2,108 3. BMW – 1,052 4. Ferrari – 330
CORVETTE RACING AT LAGUNA SECA: By the Numbers • 1:As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 23 years at Laguna Seca: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette. • 3:Tracks where Corvette Racing has competed in each of its 22 previous years: Sebring, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. • 4:Generations of Corvette Racing entries since 1999 – Corvette C5-R (2000-04), Corvette C6.R (2005-13), Corvette C7.R (2014-2019) and Corvette C8.R (2020). • 7:Number of Laguna Seca victories for Corvette Racing dating back to 2004. • 10:Laguna Seca victories for the current Corvette Racing for the current driving lineup – Oliver Gavin (four), Antonio Garcia (three) and Tommy Milner (two) and Jordan Taylor (one). • 11:Victories at Laguna Seca for Chevrolet in IMSA competition. • 12:Drivers who have competed for Corvette Racing at Laguna Seca. Of those, seven went on to win at Monterey. • 13:Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001. • 25:Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen. • 26:Number of GT Le Mans wins in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Corvette Racing since the start of 2014. • 117:Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 109 in North America and eight at Le Mans. • 246:Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999. • 12,795.65:Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 21 previous trips to Laguna Seca. That represents 5,800 laps… or more than 750 trips around Carmel’s famous 17-Mile Drive. • 330,467.26:Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history – covered “just” 248,655 miles. Simply put, the program has raced to the moon and back… and then some.
Corvette Racing at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca(wins in bold) 1999 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel – 2nd in GTS
2000 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Andy Pilgrim – 2nd in GTS (Fellows pole) No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Justin Bell/Kelly Collins – 4th in GTS
2001 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GTS No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins – 3rd in GTS
2002 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 5th in GTS No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins – 3rd in GTS
2003 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GTS No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Oliver Gavin/Kelly Collins – 3rd in GTS
2004 No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 1st in GTS (O’Connell fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GTS (Beretta pole)
2005 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT1 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Gavin fastest race lap)
2006 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 3rd in GT1 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GT1 (Beretta fastest race lap)
2007 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT1 (Magnussen pole, fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1
2008 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT1 (Magnussen pole, fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1
2009 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT2 (Magnussen pole, fastest race lap) No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 10th in GT2
2010 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 6th in GT2 No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 3rd in GT2
2011 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner – 7th in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 5th in GT
2012 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GT (Gavin fastest race lap)
2013 No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GT No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 9th in GT
2014 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM
2015 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 7th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GTLM
2016 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 7th in GTLM
2017 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 8th in GTLM
2018 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM (Gavin pole)
2019 No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GTLM No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GTLM (Milner fastest race lap) 2020 No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GTLM (Taylor pole) No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GTLM (Milner fastest race lap)
Press Release: CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Runner-Up in C8.R Le Mans Debut Garcia, Taylor, Catsburg second in GTE Pro; No. 64 Corvette endures hard-luck race
LE MANS, France (Aug. 22, 2021) – The mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.R finished on the class podium in its 24 Hours of Le Mans debut Sunday with the trio of Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg placing second in the No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R.
The debut of the mid-engine racing Corvette came a year later than originally planned due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. But the wait proved worth it with Corvette Racing showing its usual competitive spirit during its 21st race at Le Mans since 2000.
"Today's second-place result in GTE Pro for the No. 63 Corvette C8.R and drivers Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg is a significant achievement as we debuted the mid-engine Corvette C8.R at Le Mans,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S Vice President, Performance and Motorsports. “To be on the podium at Le Mans with the C8.R is very gratifying. It's a testament to the hard work and determination of our Corvette production and racing teams.
"The support of Corvette owners and fans from around the world has been incredible,” Campbell added. “This race result is dedicated to our customers and supporters.”
While the No. 63 Corvette ran in contention for the entire race, the No. 64 C8.R of Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy and Alexander Sims seemingly ran into nothing but bad luck. It began on the roll-off from the grid when Milner was hit from behind by the eventual class-winning Ferrari at the beginning of the formation lap.
The contact broke part of the diffuser, but the No. 64 Corvette ran well early and even led in a wet start with Milner going to the fore. He and Tandy cycled through and kept the No. 64 C8.R in contention before the diffuser finally broke in the fifth hour shortly after Sims’ first stint.
It was the first of three visits to the garage for the No. 64 team, which also had to repair part of the gearbox, clutch and the alternator. Milner, Tandy and Sims – who set a GTE Pro record race lap of 3:47.501 – finished sixth in class.
On the No. 63 Corvette side of the garage, all three drivers drove double stints to open the race. Each of the trio led for a time as well as the race began to evolve into primarily a battle between Corvette and Ferrari, although five cars remained on the lead lap in GTE Pro at the halfway point.
Things began evolve into a two-car race into the final six hours between the No. 63 C8.R and No. 51 Ferrari. The Corvette team kept it close and was able to triple-stint its Michelin tires in the late going but couldn’t make up the necessary ground.
The No. 63 Corvette did, however, complete the entire 24 hours without a change of brakes.
Corvette Racing returns to action in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Sept. 10-12 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTE PRO: "I don't know if I prefer to be two seconds, 10 seconds, 40 seconds or three laps back. I think it hurts the same! We've been in that 30-second range between the two cars pretty much for 24 hours. I must say it does hurt a little bit. When you come so close, it's difficult. But when you do your best, you run almost a perfect race and someone else does it a little better than you, you have to congratulate them. There is nothing we could do. I think we ran a perfect race regardless of our position. We finished second but very close for sure. They just did it 40 seconds better than us. I'm very happy for the team, the 63 crew, Jordan and Nicky - all six drivers had really, really good drives and helped develop this Corvette and for sure all the engineers. So even if the 64 had so much trouble, getting up to this point we have all been working together to get the most out of the C8.R. For sure, two of our cars up front would have put even more pressure on the 51. We were both alone so it was a one-on-one fight between Corvette and Ferrari. We were close. When you are up on the podium, you always want a tiny bit more. I would have liked to have given Corvette the first Le Mans win in the C8.R. Now we need to wait until next year and work harder."
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTE PRO: "That's my fourth podium here. It's hard to complain with a podium at Le Mans. But when you come this close, it's difficult to take. The Corvette Racing guys did an amazing job. We didn't have any issues with our car. We executed really well strategy-wise and in the pitlane and on the track, there were no mistakes. For our first run at Le Mans with the C8.R, we should be pretty proud of that to come home second against some cars that have run here the past few years. We learned a lot as a team and can come back stronger next year."
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTE PRO: "It's super nice. This is my third time at Le Mans, and the first two times we finished nowhere. To be in the fight right to the last lap was very cool. It went well. The C8.R was very good. I had some good stints and nothing really bad happened. I will go home with some positive feelings. P2 kind of feels like a loss, but on the way home I'll be like, 'We finished P2 at Le Mans. That's not bad!' We had a cool fight with the Ferrari, and I think we did well."
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SIXTH IN GTE PRO: "It was a very frustrating race for us. It wasn't taken away from us right at the start, but a pretty good indication looking at the damage from the contact before the race started with the Ferrari that it was going to be a big problem for us. It ended up being such that we had more problems after that. It's hard to say if that initial damage caused some of the other problems we had. It's very unfortunate and unlucky... unnecessary but in the end we turned it into a test session in a lot of ways. We tried to go as fast we could to learn as much as we could about the C8.R and find anything that in future may or may not be a problem. Our focus turned from going for a race win to helping the 63 guys do whatever it took to get them the win. Unfortunately that didn't materialize; I think the Ferrari had just a little bit too much pace compared to everyone else. From our side, it's disappointing but for the team, second place is a good result. It's not the result we were all looking for but we can be happy about our performance today."
NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SIXTH IN GTE PRO: "Endurance racing is not an easy game. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. This time on our side of the garage, we didn't have the smoothest of runs. But I really enjoyed the week. I've enjoyed being with Tommy and Alex being in the car again. I'm proud of how we managed to get the speed out of the car. Honestly, it's probably the nicest racecar I've had to drive around this circuit - to be consistently fast and confidence-inspiring... I'm really proud of everyone who worked to give us a car with that performance. The reliability didn't go our way this time, but we can be proud that we have one car on the podium. It's a great experience with the new C8.R and hopefully we will come back fighting stronger next year."
ALEXANDER SIMS NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SIXTH IN GTE PRO: "Everybody comes here to win, knowing that even if you have a super-fast car, there are so many opportunities for things not to go perfectly - reliability, drivers making mistakes, slow zones and safety cars. There are so many factors, and this time we had a couple of those go against us. Nevertheless, to get my first finish at Le Mans was good. I got a lot of great experience with the C8.R . It was brilliant to drive through the entire race. It's a shame not using that pace to fight for the podium positions. I'm proud of the whole team. The effort they put in was remarkable. They got the changes made in the pits very, very quickly for such big fundamental changes that needed to be done. Well done to the 63 car for getting the podium. On to the next one."
Press Release: No. 63 Corvette C8.R remains in the GTE Pro hunt on Le Mans debut
CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Halfway Report No. 63 Corvette C8.R remains in the GTE Pro hunt on Le Mans debut
LE MANS, France (Aug. 22, 2021) – Corvette Racing remained firmly entrenched among the GTE Pro class leaders as the 24 Hours of Le Mans reached and passed the halfway point early Sunday morning.
The No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg ran third in class as the race entered the final 12 hours. Taylor completed his second double-stint of the event just prior to halfway, handing over to Catsburg, who was next in the rotation.
All three drivers in the No. 63 C8.R drove double stints to open this year’s Le Mans – the first for the mid-engine Corvette. Each driver led for a time as well as the race began to evolve into primarily a battle between Corvette and Ferrari, although five cars remained on the lead lap in GTE Pro.
Unfortunately, the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM C8.R wasn’t one of them. The entry of Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy and Alexander Sims was three laps down and in sixth place at the 12-hour mark.
Milner was the early GTE Pro leader despite being hit from behind as the cars rolled off the starting grid for the formation lap. Nevertheless, Milner charged to the head of the category as moderate to heavy rain fell across the circuit. The No. 64 Corvette fell back in the order due to a pitlane refueling penalty and lost additional time when it was separated from the GTE lead pack by one of the three safety cars in the opening three hours.
The biggest blow, however, came in the fifth hour when the Corvette crew had to change the damaged diffuser, which had created a severe vibration for Sims during his second stint. That trip to the garage cost the No. 64 team two-plus laps to the leaders.
Corvette Racing’s next update will come at the 18-hour mark.
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: "We're at the halfway point now and constantly in the top-three depending on the pit rotation, driver rotation and tire strategy. There's a long way to go and a lot has already happened. We're still trying to take care when we can and be careful. Teams are starting to line up their driver rotations and tire strategies for the end. So far, so good. Improvements to come: "The car felt good in the day yesterday when the track temp was a little higher. Obviously in the night the track temp dropped a bit, and I feel like we struggled a little bit more with pace especially with slow zones. Once the sun comes back up, I think we'll be in a little bit better shape on pace."
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Unfortunately it started raining in my first double stint, right when the sun was setting. It was very difficult to see where the grip was with a lot of cars going off left, right and center. I think in many ways I took it a little bit too easy, but we’re still in the game and we didn’t make any mistakes. It seems the car is quite decent and we have some pace. So hopefully we can stay in the pack with the leaders and see here we are come Sunday morning.”
NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: "This is Le Mans, unfortunately. We've taken a setback and are a few laps behind now. The race is still long. The things that have happened to us can happen to anyone, so we have to stay positive. What happened before the start of the race is out of our control, of course, but damaged the car. A mistake from another driver has cost us a lot of time for our entry. We're very disappointed that this can happen at all. The thing that makes it more disappointing is that the C8.R, even with the damage, was running so well. Fingers crossed that we can work our way back into it, but it's going to be a long night."
ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: "It was quite a long time in the car. But the beauty the C8.R is that is actually really comfortable and really cool to drive in terms of temperature. It wasn't stressful from my point of view in terms of the duration. It was good. Obviously to have the floor finally fail - I don't know the exact analysis, but I'd have to guess it's to do with the contact the very start - was a real shame. Aside from that we could be in a really good position. That's the way it goes in these 24-hour races. We'll stick it out and see what we can get out of it. Stranger things have happened but at the moment it's a shame."
Press Release: Final on-track practice sessions ahead of Saturday-Sunday endurance classic
CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Tandy, No. 64 C8.R Third in Hyperpole Final on-track practice sessions ahead of Saturday-Sunday endurance classic
LE MANS, France (Aug. 19, 2021) – Nick Tandy set the third-fastest time in Hyperpole qualifying Thursday to put Corvette Racing’s No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R on the second row of the GTE Pro grid for this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Tandy, who drives with Tommy Milner and Alexander Sims, posted a best lap of 3:47.093 (134.216 mph) in the 30-minute session. The day before in the first round of qualifying, Tandy turned a 3:47.074 (134.217 mph) – the fastest lap for any Corvette Racing entry in its 21 years at Le Mans.
Thursday also featured the final two official practice sessions for the full field of 61 cars – including eight in GTE Pro. The two Corvettes continued to focus on race pace with a number of adjustments and changes to many of the C8.R’s systems including suspension and aerodynamics.
Antonio Garcia set the best combined practice time for the No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R – a 3:49.603 (132.725 mph) effort in the fourth and final practice session of the week. He will team with Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg as the No. 63 C8.R starts eighth Saturday.
A 15-minute warmup is set for 11:30 a.m. CET/5:30 a.m. ET. The green flag for the 24 Hours of Le Mans falls at 4 p.m. CET and 10 a.m. ET. MotorTrend TV will air the race live with the MotorTrend App adding coverage of official practices and qualifying on Aug. 18 and 19. Live audio coverage will be available from Radio Le Mans starting with Sunday’s Test Day.
NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – THIRD IN GTE PRO QUALIFYING: “At the start of the week, I absolutely would have taken a P3 start at Le Mans in the first race here for this car. We are getting experience every time we run the C8.R on this circuit in this aero kit when we don’t normally run on low fuel in qualifying trim. So to get that peak performance out of the car is amazing. It’s such a good job of how we’ve developed, since the qualifying session in Hyperpole, the car and made it better. Of course, we are driving for Corvette Racing and expect to follow tradition and be strong at Le Mans. That’s why come here and why we go racing. So we are pleased but we don’t underestimate our competition. There are a lot of strong cars here with strong teams. All we can do is look after ourselves, and at the moment I’m very happy with how the week is progressing.” IS THERE ONE AREA WHERE YOU’VE BEEN MOST PLEASED WITH HOW THE CORVETTE HAS PROGRESSED SINCE SUNDAY? “I think honestly it’s how good the car has been since we rolled it out of the container. It validates all the development that went into the program before we got here. But it’s also how the car reacts to the setup changes that we are making to it. That means you can tune it to track conditions and however the circuit is. This is always a good thing and shows that the car is in a good working window.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “For Nick, that was a really good run in both the qualifying session and Hyperpole. I think he got everything out of the car he could. It was certainly fun to watch. Lap times are mega-quick and it’s cool to see for that. Nick seemed super happy with the C8.R. Balance-wise, everything looks pretty good. For me, the best indication was the last practice session before Hyperpole. Car balance has been relatively pretty good almost the entire week of practice here. We definitely made some changes from the Test Day, and we could see the benefits of that in the first practice. Overall for us in the 64 Corvette, we’re all pretty happy. We’ve spent a lot of time tweaking and trying things to improve in some areas where we still need to improve. I think we’re in a pretty good spot. We really won’t know where we’re at probably until the first hour of the race Saturday.”
THE DAYS AND HOURS PREPARING FOR LE MANS: “For me personally, I’ve probably spent 20 days at the simulator, something like that. That doesn’t touch the hours and hours spent by the engineers working on aero kits for this thing for the last four or five years. It’s gotten us to where we are now to fine-tuning little bits and pieces here and there. Twenty days doesn’t sound like a lot considering this has been a four- or five-year project. Starting third for the race Saturday is a great place. It’s a lot of validation from a lot of hard work by a lot of people for a long time that we have brought a really, really good Corvette C8.R to Le Mans.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Today was eventful. I think our whole week has been eventful. It was good to get more laps on the car obviously. As I said yesterday, it’s still our first weekend here with the C8.R, so every lap counts for each of us - the drivers as well as the engineers and the crew - working on slow zones, pitstops and all the little details that we don’t get to work on in America. Today we did a big setup swing; we have a lot more confidence now going into the race. We know what we want to do with the car, whereas yesterday we had a lot of big questions. I’m glad we got through today as well as we did. Now we can prepare for the big one.”
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Today was not bad at all. It seems we improved the balance a little bit. We were trying to figure out whether we can double-stint the tires, yes or no. It feels good. Compared to yesterday, today was definitely better. I think we made good steps tonight, so I’m positive.”
All Posts (cor123)
Transfer
