DETROIT (March 12, 2018) – It may not have been the first track on which Corvette Racing competed, but there is no doubting the impact the team has made on Sebring International Raceway – and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Advance Auto Parts – during the past 19 years.
It’s fitting that as Corvette Racing continues with its 20th season of competition that we look at a venue that has been synonymous with the team’s success since the last 1990s. No track in America has seen Corvette Racing pile up the mileage and honors than Sebring. Here are a few to digest ahead of America’s oldest sports car race.
• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 20 years: Corvette Racing and Chevrolet.
• 3: Consecutive wins for Corvette Racing heading into the 2018 Sebring race. Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen/Ryan Briscoe won in 2015, Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler in 2016, and Garcia/Magnussen/Mike Rockenfeller in 2017.
• 3: Tracks where Corvette Racing has competed in each of its previous 19 years: Sebring, Laguna Seca and 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.
• 8: As in Chevrolet’s small-block V8. More than 100 million units have been sold worldwide and is the most successful engine in American motorsports.
• 11: Number of Sebring victories for Corvette Racing. It’s tied with Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for the most at any venue in team history.
• 12: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001
• 15: Number of GTLM wins for Corvette Racing since the start of 2014. That is the most of any manufacturer and team in the category.
• 19: Starts at Sebring for defending GTLM race and Driver Champion Jan Magnussen. He will tie Johnny O’Connell’s record for consecutive Sebring starts in 2018.
• 21: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, 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 and Utah.
• 24: Corvette Racing drivers at the Sebring 12 Hours through the years: – Justin Bell, Olivier Beretta, Ryan Briscoe, Emmanuel Collard, Kelly Collins, Marcel Fässler, Ron Fellows, Franck Freon, Antonio Garcia, Oliver Gavin, John Heinricy, Chris Kniefel, Robin Liddell, Jan Magnussen, Tommy Milner, Simon Pagenaud, Max Papis, John Paul Jr., Andy Pilgrim, Mike Rockenfeller, Scott Sharp, Jordan Taylor and Richard Westbrook.
• 106: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 98 in North America and eight at Le Mans
• 199: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999.
• 40,286: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing during the 12 Hours of Sebring. That’s close to two full trips around the Earth at its equator (approx. 24,900 miles).
• 271,560.90: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. That is enough to launch a shuttle from Earth to the moon with more than 30,000 miles in excess.
First weekend sweep for Blackdog Camaro since 2014; Gaples takes third-place GTSA podium finish
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (March 11, 2018) – Blackdog Speed Shop’s Lawson Aschenbach put an exclamation point on the opening weekend of the Pirelli World Challenge season by finishing a sweep of both GTS rounds in his No. 1 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R on the streets of St. Petersburg.
The victory was the first weekend sweep for Blackdog Speed Shop since the 2014 Mid-Ohio weekend, and it marks Aschenbach’s 26th career World Challenge victory. Blackdog Speed Shop increased its record-setting tally of GTS entrant wins to 23.
The news was doubly good for the Blackdog effort with a third-place GTSA finish for Tony Gaples in the No. 11 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R. He finished 11th overall, one spot ahead of his starting position.
The race ended six minutes early when a heavy crash brought out the second full-course caution of the day with nine minutes left. With not enough time to get the accident cleared, race officials threw the red and checkered flags together a short time later.
It ended a weekend that saw Aschenbach flex his muscle in the Blackdog Camaro. He began from pole position – courtesy of the fastest lap in Saturday’s victory – and won the race to the first corner Sunday. With a lead that seldom grew to more than one second, the defending GTS Champion deftly handled the pressure from behind before and after the race’s first full-course caution at the 10-minute mark.
In the meantime, Gaples maintained his position after gaining a spot on the opening lap. As Aschenbach nailed the restart with 32 minutes left, Gaples steadily worked his way up to the bumper of the 10th-place No. 72 Mercedes. Just like Saturday, Gaples remained patient and sought an opportunity to crack the overall top-10, but the final yellow and eventual stoppage stymied those hopes.
At the front of the field, Aschenbach led wire-to-wire for his sixth career World Challenge victory at St. Petersburg and his first weekend sweep at his home track.
With the result, Aschenbach leads the GTS Driver Championship, as does Blackdog Speed Shop in the category’s Team standings. Gaples is provisionally tied for third in GTSA Driver points but is only two points from second place.
Blackdog Speed Shop’s next event is March 23-25 at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. It is the first GTS Sprint X event of the season. Andy Pilgrim will drive the No. 1 Camaro GT4.R with Aschenbach while Gaples reunites with former teammate and 2015 GTS Champion Michael Cooper.
LAWSON ASCHENBACH, NO. 1 BLACKDOG SPEED SHOP CHEVROLET CAMARO GT4.R: “It’s such a pleasure to race here at St. Petersburg, and I have a lot of fond memories of this place. Maybe we should have all our races here… I’d be fine with that! The fans are awesome for coming out. This is such a good event because the city embodies this event so much, and we’re happy to be a part of it.
“Thanks again to Chevrolet, Blackdog Speed Shop, Pratt Miller, Forgeline Wheels and all our partners for helping make this happen. Our Camaro GT4.R was on rails today. The start and restart were really important in staying out front. Fortunately there was a pretty good battle behind me between the Porsche and the Audi, so I had a little bit of breathing room sometimes. But they kept me honest there in the late going. I’m really happy to get a double this weekend for our team. Hopefully we can take this momentum to COTA.”
TONY GAPLES, NO. 11 BLACKDOG SPEED SHOP CHEVROLET CAMARO GT4.R: “Coming home with third and fourth from a street race with no damage is a good accomplishment. I’m pretty much satisfied with how the race weekend went for us with the No. 11 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevy Camaro GT4.R. Maybe I could have made up some overall positions in the order but it wasn’t worth putting a brand new car at risk on its first weekend. We’ll have better opportunities to gain points and positions in the championship in the next handful of events. Congratulations to the team and Lawson on sweeping the weekend. It’s hard to imagine a better start to our championship defense. On to Austin.”
Blackdog Speed Shop Facts and Figures – Pirelli World Challenge
•Winningest GTS program in PWC history – 23 victories
Two Team Championships (2013, 2017)
Four Driver Championships (2013-15, 2017)
Two Manufacturer Championships (2013, 2017)
Chevrolet Facts and Figures – Pirelli World Challenge
•Chevrolet Camaro second all-time in PWC victories by model (51).
•Chevrolet first all-time in PWC victories by brand (123)
•General Motors first all-time in PWC victories by manufacturer (188)
•Championship Totals
Chevrolet: Five Manufacturer Championships (1990-91, 1994, 2013, 2017)
Blackdog Speed Shop: Two Team Championships (2013, 2017)
Blackdog Speed Shop: Four Driver Championships (2013-15, 2017)
Darrell Wallace Jr. is Runner-Up to Give Chevrolet a 1-2 Finish
DAYTONA, Fla., (Feb. 18, 2018) – In its inaugural season, the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 opened with a win in the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series opener, the Daytona 500. Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 DOW Camaro ZL1, took the lead on the final lap en route to winning The Great American Race at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday.
“I never really thought about it until we took the lead about having a shot to win. I knew we were in a good spot if I could get a push down the backstretch. Heck, we went down the backstretch, had a run, went low, the No. 43 went low and I just had more momentum than he did and caught him. It turned him, but heck we won the Daytona 500 we are sitting here now,” said Dillon, following his second career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series victory.
Chevrolet has now won the Daytona 500 24 times, more than any other manufacturer.
“Winning the Daytona 500, the most iconic race of the year, is absolutely incredible,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “It is a goal every year. It is extra special to win it this year with Austin Dillon and Richard Childress and our new Camaro ZL1 race car. Chevy’s designers and engineers worked well with our race teams to prepare the Camaro ZL1 for this season. We are proud of our partnership with both of them as Austin wins his first Daytona 500 and Richard wins his third.”
Darrell Wallace Jr., driver of the No. 43 Click n’ Close Camaro ZL1, finished second in just his fifth career start.
“Wow. That makes you feel good. It definitely pulls on your heartstrings a little bit, just to know that you’re being watched by so many greats. They’re the ones you’re looking up to and they reach out to you and that’s really cool. So, I kind of feel like that little kid that looks up to me and I respond back to them. So, I kind of get that little girl feeling in me, or little boy feeling, or whatever it is. But it was just a great day and a great week for our Click n’ Close team. The new Chevy Camaro ZL1 is in Victory Lane and the RCR alliance is one-two, so it’s pretty good. It’s good to see the No. 3 back in Victory Lane here in Daytona with the No. 43 at the top of the board as well,” said Wallace.
Chris Buescher, No. 37 Kleenex Camaro ZL1 (fifth); Ryan Newman, No. 31 Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s Camaro ZL1, (eighth); and AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Kroger ClickList Camaro ZL1 (10th) also finished in the top 10 for Team Chevy.
A 12-car incident on lap 198 sent the race into overtime. Pole-sitter Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Camaro ZL1, was one of six Team Chevy drivers caught up in a 12-car incident on lap 198. Bowman, who led 13 laps to pace all Chevrolet drivers, finished 17th.
A number of key Team Chevy drivers were involved in earlier mishaps. A nine-car wreck on lap 59 ended the day of seven-time series champion and two-time Daytona 500 winner, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s for Pros Camaro ZL1, relegating him to a 38th place finish. That incident also collected Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1, and William Byron, No. 24 AXALTA Camaro ZL1. Larson finished 19th, three laps down, and Byron ended up 23rd, four laps off the pace.
Just past the midway point, a multi-car wreck took out Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1, who was running second at the time and had won the Can-Am Duel #2 on Thursday, Kasey Kahne, No. 95 Procore Camaro ZL1, and Danica Patrick, No. 7 GoDaddy Camaro ZL1, who was making her final start in NASCAR. Elliott, Kahne and Patrick finished 33rd, 34th and 35th, respectively.
Chevrolet swept all three races at Daytona International Speedway. Johnny Sauter, No. 21 Allegiant Airlines Silverado, led a race-high 39 laps en route to winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series NextEra Energy Resources 250 on Friday night, and Tyler Reddick, No. 9 BurgerFi Camaro SS, won the NASCAR Xfinity Series Powershares QQQ 300 on Saturday afternoon.
Next week the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500.
Article by Nancy Wager, Judy Kouba Dominick, Jessica Stroupe
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 11, 2018) – Alex Bowman put his No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the top starting spot for the upcoming Daytona 500, the season-opener for the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS), which will run Feb. 18 at Daytona International Speedway. With a fast lap of 46.002 seconds/195.644 mph around the 2.5-mile race track, Bowman claimed his second MENCS career pole and fourth straight Daytona 500 pole for Hendrick Motorsports.
Bowman’s feat is also the first ever pole win for the all-new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, the sixth consecutive Daytona 500 pole for the Bowtie Brand, the 25thpole in 60 years of competition in the Great American Race and the 695th pole overall for Team Chevy.
“It was a little nerve-wracking,” said Bowman after the qualifying session. “Our Nationwide Camaro ZL1 has been great since we unloaded. All the guys back at the chassis shop, body shop, and the Hendrick engine shop have been top-notch. They’ve all worked so hard. And we knew we were going for the pole; that’s what we’re here to do. And I thought we were at a little disadvantage letting the car cool down as long as we did since we went pretty early in the first round. I was a little nervous for that second round. But it took off well off pit road and I did everything I could do. It just means the world to have Nationwide support and to be able to put it on the pole.”
All of Bowman’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates were fast enough to advance to the second and final round. Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevy Camaro ZL1 was third fast in the order, Rookie of the Year contender, William Byron, was fifth quick in his No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, and Chase Elliott, who has won the Daytona 500 pole for the past two years, was 10th in his No. 9 Napa Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
In today’s two-round qualifying format, Bowman posted the fastest lap in the first round, and then edged out Denny Hamlin (Toyota) in the second round of 12 to claim the top starting spot. Only the top two positions were determined in today’s session.
The starting order for the rest of the 38 cars entered for the Daytona 500 will be determined by the outcome of the Can-Am Duel which will be held on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 7 pm ET and will be aired live on FS1, MRN, and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Article by Team Chevy: Nancy Wager | Judy Kouba Dominick | Jessica Stroupe
Third, fourth for Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs in GTLM at Rolex 24
• Garcia, Magnussen, Rockenfeller take third-place podium in No. 3 Corvette
• Gavin, Milner and Fässler right behind in No. 4 Corvette
• Team will turn to focus to Sebring 12 Hours
DETROIT (Jan. 28, 2018) – Corvette Racing turned in a mistake-free run with both its Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs to post third- and fourth-place class finishes in the Rolex 24 At Daytona to open the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The result was a positive effort as Corvette Racing begins its 20th season of competition.
Antonio Garcia, class pole-winner Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller placed third in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) category with their No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. It is the second Rolex 24 podium for the trio after they finished second two years ago, and it gives Garcia and Magnussen positive momentum as they seek to defend their GTLM Driver Championship from last year.
Chevrolet and the Corvette Racing team swept the GTLM Manufacturer, Driver and Team titles for the second straight year in 2017. Sunday’s results laid the groundwork for another strong challenge for the IMSA season.
In the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, the trio of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler placed fourth and had a similarly clean run throughout Saturday and Sunday. Either Corvette Racing entry likely would have claimed victory in any other season, given that neither Corvette went off-track or made a mistake. It’s a hallmark of the program, which has won 106 races around the world, 12 Manufacturer and Team championships, and 11 Driver titles during its years in IMSA.
The next event for Corvette Racing is the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida on March 15-17 at Sebring International Raceway.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED THIRD IN GTLM: “I think we can be happy. We again didn’t make any mistakes by the drivers, the pit stops were fine… we may have had an unscheduled stop for brakes. Other than that, everything worked perfect. We just didn’t have the pace. It was a little bit like what happened a lot last year. If this was Lime Rock, I’d be super happy with third. But here at Daytona or Le Mans, you only want to win. That’s part of our driver mentality… we want to win these races. But we can be proud. Our guys did a fantastic job. We showed all we had and gave it all. If the Fords were faster than us, we can’t do anything else but congratulate them. We just didn’t have enough to fight them, especially with the limited number of yellow flags.”
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED THIRD IN GTLM: “This year’s race was a lot difference than previous years because of the lack of safety car periods. Usually, you had to get the car right for the last three or four hours, and then in the last hour you had to nail it. This year, you had to push the whole way. By the end of it, we didn’t have enough, which is a shame because we ran a good race. We didn’t go throughout any issues but we didn’t hit anything and the car is in one piece. We ran out of brakes at the end because we were pushing the whole way through. So that’s something we’ll have to look into. It’s the most physical Rolex 24 I’ve ever done. I didn’t do one stint behind the safety car. I think I did 10 stints and every one of them was full-on. We’ll go back, look at everything and get ready for Sebring.”
MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED THIRD IN GTLM: “At the end, we had quite a good race. We just didn’t have enough in our Corvettes to win today, but that is racing. In the end, we showed very strong performance… the car, the crew and the engineers. The car stayed in one piece and we had no technical problems. We’ll attack again next time and try to win at Sebring. This is a great start for Corvette Racing in the points, but there is a small disappointment because we wanted to win again.”
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: “Today was tough… hard, demanding. But the team never, ever gave up. They always had a plan and a strategy to try and get us back to the front. We worked through any problem we had. We didn’t have a completely faultless race; there were some issues and problems we had to work through. But that is what this team is fantastic at – working through the problems. Yes, we got fourth place today but that’s great points for us. Last year we finished ninth here, and it wasn’t a particularly good start for us. But this year we have good fourth place points. It gets us a good start in the championship. That’s positive. We are now moving ahead to Sebring. That race is another classic and another gem in the endurance racing crown. We are looking forward to that. But 24-hour races are tough; they are brutal. And today’s was just another one of those. I was surprised that there were only four cautions throughout the entire race. That was really, really surprising. So this was a good, solid fourth place to the team. Good points and we will move on to Sebring.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: “What an incredible race. I guess this race set every record for distance traveled and laps completed with really no big issues for us whatsoever. We can be really proud as a team. The cars were faultless. Just missing that little bit of pace and when you don’t have that many cautions, you can see the gap to the winners. Congratulations to those guys, You could see they had a great race. For us at Corvette Racing starting our 20th year in competition… no better way to start the season by getting both cars to the finish with no problems and no issues. That’s really impressive.”
MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: “This was really pretty awesome. The race kept me very busy during the night with the rain because it was actually quite difficult to judge how much standing water there is. I had a big moment once in the oval when I was close to spinning as a result of hydroplaning, but somehow I was able to manage it. At the end of the day we had no mistakes; we did everything right. But I have to say we just didn’t have the pace of our opposition unfortunately. This race is normally known for a lot of cautions. There were hardly any this weekend so that didn’t allow us to have the opportunity to put pressure on the top two cars. I think we can still be happy and proud of the work we have done. There were no mistakes, the strategy had everything right, but it didn’t pay off. Now we are looking forward to Sebring with good points.”
Its first race in Asia will close Corvette Racing’s historic 20th season
SHENZHEN – Chevrolet announced today that Corvette Racing will close its 20th season of competition in grand style by competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) 2018 race in Shanghai. The C7.R racecar, which will wear a special Redline livery for the competition, will be the first factory-run Corvette to race in Asia.
The 6 Hours of Shanghai will take place from November 16-18 at the 16-turn, 5.45-km Shanghai International Circuit. Built in 2004, the venue plays host to a number of motorsports’ top championships, including the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix.
“Corvette is a global icon that we are excited to be bringing to race in China – the second largest market for Chevrolet,” said Scott Lawson, general director of Chevrolet for SAIC-GM.
The WEC is one of the world’s key sports car series that features racing at venues across the world with all races being at least six hours in duration. The Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race is the WEC’s most famous stop and it features twice in the 2018-2019 calendar. It tests not only speed and driving skills, but also the stability and fuel economy of cars in extreme driving.
“Corvette Racing has proven itself as a world-class racing program,” said Mark Kent, Chevrolet director of Motorsports Competition. “Competing in the Shanghai race provides us an additional opportunity to test ourselves against the top manufacturers and teams in the FIA WEC.”
Corvette Racing team highlights:
• Winner of 107 races around the world
• 12 manufacturer championships in International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) competition
• 11 driver’s championships in IMSA competition
• 11-time class champion of the Sebring 12-hour endurance race
• Eight-time winner of the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race
• Three-time class champion of the Daytona 24-hour endurance race
• Captured wins in Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans endurance races in 2015
Racing has been part of Chevrolet’s DNA since the brand was established by race car driver Louis Chevrolet more than a century ago. This performance-inspired DNA continues to influence the entire Chevrolet lineup today.
Redline
The Corvette C7.R will wear a special Redline livery for the race in Shanghai to promote the launch of the special edition in China across Chevrolet’s portfolio.
Redline made its global debut in concept form at the 2015 SEMA Show. Inspired by a strong positive response, it became the broadest cross-portfolio special edition ever offered by Chevrolet.
Last year, Chevrolet introduced its Redline special edition portfolio for China at Auto Guangzhou 2017 and announced that four Redline models will enter the domestic market in 2018. In the future, nearly all Chevrolet models in China will have Redline variants.
“Chevrolet is strengthening its brand in China by boosting our product lineup and our overall customer and ownership experience. We have begun rolling out our more youthful and sporty Redline edition to help us reach younger customers,” said Lawson.
The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE is probably still the ultimate Camaro, but it’s no longer the most expensive. The Chevy Camaro GT4.R race car built by Pratt Miller is now available to order for delivery in 2018, with a starting price of $259,000. For a bit more than a quarter-million dollars, you can get a new Camaro specifically for racing duty.
The Camaro GT4.R has a modified ZL1 body to optimize aerodynamics. Lightness is added via carbon fiber doors, front fascia, and an adjustable rear wing, with the car’s minimum weight coming in at just 3,131 pounds. This ‘Maro meets FIA safety regulations, and has a Schroth six-point safety harness for the driver.
Defending IMSA GTLM championship team leaves satisfied with testing program
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 7, 2018) – Corvette Racing left Daytona International Speedway content with the results of its testing program following the annual Roar Before the 24 and ahead of the opening race of the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
The two Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs logged more than 1,400 miles between them during the three days and eight sessions of track time. The packed schedule included a 15-minute qualifying session to determine assignments for the pit boxes and garages when teams return later this month for the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Oliver Gavin was the second-fastest GT Le Mans (GTLM) qualifier Sunday in the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R with a lap of 1:43.640 (123.653 mph). Teammate Antonio Garcia wasn’t far behind in fifth at 1:43.998 (123.227 mph) in the No. 3 Corvette C7.R.
As it has for the last 20 years, Corvette Racing displayed its usual clever strategy and ingenuity to achieve its qualifying results. Even on a test weekend, the team consciously practiced drafting with its two Corvettes during multiple sessions in order to approach the performance levels of its quicker GTLM competitors.
All six Corvette Racing drivers were on-hand Friday through Sunday. Defending GTLM champions Garcia and Jan Magnussen are teaming with Mike Rockenfeller while Gavin and full-season teammate Tommy Milner are partnering with Marcel Fässler.
Corvette Racing and Chevrolet are coming off a second straight sweep of the GTLM Manufacturer, Driver and Team championships in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – titles won by combining driver skill with smart engineering strategy and team execution. That is a large reason for Corvette Racing’s success ahead of its 20th season – a mark unmatched by any other team in the IMSA paddock.
The Rolex 24 served as the first event for the Corvette Racing program in 1999, and one of the team’s Corvette C5-Rs finished third in class. Two years later, Corvette Racing won the race overall – the first of what is now 106 victories around the world. Fast forward to the current era, and the program added class victories in both 2015 and 2016. The latter was the thrilling 1-2 finish that saw the No. 4 Corvette beat its sister entry by just 0.034 seconds.
That is just one of more than 40 victories for Chevrolet across all motorsports events at Daytona, making it the most successful manufacturer at the World Center of Racing.
Corvette Racing will return to Daytona for the 56th Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 25-28.
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – QUALIFIED SECOND IN GTLM: “One of the key things for the Corvette Racing program is that we are learning and trying new things all the time. No one here ever rests on their laurels. Yes, we’ve had two very successful seasons, but everybody is still looking for ways to improve whether that is through the car with the technical partners we have with Mobil 1 and Michelin. Or whether it is the way the engineers interact with the drivers, and the drivers are working with each other out on track. That was a key part of the success of that qualifying session. Antonio and I had discussed with one another how we were going to do that session, and our engineering team talked it through with us. We had a strategy and plan, and it worked and paid off. Antonio was in front of me for five laps and basically pulled me around. It got me in second position. It proved that a strategy like that would work. Would we have been this close to the front without that? Absolutely not. I don’t know how far off we would have been, but we certainly wouldn’t have been second. It is nice to see a plan come together and work that way. I think there were a few people, myself included, wondering if it was going to work or not. But you have to put your faith and trust in the people around you and it paid off. Antonio once again drove brilliantly and set it up perfectly. He and I have got some history here now, and we know how to drive around one another here at this track! We have a good understanding and are good friends. It’s great to see a team work together like they did today and profit from it.”
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – QUALIFIED FIFTH IN GTLM: “Yes, we always come up with something different for sure. It was somewhat of a risk. We practiced that during the last two practices and on old tires. Traffic didn’t make it easy to do it, but then having our two Corvettes so equal made it less difficult. My only goal was to stay as fast as possible all the way to Turn Six, and then give Olly a nice tow all the way to the Bus Stop. We tried one lap where I just stayed in front of him to start/finish, and then the next one was like the finish of the 2016 race where he won by a foot. We timed it so he would go across the line in front of me. So I think it was worth quite a few tenths. We didn’t make it to be the fastest, but, that’s basically what we had to do to finish where we are. That’s really a very small portion of what the 24 Hours will be like, but it is good to have that experience. It was important to follow our test program, and I think everyone has gone according to plan.”
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “We had a good test and got through a lot of stuff. It was super cold most of the test, so it will be interesting to see if that helps us. Today was a little better and more representative of what we will have for the race. This is a brand new car, so we were able to shake it down and didn’t have any issues. I’m looking forward to coming back for the race week and see what we have.”
MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “As a driver, you always want more and more time in the car, but track time is at a premium at the Roar every year. I feel like we have maximized our efforts and run as many miles and as quickly as we can. We all know that later this month, the track conditions likely will be different. It has been quite cold this week but we have learned things that can help us for the race. I feel we are heading in the right direction. It’s always a pleasure to be in Daytona with Corvette Racing and drive a Corvette around this track.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “The fact that we didn’t have any major issues is definitely a plus. It hasn’t always been like that for us! From that perspective, things couldn’t have gone better. Any opportunity you have to get laps at Daytona this close to the race is super important. We always come into this weekend with lots of things to try and ideas our engineers think might work to keep building on our book of information on these Corvettes. We have a good base to work from, but of the many items our engineers drew up, we saw some little gains from each of them. That’s encouraging for us.”
MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “Everything has run quite well. There were a number of items on our test plan, and we ran through it fairly smoothly. This is why we are here – to test different kinds of things to make progress and development with the car. I also am happy with the time I could spend in the Corvette, even dividing it between three drivers. It was fairly easy to adapt to the car again after some time away… shortly after Petit Le Mans. This was a great opportunity to be back in it and with the team. I think we all feel good after this test.”
Garcia, Magnussen, Rockenfeller place second in No. 3 Corvette C7.R
• Impressive drive-back nets fourth for Milner, Gavin, Fässler
• Result caps championship-winning day for Corvette Racing, Chevrolet
• Four GTLM victories on season for Corvette Racing
BRASELTON, Ga. (Oct. 7, 2017) – Corvette Racing capped its championship-winning season Saturday with a runner-up finish at Road Atlanta’s Petit Le Mans for Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. It put a Bowtie on a day that saw Corvette Racing and Chevrolet sweep the GT Le Mans (GTLM) Manufacturer, Driver and Team titles in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler placed fourth in a stellar late-race comeback.
The 10-hour endurance race in the rolling hills of north Georgia was a classic in every sense of the word. The top seven GTLM cars finished on the lead lap, and rarely were they separated by more than 30 seconds.
Six cars led in GTLM over the 392 laps and just under 1,000 miles. The No. 3 Corvette led four times, but even more key were the positions that the team gained with excellent pit work and strategy throughout. Especially key was a late stop for fuel and tires that put Garcia, who started and finished the race, into second place after entering the pits third. That solidified Chevrolet’s hold on the Manufacturer Championship with 50 minutes left.
Garcia ended one second back from the winning BMW with Milner only 21 seconds further back.
The latter’s late-race effort was particularly stout as he passed three cars in the final five minutes. He opened the race in tricky wet conditions and handed off to Gavin with Fässler driving the middle portion of the race. Creative strategy and more stellar pit work kept the No. 4 Corvette within sight of the leaders for much of the day
The 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship opens with the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 27-28.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTLM: “I really cannot expect anything else. We gave it all we had until the last lap. Actually for a moment, I thought I had some chances for a win when an hour before I thought it was done. That is the spirit of Corvette Racing. That has been the spirit all year long. We never give up. Big thanks to Jan and the whole crew. For me it was very, very easy for me to believe I couldn’t make it to the end because I was in the car for three hours. After one hour, I was like ‘Don’t tell me I have to do another two.’ They really kept motivating me. That is part of their job and I am very thankful for that. Big thanks to Team Chevy, the whole Corvette Racing team and the whole Corvette community. I think other than maybe Long Beach, this was a perfect season, so thank you all!”
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTLM: “A fantastic day and a fantastic race. The whole category has been so close all day long. It was difficult to really make a difference out there… to pass people. You kind of had to wait for mistakes, but nobody made mistakes. Traffic could sort of play into it, so it was kind of waiting for the right place and the right time to take advantage. We had great strategy. Beating the 67 Ford out on that last stop was very important. That Ford got taken out by a prototype later on, but it was important for us to get out ahead if for nothing else than to prove a point.”
MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTLM: “Congrats to Corvette Racing. It’s amazing what they achieved this year, especially Antonio and Jan; they had a fantastic year to win the Driver Championship. The Manufacturer Championship was secured for Chevrolet so I think we fulfilled almost everything this weekend. We wanted to win as well, but the BMW was too strong. Congrats to them. It’s been a good year with Corvette Racing. The three races I did were really strong. The win at Sebring was really strong and very competitive. At Daytona we were strong, just not quite enough to win. And here at Petit Le Mans we were in the hunt for the victory. So I am I am very happy, and I hope I can be back with the team. I did my best to help as much as I can. It’s not always easy to jump in as the third driver without so much seat time, but my teammates help me a lot. It is just great to be part of Corvette Racing and I’m looking forward to the future.
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: “It was great racing all the way through… very tight and close in our class. I had an excellent battle with one of the Porsches. I managed to pass him twice; we were quicker than him in certain parts of the track, and they were quicker than us at other parts. It’s just great racing. Petit Le Mans generates such great competition and racing. Everyone at Corvette Racing was on their game with pit stops and strategy all day. There was so much to play for but very little lap time between the cars. You just couldn’t pick a winner until the end.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: “Mission accomplished! That is what we set out to do at the beginning of the year was to win everything, and we just about got that done. We missed the endurance championship, but we got the rest of them. I’m super proud of this team a super proud of the guys on the No. 4 Corvette. We had a rough year this year but those guys didn’t quit. Their last pit stop was probably their best. I can’t thank Olly and Marcel enough. We have a lot of fun here for sure, but it will be more fun next year when we have some better results.
“It is a team effort totally. I’ve never heard in the seven years I have been here anyone on this team having conflicts in any way. Olly and I had a pretty rough year this year, but we tried in any way we could to help the No. 3 car in whatever situation that we need to. We all work together to help get Chevrolet a championship and whichever car is in the hunt for the title, we do all we can. For some reason we seem to have this seesaw effect… when one car is running well and has all the luck in the world, and the other one doesn’t. Then it switches. Last year we had all the luck in the world, and this year we had very little luck. We got a good win at Long Beach and we were plenty quick in a lot of places. It is easy to look at the bad things, but there are a lot of good things to build on for next year.”
MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: “It was very busy out there in my stints. There were cars all around but there was a lot of good overtaking, especially after restarts. Once we got running, I got caught up and Rocky (Mike Rockenfeller) went by. I didn’t want to risk doing something to hurt the sister car. Maybe I was a little too careful and had a couple of cars go by. After that the pace wasn’t too bad. The rear tire degradation made it difficult to race the last few laps. I made a little mistake in Turn 3, so we had to pit a little early. So I’m not really happy about that. But what I am happy about is that Corvette Racing has won the Manufacturer, Driver and Team championships. It has been great to be a part of Corvette Racing again this year.”
Chevrolet leads Manufacturer’s Championship heading to Road Atlanta finale
MONTEREY, California (Sept. 24, 2017) – Corvette Racing’s pairing of Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen took a huge step toward the GT Le Mans (GTLM) Driver’s title in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Sunday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Their fourth-place class finish in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R at the America’s Tire 250 means they only need to start the season-ending Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in two weeks to officially claim the GTLM championship.
Sunday was a doubly good day for the Corvette Racing program as Chevrolet extended its lead in the GTLM Manufacturer’s Championship to four points with the result. As long as Chevrolet is the second-highest finishing manufacturer in the 10-hour Petit Le Mans, the Bowtie Brand will clinch its second straight title and 12th since 2001.
Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin had another run of bad luck in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. With aims of moving up through the field like the sister Corvette, the Gavin/Milner pairing placed ninth in GTLM after Gavin was hit from behind at the first corner of the opening lap. The contact damaged the Corvette’s rear diffuser, which impacted the handling and performance throughout.
Once changed, however, the No. 4 Corvette team gathered valuable information for the No. 3 Corvette’s championship run.
Magnussen began the race seventh in class, but that was a product of the team’s qualifying strategy to focus on race setup rather than ultimate pace in Saturday’s time trials. That paid off in the long run, as did a timely full-course caution just shy of the halfway point in the two-hour, 40-minute race. A GTLM competitor went off-track, and No. 3 Corvette lead race engineer Kyle Millay immediately called in Garcia for tires and fuel before the pits closed.
The call elevated Garcia from seventh to second by the time the race resumed. With a mind toward the championship picture and not the race result, the team elected to stay with a strategy that ensured the No. 3 Corvette would finish ahead of its closest title contenders.
Corvette Racing closes the IMSA season with the 10-hour Petit Le Mans from Road Atlanta on Saturday, Oct 7.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: “I think we played it really cool today. It felt like instead of being the ones defending, we were the ones trying to go for it. We seemed to be the more relaxed car out there out of the ones in contention. We were not sure about the pace today. For sure the beginning of the race wasn’t really promising when everyone started to pull away. As soon as everyone started to drop off in lap time and I saw Jan before we pitted we were almost within a tenth of them so I thought, ‘Um, we might have a chance here.’ For sure if it had been a green race, I think we had a very good chance to finish second behind the Ferrari. But when it came to strategy, fuel and all of that, we had to be smart and go for the championship and not worry about the race results. I was pretty happy with how our Corvette felt, especially during the last 10 to 15 laps of a stint, which I think the hardest today. It was just really good. I had pressure for sure. I really liked that the closest car to me was Richard (Westbrook) because I knew he wouldn’t do anything strange. We had a fair fight. I kind of knew he would try to catch me and try to pass me, but I also knew he would run out of tires soon. I kept calm and as soon as I saw he was starting to struggle, I put in a little bit more pace to open the gap. At the end of the day, we didn’t know if all the other cars would make it to the end of the race (on fuel), and they actually did. But it doesn’t matter for the championship.
“I think we played all year long, I can’t remember us making a mistake. I don’t know… I would have to go back race-by-race. But I think this has been a perfect season for Corvette Racing and the No. 3 car engineers and crew. Whenever we had the car, we made most out of it and whenever we didn’t, we still made good points… just like today. If you would have told me before the start we would have come out of here with fourth and while not going for the race result of podium, I wouldn’t have believed it. I am very, very happy. I still don’t believe we are mathematically done and as soon as we start Petit Le Mans, that is it. It has been a very long season for us since after COTA. We struggled, but we kept it up there but we proved that we had what it took to win races and the championship.”
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: “We’ve managed the whole year largely because of Kyle (Millay, No. 3 Corvette lead race engineer) to get more out of races than we should have. Whenever we haven’t had good pace, we always got good points. Today was no different. We had a good plan for the race but was painful to execute, but it worked. The painful part was in the beginning watching everyone drive away. Then things would turn around at the end of the stint where we would catch everything back and be in the mix. That’s great strategy that got us ahead of both Fords and the No. 25 BMW. It’s a great way to go to Petit Le Mans, where we can work on securing the Manufacturer’s Championship.”
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED NINTH IN GTLM: “Unfortunately our race was shaped by contact from another car. It seems like it has been the story of our year unfortunately. As I came into Turn One of Lap One, the No. 24 BMW got turned around. I was right behind Jan; he was checking up and I was just desperate not to hit the back of him. As I braked, the Lamborghini from GTD just came in and obviously didn’t expect me to be going so slow. It just drilled us in the rear which broke our rear diffuser, which flapped for all of my two stints. The vibration just got worse and worse, and we lost performance. The car was tricky to drive, hard to drive and very snappy. Once again, frustrating. We managed to do a couple of things just to try things out to give them (the No. 3 car) the right steer with the right tire choices. It’s been a good team effort. They are in a really strong position now in the championship which is great to see. They just basically have to start and they lock up the championship. It’s been once again a great team effort for Corvette Racing. We haven’t had the fastest car here this weekend but by strategy, execution, hard work, working certain problems, the team has come through with an extended lead in Manufacturer’s points, and an extended lead for Antonio and Jan and the No. 3 car for their championship. So ultimately, we’ve checked the box for the championships and that is fantastic.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED NINTH IN GTLM: “Our race was doomed from the start, in the first corner. That’s just very unlucky. It was just a racing deal – a car spinning ahead of Olly and cars behind getting stacked up. That kind of stuff in inevitable especially in a tight turn like it is here at Laguna. The car was a little bit damaged there at the start. Our Corvette was okay; it definitely didn’t have the pace today to win the race, but could have maybe been fourth or fifth if everything went smoothly. I am super proud of the team. We had super tricky conditions all weekend here. At times it was looking doom and gloom like we were way off the pace. In the end, the engineers did a really did a great job of keeping their heads clear and making good calls with tire strategy and pit strategy. Ultimately we executed as best we could today. That is what makes a championship team even in the face of some super strong adversity. Even under all that pressure there, all those guys did an awesome job. I am super proud of this Corvette Racing team and proud of what we have achieved this year.”
DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER: “When you put together great race strategy with perfect pit execution and you have drivers of the talent level that we have at Corvette Racing, you’re going to make things happen that ordinarily wouldn’t. Today we showed that again. We qualified seventh and ninth, and we took the No. 3 Corvette to where we needed in order to put a very firm grip on the Driver’s and Team’s championships. Now we will go to Atlanta and do everything we can do to defend our Manufacturer’s Championship. It should be a great race.”
