TOOELE, Utah – Cadillac Racing driver Johnny O’Connell did the double by winning both rounds of the Pirelli World Challenge Championship GT races this weekend at Miller Motorsport Park.
O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.), starting from pole position for the second race in a row, was able to get a good standing start in his No. 3 Cadillac ATS-V.R and lead the caution free 50-minute race from flag-to-flag. With his results this weekend, and some of his points protagonist not running as well, O’Connell leaves Salt Lake City second in the GT points battle, just 11 back. More intrigue will play out in one week at Sonoma Raceway, the GT points leader, Ryan Dalziel, is not scheduled to run.
“This was a great points weekend,” O’Connell said. “We had a good car yesterday, but the guys at Cadillac Racing improved it even more and just made it a little easier to drive today. James Davison was all over me in his Nissan. He even tried flashing his lights at me late in the race, I just ignore that stuff. He is a great young talent.
“We are a fourth quarter team. We are going away from this weekend second in the points. Two good wins and a lot of points going into Sonoma in one week.”
Teammate Pilgrim (Boca Raton, Fla.) started fourth and posted his best weekend of the year behind the wheel of the No. 8 Cadillac ATS-V.R.
“I had a pretty good start, I got some slight wheel spin but was able to get to Turn One in third,” Pilgrim said. “The Porsche is a very good braking car. My Cadillac went loose pretty early in the race. I couldn’t do much about the Porsche and the Bentley. I was then able to find a good pace for the ATS-V.R and was able to run a good race finishing in fifth. The crew did a great job all weekend and we come away with two good finishes.”
The Pirelli World Challenge Series race from Miller Motorsport Park will be televised on CBS Sports Network Sunday, August 30, 4 p.m. ET.
The series will travel to wine country for the Sonoma Grand Prix for a double race schedule in just one week, Aug. 28-30.
LEXINGTON, Ohio – Cadillac Racing driver Johnny O’Connell finished fourth and teammate Andy Pilgrim came to the checker in 11th in the second of a double race weekend at the Pirelli World Challenge StopTech Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course today.
O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.) took the standing start lights from eighth with Pilgrim (Boca Raton, Fla.) going away from the start in 13th. Once again both Cadillac ATS-V.R drivers were able to get good starts only to be slowed soon after Turn One with a full course caution. On the restart O’Connell was able to move up one position to fifth and Pilgrim made his way to 11th where they both crossed the finish line under hot 88-degree temperatures 50-minutes later.
“I was able to get another good start,” O’Connell said. “I moved up a couple of spots until the yellow flew again right after Turn One. There are some missed opportunities when that happens like that right after the start, but I also understand and respect the reason for them. The series knows how to call those and I would rather be safe. This Cadillac Racing team doesn’t quit. Today was an example of that. I left everything out there today. It was a harder car for me to drive, it was unbelievably hot. We showed well this weekend with a pair of top six finishes so we are looking forward to Miller in a couple of weeks.”
Pilgrim will take the 11th place finish with a smile.
“It was nice see the checkered flag,” Pilgrim said. “The Cadillac Racing crew has been great. We have had a tough season so far. We got a nice finish today. It would have been nice to get a top ten, but I will take 11th. I had some wheel spin at the start and I got passed by Mike Skeen in his Audi. I ended up following him around all race. He had some issues, so we were evenly matched.”
The races from Mid-Ohio will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network Sunday, Aug. 9 at 4 p.m. ET.
The Pirelli World Challenge Series will travel to Miller Motorsport Park outside of Salt Lake City for a double race weekend Aug. 21-23.
Magnussen, Garcia keep GT Le Mans points lead with fourth-place finish
ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. (Aug. 9, 2015) – Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen, and Action Express Racing’s Dane Cameron and Eric Curran were the big winners for Chevrolet in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship’s Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America on Sunday.
Cameron and Curran won their second race of the season in their No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette Daytona Prototype. In GT Le Mans (GTLM), Garcia and Magnussen used clever strategy late in the race to battle back to a fourth place class finish with their No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R and increase their lead in the class’ Driver’s Championship.
With three GTLM races to go, Garcia and Magnussen have a four-point advantage heading into the next round at Virginia International Raceway in two weeks. The No. 3 Corvette C7.R crew made the call to make their final stop earlier than most of their competitors, which allowed Garcia to push hard on new Michelin tires while others’ tires were falling off. The move allowed the No. 3 Corvette to gain four positions over the final 42 minutes.
Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner placed seventh in their No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. Milner drove two stints in the opening 82 minutes while the No. 3 Corvette changed drivers on their first three stops. Gavin was charging hard to pick up multiple positions late in the race before a fellow GTLM competitor forced him off track in the final minutes.
In the Prototype battle, Sunday’s results boosted Chevrolet’s lead in the class Engine Manufacturer standings. It was the seventh consecutive victory for the Corvette DP. Action Express Racing finished 1-2 for the first time since the 2012 Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix as Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi placed second in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP.
The No. 31 crew brought the Whelen Corvette DP in during the early yellow and changed drivers from Curran to Cameron. Cameron settled into podium position and took the lead for good with 37 minutes left during the final round of pit stops. Like Garcia and Magnussen, the No. 31 Corvette DP was the first of the leading Prototypes to pit, and the strategy proved sound.
The victory moved Cameron and Curran to within two points of the Prototype Driver’s Championship lead. VisitFlorida.com Racing’s Michael Valiante and Richard Westbrook placed fifth in their No. 90 Corvette DP and retained their points lead. Barbosa and Fittipaldi are second and just one point back.
Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP of Ricky Taylor and Jordan Taylor suffered a mechanical issue midway through the race and placed eighth in class.
The next round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship is the Oak Tree Grand Prix from Virginia International Raceway. The GT-only race is set for 1:05 p.m. ET on Sunday, Aug. 23. Live TV coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. Flag-to-flag radio coverage also will be available via IMSA Radio.
CORVETTE RACING QUOTES
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM
WHEN YOU GET TO THIS POINT OF THE SEASON, EVERY POINT COUNTS: “That is the point. I mean I was excited, and at some points angry (during a battle with the No. 25 BMW) but that is where it is. We are heading into the last few races of a championship. Everybody needs to run as hard as they can. I wouldn’t say that I wouldn’t have done the same thing, but probably; everybody tries to find the limit on protecting. At the end of the day, we didn’t touch, we didn’t have any major issues. He got caught on the only way – in traffic. At the end of the day I played my card. Traffic is part of the deal. I really used my opportunity to go by. It was difficult since I got back in the car again on our second stop. During the first stint I was saving my tires just in case, then I was just 100 percent the rest of the way because I needed to pass everybody out there. We went off sequence (on pit strategy) so we probably forced most everyone to follow us, and at the end of the day it paid off. They stayed out as much as they could. I was really aggressive when I needed to be and I passed all those cars when they were on their first two or three laps. To be fair looking at our pace, that was the best result we could achieve today, so I am happy with that.”
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM
WHAT DID YOU SEE AND FEEL DURING YOUR STINT? “To start out with, things were pretty good. I liked the balance of the Corvette. I lost some time at the end of my stint with pickup on the tires. It might be something I’m doing or something that we need to try and help the car with to not produce all the pickup. I’m not sure why I had it in the warmup and during my stint. It’s something we have to work at for the next race.”
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED SEVENTH IN GTLM
IT LOOKED LIKE A CLEAN RACE BUT THINGS JUST DIDN’T GO THE WAY YOU NEEDED: “I think we all drove really hard, and raced hard with the BMWs. It was a little frustrating at the end there. I thought I was racing Lucas (Luhr) pretty fair, but he put me in the grass coming out of (Turn) 13. I’m a little frustrated about that. I didn’t think that needed to happen, but sometimes that is just racing. I looked after the tires reasonably well throughout the stint, and really gained some time back on all the guys in front of me. But there were definitely two races in the (GTLM) race today. There was the Corvette/BMW race, and then there was the Porsche/Ferrari race. When it is like that it is just very demoralizing and very frustrating that you can’t have everybody in the class racing overall for all of the positions. We knew from the very start that we didn’t have a chance to finish on the podium unless either one of the Porsches or the Ferrari broke down. I hope the series is going to look at and do something about that before we go to VIR, otherwise the rest of the season is going to be very frustrating.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – QUALIFIED FIFTH IN GTLM
WAS THE TRACK MUCH DIFFERENT WITH A DAY OF SUN AND DRY WEATHER? “The track felt pretty good. The sun certainly helps the grip level. We fought really hard with the cars around us. There was some tight and good racing. We really have nothing for the factory Porsches. They’re in a different class. We’ve really done nothing wrong today.”
DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER: “Today, I think we did the best with what we had to work with. It was a very interesting race between our Corvettes, the BMWs and the Falken Porsche. I know the fans got a kick out of it. We would have liked to have a higher finish but with the way the cars are situated right now, that wasn’t going to be. We advanced ourselves in Driver and Team championship points and gathered points in the Manufacturer Championship. We’ll move on to Virginia where we’re hoping for a better result. We’re going to work hard to achieve that.”
CORVETTE DP QUOTES
DANE CAMERON, ACTION EXPRESS RACING NO. 31 WHELEN ENGINEERING/TEAM FOX CORVETTE DP – RACE WINNER
HOW SATISFYING IS TODAY’S RESULT? “The competition in the prototype category is unbelievable. We were all three nose-to-tail and were all in it. It would just come and go in traffic, and it was hard to get it done on the track when everyone is that close together. So we took a different strategy and Simon (Dawson, engineer) got us a lot of clean air and we were able to get some good laps out. These races, you have to be perfect to win, you’re flat out for every single lap. Every morning before, when we have our pre-race meetings, the goal is to finish 1-2. It might have taken a few races to get there, but it’s always to goal for each race.”
ERIC CURRAN, ACTION EXPRESS RACING NO. 31 WHELEN ENGINEERING/TEAM FOX CORVETTE DP – RACE WINNER
HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS FINISH? “No question, this is a big deal. It’s our second win of the year. Action Express did an incredible job. We finished one-two in a race. I couldn’t be happier – moving our whole Corvette DP program over to Action Express and the Whelen Engineering team. We’re only 1 or 2 points out of the championship going into the last few races. This isn’t one of my favorite race tracks, but we always seem to do well, so it’s becoming one of my favorite race tracks. We charged forward and had a good race for a while. The combination of the pit strategy and timing was unbelievably spot on. The team was, I think, the fastest of the race. And Dane did what he does best. It’s unbelievable, the 1-2, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
THINGS ARE REALLY CLOSE IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP. “I don’t think you can get much closer than three points. It’s a great championship. Action Express gives great Corvette DP cars. We were very fast today. We had great teamwork. One and two was right what we wanted for points. The No. 90 had issues, so we were able to make up points on them. It’s going to go down to the last lap of the last race to see who is going to win the championship. It’s going to make it very exciting. It’s going to be very intense.”
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI, ACTION EXPRESS RACING NO. 5 MUSTANG SAMPLING CORVETTE DP
ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE OUTSIDE FRONT ROW? “It was excellent for the team to get a podium today. It was exciting, the beginning of the race. For the start, I thought we had agreed on going on the throttle on the bridge and not the bottom of the hill. The 01 started pretty strong and I fell from second to almost fifth after getting caught up. After that stint I struggled a bit with the car, but when I got my second stint the car was a lot better. Then the No. 10 and the No. 31 were running really close to each other. I knew if we didn’t have any mechanical problems, at the end, the race would be between us. Hats off to the No. 31 team. I’m really happy to go on to the next couple of races. The championship is really close. I’m excited to be part of this Action Express family getting a one-two today.”
RICHARD WESTBROOK, VISITFLORIDA.COM RACING NO. 90 CORVETTE DP – FINISHED FIFTH
“The car was good, but we got taken out by a competitor. It is really, really disappointing at that stage of the race for the No. 31 to make that sort of move after the restart. He was completely out of control. It was a terrible move. And as I was trying to avoid his mistake, it means I get knocked out for checking up. It is really, really disappointing. The team deserved better. The car was decent. We were having a bit of inconsistency with the tires. Some stints we were good. Some stints we were not so good. We shouldn’t have been that far back. At that stage of the race it should be cleaner. It is a shame that Race Control didn’t have a clear view of it, but in my opinion it was amateur driving.”
TROY FLIS, OWNER, VISITFLORIDA.COM NO. 90 CORVETTE DP: “Today wasn’t a great day for us by any means. We lost some points we didn’t want to lose. But the car performed well. I think we had pace with the leaders. We could run the same pace with the leaders in traffic. We were trying to points protect on our driver’s side and weren’t taking the risks that we should have. We have to look at a couple of balls, but now we are going to have to swing at them. We have a good product to go to the last two. To put a great championship together it is going to be exciting for the last two.”
JIM LUTZ, CHEVROLET PROGRAM MANAGER, CORVETTE DAYTONA PROTOTYPES: “It was another good day for our Corvette Daytona Prototypes at Road America. While we may not have been the fastest cars over one lap, the consistency and reliability of our Chevrolet power, along with solid strategy by the Action Express Racing teams, proved to be the difference. With two races left, we need to keep our work ethic and preparations at high levels.”
Wayne Taylor Racing, No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette DPs 1-2 in Prototype
BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada (July 12, 2015) – Corvette Racing and the Corvette Daytona Prototype program each had days to remember Sunday in the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix presented by Hawk Performance. Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia regained the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship’s GT Le Mans Driver points lead while Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor led a 1-2 overall finish for the Corvette DP at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Garcia and Magnussen drove their No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R to a third-place finish – a result that seemed unlikely in the race’s opening half. The duo moved from seventh at the one-hour mark to the podium for the first time since the third race of the season at Long Beach. Doubly important is that they broke a first-place tie for driver points as Garcia took advantage of a mistake with two laps to go by the No. 25 BMW, whose drivers were tied with the No. 3 for the championship lead entering the race.
Garcia and Magnussen now lead by two points heading to Road America in August.
The No. 4 Corvette C7.R of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner finished fifth in class but gained three spots from the start in a solid late-race push. Both Corvettes were part of an opening-hour battle between five GTLM cars that ran one behind the other for a considerable stretch. With passing at a premium, each of the Corvette Racing pit crews gained their cars multiple positions on the final round of stops with 55 minutes remaining.
Of note, Garcia stopped between one and three laps later than some of the front-runners, which allowed him to go all-out over the final 53 minutes. He also set the fastest GTLM lap of the race.
Pit stops and strategy also determined the outcome in the Prototype category as Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP won for the second time this year. Jordan Taylor won by 0.477 seconds over Dane Cameron in Action Express Racing’s No. 31 Whelen Engineering Corvette DP. Cameron – who drove with Eric Curran – stopped from the lead with 10 minutes left for a late splash of fuel and left-rear tire, which was just enough time for Taylor to drive by as Cameron left the pits.
The 1-2 finish allowed Chevrolet to increase its championship lead in the Prototype Engine Manufacturer standings. Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante were fourth in VisitFlorida.com Racing’s No. 90 Corvette DP to keep their lead in the Prototype Driver’s standings. Next up was Action Express Racing’s No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP of Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi in fifth. The duo appeared poised for their first win since March before having to pit from second place with 12 minutes left for a left-rear tire. They still stand second in points albeit just ahead of Curran and Cameron.
The next race for Corvette Racing and the Corvette Daytona Prototypes is the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase from Road America on Sunday, Aug. 9.
CORVETTE RACING QUOTES
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED THIRD: “When you have that kind of spread of only three or four tenths from first to eighth at this track, you can’t really pass. It was like a train of GTs all around and nobody could slipstream because everyone was pulled by each other. I couldn’t really go much faster and I decided to start saving fuel at the end of my first stint. So I think that saved us a lot which enabled us to run four or five laps at the end by myself, and that combined with a good last pit stop gave us an opportunity. If I might have been a second ahead I might have been able to go on to get second place. But third position with what wasn’t the best pace we’ve had this year is a positive result. We just need to focus a little bit more with track position with our Corvette. For sure qualifying is definitely important, especially on this kind of track. If the championship comes down to tracks like Road Atlanta, even if it’s a nine-hour race, we definitely need to be up front because then things are much easier.”
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED THIRD: “For sure. I think the BMW ran out of tires at the end there. Antonio did a good job taking care of his. So with two laps to go, Antonio had a chance and he took it. It was fantastic. It puts us back in the points lead. We’re very, very happy. It didn’t look like that was going to happen at the beginning of the race. It was so difficult pass here. Track position was so important. I felt like in most areas we had an advantage over the other cars. But when you’re in traffic and in the draft and you don’t have the downforce when you’re stuck behind the guys in front of you, it makes it really difficult. To come away here in third place is a fantastic result. It was really a great job by the whole Corvette Racing team.”
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FIFTH: “There was always traffic in front of us, around us and passing us. It was a matter of managing the car and staying out of trouble. Our Corvette was pretty loose. It wasn’t that comfortable to drive and we had a bit of downshift problem. There was some kind of emergency mode the car went into, but we figured that out with Tommy in the car. I was able to sneak by one of the Porsches after he was hit by the DeltaWing, but he was able to get by me when I had one of the issues downshifting. It’s a tough day. We didn’t have the ultimate pace to race the guys up front. So it was all about maximizing the points we could get today.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FIFTH: “We’ve seen here in the past where it’s hard to pass. You can get stuck behind some guys who aren’t that much slower than you are, but every tenth counts in our class. In the end, I’m happy with how the race went. I would have loved to have gotten another podium, but I’m proud of how we kept fighting and got our Corvette better for the end. Antonio and I were kind of pushing our way trying to get those BMWs. It’s tough here. Passing is not easy for anybody and it’s frustrating. I certainly can see that toward the end, I lost quite a bit of time. All in all, our Corvette was good. It was fast. It’s just one of those races that now you can look back and go, ‘man if we had run a little bit better, we would have been ahead of some of those guys.’ So we’ll just use that for more motivation going forward and try to qualify as high as we possibly can.”
DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER: “It was a very interesting race today. Into the program, we simply didn’t have the speed to compete at the front. What we did was make up for it with great fuel strategy, tremendous pit stops and at the end had adjusted tire pressures so we could run faster laps. You race till the end, and today Jan and Antonio were beneficiaries of the Corvette Racing mantra, ‘Never give up.’”
CORVETTE DAYTONA PROTOTYPE QUOTES
RICKY TAYLOR, WAYNE TAYLOR RACING NO. 10 KONICA MINOLTA CORVETTE DP – RACE WINNER: “Today was a weird day. We started on the pole and everything was going smoothly. And then I started having some serious power steering issues. But the guys never gave up and, somehow, the power steering fixed itself. Jordan just kept his head and picked people off as they started having issues of their own. And, somehow we ended up leading the race with five minutes to go. I don’t know how it happened, but we’ll take it with all the Konica Minolta and DLL guests we have here this weekend. It was a good day. We’re still pretty far back in the points but who knows, with these kind of performances, what can happen by season’s end.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, WAYNE TAYLOR RACING NO. 10 KONICA MINOLTA CORVETTE DP – RACE WINNER: “It was a perfect team effort. Ricky had issues with power steering at the beginning, so he had a tough stint. Once I got in the car, I was basically just running laps for three stints, not really battling with anyone but listening to what the guys wanted to do, strategy-wise. They called it perfectly with what tires to take, when to pit, and we came out just ahead of the 31 at the end. Like I said, it was a perfect team effort. And it was great to have all of our partners from Konica Minolta and DLL here at this event. I saw them out in Turn Three during the cooldown lap and they were all cheering. So, it was a great memory for everyone.”
ERIC CURRAN, ACTION EXPRESS RACING NO. 31 WHELEN ENGINEERING CORVETTE DP – FINISHED SECOND: “David Leach (engineer) on the pit box did a great job pulling it together for us. It was tough. We were way off sequence; we pitted early and did the driver change early. Dane ran a long time in the car today and did most of the work. The Whelen Engineering Corvette was fast as always. We had a tire going down in my run and another little issue. I think the big load of this place and all the sharp, worn out curbs around the track were hard on the tires. But the Continental tires held up well. We kept putting them on and kept going fast. Dane was great at the end but couldn’t quite get (the No. 10 Corvette). We were so close but will take second place. It’s a great points day for us, so we’re happy.”
DANE CAMERON, ACTION EXPRESS RACING NO. 31 WHELEN ENGINEERING CORVETTE DP – FINISHED SECOND: “It was pretty flat out today and was a really tough race. We were kind of on our own a little bit, but unfortunately I was dropping the wheels off-track on the front straightaway so we were having some soft leaks on the tires. We were always having to pit early and that’s what made us do that last pitstop. We had it timed perfectly but sometimes it’s not your day and things don’t go to plan.”
JIM LUTZ, CORVETTE DAYTONA PROTOTYPE PROGRAM MANAGER: “This was a thrilling race for the fans at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Congratulations go to Jordan, Ricky and Wayne Taylor Racing as well as Dane, Eric and the Action Express Racing/Whelen Engineering effort. The different strategies employed by each team on one of the toughest tracks we race on made for a fantastic finish. It’s great to score our first victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and build our lead in Prototype Engine Manufacturer points.”
Gavin, Milner, Taylor Give Chevrolet, Corvette Racing an eighth class win at Le Mans
LE MANS, France (June 13, 2015) – Corvette Racing stood atop the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sunday as Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor wrote the final chapter of a storybook comeback that ended with the team winning the GTE Pro category in their No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.
The trio in their No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R completed 337 laps for 2,864.50 miles in a frantic battle that eventually saw the Corvette win in class by five laps. Sunday’s victory goes along with Corvette Racing’s wins earlier this year in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.
It also marked a significant turn in the fortunes for Corvette Racing in the span of four days. The No. 63 Corvette C7.R of Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Ryan Briscoe was withdrawn from the race following a hard crash with Magnussen driving. A small piece of debris inside the pedal box caused a throttle malfunction and the Corvette to skid and spin out of control. Magnussen – part of the winning lineup at both Daytona and Sebring with Garcia and Briscoe – was uninjured.
Instead of folding, Corvette Racing marshaled all its effort around the remaining Corvette C7.R. In addition to the eighth victory for the Corvette brand and Corvette Racing in France, Gavin won at Le Mans for the fifth time, Milner the second, and Taylor for the first time.
“I am proud of how the No. 63 and No. 64 drivers, engineers and crew came together to rally around a single Corvette C7.R entry for the race after Thursday’s unfortunate incident,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “They prepared thoroughly and had each others’ back all race long. Perseverance, teamwork and execution were keys to the winning effort.
“It was very emotional to be in the garage with the entire team when the checkered flag dropped,” he added. “The Corvette Racing team simply never gave up.”
Gavin set the tone early in the race Saturday by move up three spots from seventh on the GTE Pro grid to as high as fourth in his first two stints. Milner followed with a triple stint on his Michelin tires that saw he and the Corvette move from sixth – where he slotted into the field after the leaving pit lane on his first laps – to the class lead.
From that point, the three Corvette Racing drivers figured prominently in a lead battle that saw the Corvette go up against multiple competitors in the race’s top production-based class.
The climatic moment came with less than two hours remaining. Running second at the time, Gavin caught and then quickly passed Toni Vilander, who eventually lost five laps in the garage with a mechanical issue. Victory in sight, Gavin drove a smooth final stint with no issues – a fitting end to drama-filled four days.
“This victory adds to what already has been a terrific year for Corvette Racing and the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R,” said Mark Kent, Director of Chevrolet Racing. “Today’s win at Le Mans goes alongside our successes in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. It shows the depth of our strengths and determination of everyone at Corvette Racing, GM Powertrain Performance and Racing team, and Pratt Miller. I’d like to commend all of our partners who contributed to our eighth Le Mans victory.”
Said Campbell: “The enthusiasm of the Corvette and Chevrolet owners was overwhelming, and we received messages of support from around the world. The team even did multiple Skype sessions with National Corvette Museum members that were watching the race at the NCM theater. It was also great to see a full Corvette Corral here at Le Mans.
“Racing enables us to transfer learnings from the track to design, engineer and build the best and safest Corvettes for the showroom.”
The next event for Corvette Racing’s two Corvette C7.Rs is Sahlen’s Six Hours At The Glen from Watkins Glen International on Sunday, June 28. It is the seventh round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and will air on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2 starting at 10 a.m. ET. IMSA Radio also will have live flag-to-flag coverage.
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 64 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:
“Winning Le Mans is always a fairy tale story. The way everything turned out over the week, with the No. 63 Corvette having its issues and not being able to start the race… the way the team all came together and led us into the race and enabled us to have this fantastic result today, it’s just amazing. It’s just been one of those days where you’re waiting for something to spring up, like another hurdle to come in your way to stop you from taking a victory. It was a spectacular race for Tommy and Jordan and myself – one of those events where you’re having great races with Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche but in the end we were the strongest car and we ended up coming away with victory. This is my fifth victory here at Le Mans, and I’m absolutely thrilled to come back here with Corvette Racing. I’m a very happy man.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “Where do you start? It’s unbelievable to be here with Corvette Racing and to represent the U.S., Chevrolet and Corvette at the biggest race in the world. It’s one thing to race but it’s another thing to actually achieve that. It is something that has happened twice now, but you don’t expect that for one thing. It is just an amazing feeling… a sense of accomplishment. All the hard work that goes into coming here, and I only see part of it. The guys at the shop… when you look at all the people here to make this happen, to achieve victory is incredible. I’m just super happy to be here and be a part of it.
“Then you look at the storyline for us for the week. You have the one car that goes out in qualifying. Typically after many accidents you can fix it, but that one was big enough that there was nothing we could do here. To have the whole team band together and work together throughout the weekend and throughout the race to do exactly this and get a win… I know all the No. 3 guys are disappointed a little bit with what happened after qualifying. But this was definitely a team victory. It’s very cool to be a part of it. I can’t thank those guys enough to be here in what is a difficult scenario. I’ve been there. It is difficult to be at a track and not racing. But for them to do whatever they can to help us, help the team, help Chevy and help Corvette achieve victory, this was a team win for sure.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 64 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “I’m obviously a little speechless about the whole thing. The goal in sports car racing and almost any kind of in motorsports in general is to win Le Mans. To win with Chevrolet and Corvette Racing as an American driver doesn’t get any better than that. Being with the team for four years now, and the last two years only being able to do Le Mans with the team is tough. I have to thank them and Chevrolet for still believing in me and just to come and do this one-off race with them. So in one way I am happy for the team, but in another way it is a good way to say thank you to them.”
DETROIT – Cadillac Racing drivers Johnny O’Connell and Andy Pilgrim had a rough first of two Pirelli World Challenge Series Cadillac V-Series Challenge races today on Detroit’s Belle Isle Park, May 29-31.
In qualifying this morning, Johnny O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.) and Andy Pilgrim (Boca Raton, Fla.) were poised for top starting positions when an on track incident would not allow the complete GT field to log a lap time. As a result, the series officials lined up the 26 car field by points. O’Connell started third and Pilgrim started from the seventh row.
Taking the rolling start O’Connell slotted into the third position. Teammate Pilgrim found himself going through Turn One three abreast and received front right damage to his Cadillac ATS-V.R. On lap four, Pilgrim pitted his No. 8 ATS-V.R with the engine overheating.
O’Connell was bidding his time in third when the aggression of Nick Catsburg, in his Lamborghini, played out on the rear bumper of O’Connell’s Cadillac forcing him wide and back to sixth position. O’Connell was able to race his No. 3 ATS-V.R to fourth position at the checker and will take the standing start tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. from the second row in third position.
“I had a good start,” O’Connell said. “I slipped into third and I expected a lot of action between the McLaren and the Ferrari ahead me. The McLaren made a good move and the Ferrari squeezed him down. I was studying them and waiting for an opportunity to move-up. Unfortunately the Lamborghini got into the back of me twice. Saving the car, I hit the traction control off and then I spent a lap or two gathering it back up. Later in the race, I had another issue that I am sure was a result of the earlier contact.”
Pilgrim’s race lasted just four laps.
“I had a reasonable start,” Pilgrim said. “When you go through Turn One three wide, which is not impossible to do it can get frantic. I got squeezed real hard and pretty much had my left front taken off. I lost quite a few positions. It was still ok to continue then a few laps later the steam came up from the engine and I had to pit.”
Sunday’s Pirelli World Challenge Series Cadillac V-Series Challenge race will be televised live on CBS Sports Network Sunday, May 31 starting at 12:00 p.m. ET.
Magnussen, Garcia back on GTLM podium at Long Beach with third-place finish
•Second straight win for Corvette DP in TUDOR Championship
•Westbrook, Valiante third overall in VisitFlorida.com Corvette DP
•Chevrolet leads in Prototype, GTLM Manufacturer points after three rounds
LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 18, 2015) – It was a good day Saturday at Long Beach for Chevrolet and the Corvette Racing programs. Ricky Taylor and Jordan Taylor were overall winners in the Tequila Patrón Sports Car Showcase in the third round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.
Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette Daytona Prototype won for the first time this season and moved Chevrolet into the lead of the TUDOR Championship’s Prototype Engine Manufacturer standings.
“The Wayne Taylor Racing team had a strong performance at Long Beach,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President – Truck Strategy, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “Ricky Taylor clinched the pole on Friday with a quick lap after cooling his tires. Then Jordan, Ricky and the No. 10 Corvette DP crew combined two great stints and quick pit stops to win the race.”
Campbell added: “The Corvette Corral at Long Beach was full. It’s great to see so many Corvette owners at the race track. We appreciate their support of Corvette Racing.”
It was a solid points day in both classes for Chevy and Corvette. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen raced their way to a third-place GT Le Mans (GTLM) finish in Corvette Racing’s No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. The 2014 Long Beach class winners added Saturday’s podium result to their victories at Daytona and Sebring to open the season.
Ricky Taylor started from pole position and led the first 37 laps before he pitted 48 minutes in for the team’s only stop. Jordan Taylor rejoined in fifth but put in two strong laps while the rest of the Prototype field cycled through their stops to move up to second place. Another lap later, Taylor dove to the inside of Joey Hand’s prototype – on its second lap out of the pitlane – and made the move stick.
Taylor used late-race GTLM traffic to build a comfortable gap in the closing moments and won by 3.3 seconds. It was the first victory for the Konica Minolta Corvette DP since Petit Le Mans to close the 2014 season.
VisitFlorida.com Racing gave Team Chevy two spots on the overall podium with a third-place finish for Michael Valiante and Richard Westbrook in their No. 90 Corvette DP. It marked the pairing’s third consecutive podium on the season.
Garcia and Magnussen maintained the GTLM championship lead with their showing Saturday. Magnussen held steady in fourth during his stint, and a quick stop plus driver change to Garcia at the 44-minute mark allowed the Corvette C7.R to leapfrog the third-place car. Garcia dropped back to fourth in the first part of his stint before taking advantage of a miscue by the second-place car to move into podium position.
Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner finished seventh in GTLM with the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. An opening-lap incident with a fellow GTLM competitor shuffled Gavin back from fifth to eighth at the start. An early stop for a punctured tire didn’t help matters for the 2012 Long Beach GT class winners.
Corvette Racing and the Corvette Daytona Prototypes move on to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix. The fourth round of the TUDOR Championship is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 3.
• Ninth class win at Sebring for Corvette Racing since 2002
• No. 3 Corvette C7.R increases early-season GT Le Mans championship lead
• No. 4 Corvette strong early before mechanical issues sideline challenge
SEBRING, Fla. (March 21, 2015) – Corvette Racing won in class for the ninth time at the 63rd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida as Ryan Briscoe, Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen added Saturday’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) victory to their Rolex 24 At Daytona win from January. The trio started the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season with consecutive victories and lead in GTLM points after two rounds.
Garcia won by nearly one minute as the Corvette Racing team played out its fuel strategy perfectly. Garcia pitted with 54 minutes remaining and stayed consistent as two cars ahead of him fell into trouble. Briscoe recovered from a small spin in his opening stints to post his fastest laps of the race, and quick pit work by the Corvette Racing crew and a key out lap by Magnussen early in the race gained two positions during a full-course caution period.
The winning Corvette completed 330 laps for 1,221 miles.
“The win by the No. 3 Corvette C7.R team in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring was a total team effort by everyone at Corvette Racing,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “The win was the result of great driving, quick pit stop by the crew and strong race strategy. Congratulations to Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Ryan Briscoe and the team on winning today.
“We were very proud to have so many Corvette owners on hand to watch the No. 3 C7.R become the first team and driver combination to win their class in both the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Sebring 12 Hours in 15 years,” Campbell added.
Saturday’s win was Magnussen’s fourth at Sebring – all with Corvette Racing. Garcia won for the second time at the event to go along with his 2009 victory, also with Corvette Racing. Briscoe likewise is now a two-time Sebring winner.
On the other end of the spectrum, the No. 4 Corvette C7.R of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Simon Pagenaud left the race with less than two hours remaining with a mechanical issue. The trio had challenged for the class podium in the race’s opening half.
After two races in the TUDOR Championship, Chevrolet and Corvette Racing lead all three point tables. Chevrolet increased its lead in the GTLM Manufacturer championship, as does the No. 3 Corvette C7.R in the team standings.
The No. 3 Corvette C7.R also won its second straight race in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup and leads in driver and team championship points. Chevrolet extended its lead in the manufacturer standings.
The next round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship is the Tequila Patrón Sports Car Showcase from the Long Beach (Calif.) street circuit on Saturday, April 18. FOX Sports 1 will air the race starting at 4 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 19. Live radio coverage will be available via IMSA Radio.
ANTONIO GARCIA, CORVETTE RACING NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – RACE WINNER
WHAT WAS THE KEY TO GETTING THIS WIN?
“I think strategy was a key thing here. I mean we definitely didn’t have the fastest car out there, but consistency was the key thing. We were putting pressure on them. Even though we were not able to be in the lead and pull away like at Daytona, we were hammering (the leaders). We didn’t want them to bail or just to take it easy. Maybe that is why they caught some problems, but at the end strategy was the key thing. Maybe they would run into problems, but they had to stop anyway. So, for Corvette Racing again the strategy was brilliant. I’m pretty happy for these two guys (Magnussen and Briscoe) and two in a row. I can’t say more.”
JAN MAGNUSSEN, CORVETTE RACING NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – RACE WINNER
THIS IS YOUR FOURTH WIN HERE AT SEBRING WHERE DOES THIS ONE RANK?
“Sebring ranks high. It’s one of the biggest victories you can get. To win this way like was said before we didn’t have the fastest car, but we had a fantastic team and good strategy. Antonio, the closer, was fantastic.
“I have to say that two hours before the end of it, I didn’t think we would have a shot at winning. Once it became a fuel race, everything changed. We knew that a safety car would mess things up again. But this another fantastic day. A big thanks to the entire Corvette Racing team and to all the Corvette owners who came to support us and cheer for us the whole way. It was fantastic.”
RYAN BRISCOE, CORVETTE RACING NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – RACE WINNER
YOU ARE THE THIRD DRIVER NOW YOU HAVE TO STEP AWAY. HOW DIFFICULT IS THAT WHEN YOU ARE GOING OUT AFTER TWO RACE WINS?
“I know, it’s hard, I wish I could stay and be the third guy at all the races. What a great start to the year. This team has just been working tirelessly. We had some bad luck in these first two races last year. I think it’s really turned around for us. I mean just not making mistakes. The car has just been absolutely rock solid. I’m just so thrilled to be a part of this team and winning races. It’s awesome.
“This was just absolutely perfect running with great pit stops – purely just fuel and tires and drivers. There were no problems at all. It’s great to be rewarded with the wins for that preparation. The team is just doing a great job. I feel lucky to be a part of it all.”
OLIVER GAVIN, CORVETTE RACING NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED 9TH: “It’s an unfortunate end our race with the equipment malfunction. We showed throughout that our Corvette C7.R had good pace. I was able to challenge and post solid laptimes in both stints, and I felt like we had a car that could certainly challenge for the podium. Sebring is tough on drivers and the cars, as we saw again today.”
TOMMY MILNER, CORVETTE RACING NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED 9TH: “What another crazy Sebring race. We felt really good about our Corvette C7.R after last week’s test and practice this week. We struggled with pace in the heat but could challenge and were making gains as the temperatures dropped. A belt issue set us back first, then we had more mechanical trouble with Oliver in the car. It’s a tough result for us. But congratulations to the 3 car on another great win for Corvette Racing.”
SIMON PAGENAUD, CORVETTE RACING NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED 9TH: “It has been a good time for Corvette Racing. I enjoy driving the Corvette C7.R. It is a beautiful car. It is sad that this is last time I am with the team, but hopefully we will be able to be together in the future. I am quite excited to get back to my daily duties with Team Penske (No. 22 Team Penske Chevrolet in the Verizon IndyCar Series). This was really fun, and as you know I love sports cars. I still feel like I belong here. I hope I can come back and race again with Corvette Racing.”
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About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 115 countries and selling around 4.8 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
Garcia, Magnussen, Briscoe team up for thrilling victory in TUDOR Championship opener
•No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R led more than 350 laps in thriller
•Gavin, Milner, Pagenaud third in GTLM with No. 4 Corvette C7.R
•Action Express Racing, Wayne Taylor Racing finish on Prototype podium in Corvette DPs
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 25, 2015) – Corvette Racing returned to Victory Lane for the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Sunday, scoring a hard-earned GT Le Mans class victory in the opening race of the 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Ryan Briscoe won in their No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R in Corvette Racing’s second race back at Daytona since 2001.
Garcia crossed the finish line by 0.478 seconds. The winning trio completed 725 laps – 2,581 miles – for the team’s second Rolex 24 victory. Corvette Racing captured and Rolex 24 overall win 14 years ago but didn’t race at Daytona again until last season in the first race for the TUDOR Championship as well as the Corvette C7.R.
GTLM pole-sitter Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Simon Pagenaud placed third in class following a strong run.
“This is my second 24-Hour race with this team,” said Mark Reuss, GM Executive VP of Global Product Development, Purchasing & Supply Chain. “To come here to see the Z06 in its second year win at Daytona is special. It has been a long time since this team has won at Daytona. Everybody on this team worked so hard and it shows. They never gave up, and there were a couple of things that went wrong as they always do in a 24-hour race. The car and the drivers and the team, they worked so hard, and it all came together. The harder you work, the luckier you get. So here today with the C7.R, just so proud.”
Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President Performance Vehicles and Motorsports added: “To have both of the Corvette C7.R teams on the GTLM podium for the Rolex 24 Hour is a testament to the Never Give Up attitude of the crew and drivers. Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Simon Pagenaud continually battled back from adversity to get a podium finish.
“It is a special day to take this victory in front of our Chevrolet and Corvette owners,” Campbell added. “The support from our guests in the Corvette Corral at Daytona and Chevrolet fans around the world is a huge reason for today’s success.”
The two Corvette C7.Rs were the class of the field throughout the race. For much of it, the GTLM fight resembled a 24-hour sprint race. The rate attrition was extremely high with nearly every car in the class experiencing at least a moderate amount of damage or mechanical trouble. The only one that stayed out of significant trouble was the class-winning Corvette.
The Garcia-Magnussen-Briscoe trio led more than 360 GTLM laps and took the lead for good with 90 minutes left when the then-class leader experienced trouble in the pitlane. The No. 3 Corvette responded shortly thereafter with a perfect stop for tires and fuel to increase its lead. Garcia – as he, Magnussen and Briscoe had been throughout – was precise and clean in the final run to the checkered flag.
Gavin, Milner and Pagenaud were the equals to their teammates three-quarters through the race. Despite two unscheduled stops to repair slight damage, the No. 4 Corvette ran with its sister car until Milner came upon a slow prototype car that nearly came to a stop just before the Turn 6 complex just three hours from the end.
The crew of the No. 4 Corvette had to repair front and front-side components and lost four laps in the meantime. Nevertheless, the result was enough to send both Corvette C7.Rs to the TUDOR Championship podium for the first time since last April’s Long Beach round.
Sunday’s results placed both Corvette Racing entries in the top two positions of the Tequila Patrón Endurance Challenge in GTLM. The competition is made up of the four long-distance events on the TUDOR Championship
Action Express Racing, Wayne Taylor Racing Post Prototype Podiums
Two Corvette Daytona Prototypes filled the TUDOR Championship’s Prototype podium at Daytona on Sunday. Action Express Racing’s No. 5 Corvette DP of 2014 Rolex 24 winners Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Sebastien Bourdais placed second – just 1.333 seconds from a repeat victory.
Wayne Taylor Racing’s trio of Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor and Max Angelelli placed third in their No. 10 Corvette DP. It marked the second straight season that multiple Corvette DPs placed in the Rolex 24 top-three.
“Congratulations to Wayne Taylor Racing, team owner Wayne Taylor, and drivers Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor and Max Angelelli on a strong effort today in the Rolex 24 At Daytona,” Campbell added. “In a race this close, it takes a tremendous level of preparation, focus and execution to be in contention. Today, the drivers, engineers and crew at Wayne Taylor Racing and Action Express Racing did just that. This is a very good start for Chevrolet in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Prototype class.”
The race featured 59 lead changes, and three Corvette DPs – Action Express Racing, Wayne Taylor Racing and VisitFlorida.com Racing – each led during the event.
The race was the first for the C7-styled Corvette DP with all four finishing in the race’s top-seven.
The 2015 TUDOR United Sports Car Championship continues with the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida on Saturday, March 21.
NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA GTLM CLASS WINNERS
JAN MAGNUSSEN
ANTONIO GARCIA
RYAN BRISCOE
NATE SIEBENS: Let’s slide over to the GT Le Mans winners. Let’s start with the trio from the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. It’s the team’s second Rolex 24 at Daytona win, first since taking an overall victory in 2001. It’s also Antonio Garcia’s second Rolex 24 win where Jan Magnussen and Ryan Briscoe, both this is their first win. Ryan, let’s start with you. How does that new Rolex feel?
RYAN BRISCOE: It’s beautiful. I’ve been coming here since 2005, so yeah; I wasn’t a big fan of this place until now. It’s just such a tough race. Jan and I were talking about it before we came in, for both of us it’s the first time we’ve ever done the race without going back to the garage. I think that was a huge part of us winning today was staying out of trouble. There’s so much action all race long. I felt like it was a sprint race out there from the word go, in our class at least, and the racing was very good but very tough, a lot of fun, but very hard fought. I think the key was keeping our nose clean, having a fast race car at the end of the day.
NATE SIEBENS: Antonio, obviously you know what it feels like to stand atop the podium here at Daytona. You did it in 2009 with Brumos Racing in an overall victory. Any difference here today with this group?
ANTONIO GARCIA: Not really. Every time you win here it’s very, very special. I’ve been chasing this victory since 2009, even if I won it back then. This is a very unique race. The first race of the year, so it’s very difficult to be at 100 percent right away for the team, for the drivers, and it was just a normal perfect race not normal I have to say. Everything ran perfect, and as Ryan said, we just kept our nose clean, and I had the best car to fight on the last eight minutes of the race.
NATE SIEBENS: Jan, you’ve had other big wins obviously in your career, but maybe put into perspective getting this one here for the first time.
JAN MAGNUSSEN: Well, it was a hard one for me to win. I’ve tried 11 times. I’ve always felt that I was within a shot of winning the race, but we always had to go back to the garage sometime to fix something, and that was the big thing this weekend was that we had a really, really fast race car, and we were able to push hard. We stayed out of trouble, no mistakes; no damage to the car, good pit stops, great pit stops, and that was the key to winning this race.
Q. Early in the morning I think you and some other GTLM teams drove nearly identical lap times with the prototype cars. Do you think this new United SportsCar Championship and GRAND AM together, we can see or expect in maybe one of the next races a GTLM car taking the overall win?
JAN MAGNUSSEN: I doubt that. This place is pretty unique. We have really long straights in the GT cars. The GT cars have quite good top speed, so that counts for us. I don’t know that the tracks that we’re going to that we will have a situation where a GT car can win overall, but that really depends on if they go completely berserk in the P class. Maybe.
NATE SIEBENS: Can you talk about the level of competition in your class? Seems like top to bottom every team and every driver lineup is really, really strong.
ANTONIO GARCIA: That’s the good thing about this race. It’s the first race of the season, and you have drivers coming from many other series. You have every single manufacturer has their best drivers coming here, and we show that, BMW, Porsche, Aston Martin, Ferrari. You couldn’t see a better lineup overall for all the manufacturers here. And I think we show that. Since lap 1 all the way to the last lap, we showed that GTLM is very competitive and teams are extremely competitive, too, and you can’t afford to do any single mistake. Very proud that I was in the right car, and we just did what we had to do, drive a perfect car.
NATE SIEBENS: Gentlemen, congratulations. Thank you very much for joining us, and we’ll see you all at Sebring.
DETROIT – Cadillac Racing drivers Johnny O’Connell and Andy Pilgrim will have to wait until the end of June in Wisconsin to run their Cadillac ATS-V.R race cars again. The Pirelli World Challenge Series cancelled race two of the Cadillac V-Series Challenge on Detroit’s Belle Isle Park this morning.
Due to heavy rain and winds that are blanketing southeastern Michigan the second of two races of the Cadillac V-Series Challenge weekend was cancelled. The warm-up witnessed heavy water on the track and for safety reasons the race was cancelled. In yesterday’s race Johnny O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.) finished fourth and teammate Andy Pilgrim (Boca Raton, Fla.) was classified in 24th.
“It is always wise to be safe,” O’Connell said. “It was pretty treacherous in the warm-up this morning when you were around another car. There would be a lot of accidents if we raced today. Really no need to destroy a lot of expensive equipment in this type of weather. It was the right call.”
Pilgrim was looking forward to racing, but understands the cancellation.
“We can race in these conditions, but when you have a full field of cars in front of you it is difficult to race,” Pilgrim said. “With the amount of spray that was coming up in the warm-up you just can’t see the corner stations where the workers are standing. When you can’t see the flags that is a safety situation. The corner workers are our eyes around the corners. Sad for the fans. My Cadillac ATS-V.R was good in the warm-up and we were ready to race. Disappointing, but that is racing.”
The Pirelli World Challenge Series will travel to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin’s four-mile, 14-turn Road America circuit June 26-28.
