Sweep at CTMP in World Challenge GTS as Gaples fifth in GTSA

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada (May 20, 2018) – Blackdog Speed Shop’s Lawson Aschenbach tightened his grip on a potential sixth championship in Pirelli World Challenge on Sunday with a second straight GTS victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport in his Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R.

The defending class champion won for the fourth time in as many races to open the GTS Sprint season in the No. 1 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R. He led every lap for the second straight day after starting from pole position for the 50-minute sprint.

The win also was the 53rd for the Camaro brand, tied for first all-time in World Challenge history. Blackdog Speed Shop also won in GTS for the 25th time to rank first among class entrants.

Teammate Tony Gaples was part of another fight for the GTSA podium in the No. 11 Blackdog Speed Shop Camaro GT4.R and finished fifth in class but less than two seconds from another podium.

Unlike Saturday’s opening GTS race, Aschenbach had to fight the entire way Sunday. He briefly lost the lead on the opening lap but regained it before he and Ian James reached the start-finish line. The two were rarely separated by more than a half-second over the final 25 minutes, which included a full-course caution period with 22 minutes left.

The race began again with 10 minutes left with Aschenbach narrowly holding off his challenger after each lap. His winning margin was just 0.145 seconds for his fifth career World Challenge victory at CTMP.

Gaples began 12th overall and fifth in GTSA, but he gained a spot in the category after seven laps. Another fierce battle in the class ensued – like Saturday – but a bobble by a competitor ahead of him cost Gaples time and two positions as the race approached halfway.

Undeterred, Gaples pressed the challenge in his Camaro for the balance of the race. Although he just missed this third podium of the season, Sunday’s efforts were enough to move him into second place in the GTSA provisional points standings heading to next weekend’s GTS SprintX event at Lime Rock Park.

Article by Blackdog Racing

Hard-fought third place for No. 3 Corvette in return to Mid-Ohio

LEXINGTON, Ohio (May 6, 2018) – Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia earned a podium finish Sunday in Corvette Racing’s return to Mid-Ohio Sports Car in the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio. The duo piloted their No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R to a third-place finish in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) class.

The result vaulted Garcia and Magnussen into a fourth-place tie for the GTLM Driver Championship with Corvette teammates Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner. They placed eighth in GTLM on Sunday in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R as the team returned to Mid-Ohio for the first time since 2012.

Chevrolet is third in GTLM Manufacturer points – three points out of first place – as Corvette Racing takes a break from IMSA competition to travel to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the 19th consecutive season.

The Garcia/Magnussen duo began fifth, but Garcia gained a spot on the opening lap. The close level of competition and constant traffic around Mid-Ohio meant the No. 3 Corvette held its position for the middle of the race.

It wasn’t easy, especially for Magnussen who was part of a three-way fight for third place in class inside the final 40 minutes. He hung tough and made his move going into the first corner with 27 minutes left to move into podium position.

Milner and Gavin started eighth, but the No. 4 Corvette moved up through the field with a strong start from Milner. He drove the opening hour before handing off to Gavin. The No. 4 squad had some of the worst luck with traffic and opted to pit with 70 minutes left in hopes of catching a caution period to gain track position. Unfortunately the race went green for the entire two hours and 40 minutes. Gavin eventually had to take a late splash of fuel two laps from the end.

Corvette Racing’s next event is the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 16-17. The team has won eight times in the French enduro.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED THIRD IN GTLM: “That was hard to watch, because I really don’t like to be watching! I prefer to be in the car. But Jan did a really, really, really good job. The whole race went according to plan. Fifth wasn’t good enough to be up front and fight for the win, but we started to make up positions like we always do. We started to see that strategy was a key thing here. We kind of managed to fight the Fords and we lost some time fighting them on everything. That is what probably allowed the 25 BMW to go crazy on strategy and that is when they went ahead of us. We learned from that, too. We are usually the ones doing crazy strategies like they did. It paid off for them. When you are in the lead pack, you need to do what we did. We got some good points over our competitors. I’m happy on how everything worked against the actual pace we had today. Porsche really deserved that win. Next time I will be a little bit faster in qualifying so we can fight for the win.”

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED THIRD IN GTLM: “For how things developed, this is not a bad result. Obviously we would like to have had the pace of the Porsche and BMW today but we kind of got in the middle of them, so only one of each got ahead. It was a good race… good strategy and good pit stops from the crew as usual. We had a good race car. It was all-around fun. I had really a fun battle with Joey (Hand). We got a little racey but it was good fun. Hopefully we get to have more good racing like that throughout the year. I really enjoyed it.“

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED EIGHTH IN GTLM: “We had to gamble a bit today. We were chasing a chassis imbalance all weekend, and we tried something in the warmup. But things just didn’t go our way with the start and traffic. Tommy really got balked in a couple spots, and it seemed like that happened more often than not to stop our progress. Then we had to come in with two laps left for a splash of fuel. It was that sort of day. It seemed like we had similar pace to everyone else a lot of the time but there wasn’t enough pace to get by anyone. It’s a bit of a frustrating day but we’ll move on and learn from this for the big one – Le Mans.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED EIGHTH IN GTLM: “I was pretty happy with that first stint. We’re staying in touch with the cars ahead of us, depending on traffic. Maybe we were a little off but we were close enough where we could race of the most part. It’s definitely tough at Mid-Ohio. There aren’t a lot of tracks where you have a car that you’ve felt like you’ve worked on all weekend, and this is one of those. The racing was good and fun. It was chaotic at times with passing GTD cars and being passed by P cars. We struggled a little bit with balance, but I don’t think we’re alone on that. I didn’t seen anyone out there who was super happy with their cars.”

Article by Ryan Smith and Judy Kouba Dominick

Photo by Richard Prince

Gavin, Milner, Fässler lead team with fifth-place GTLM finish at 12 Hours

SEBRING, Fla. (March 17, 2018) – Corvette Racing put forth another strong effort in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Saturday with Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler leading the team’s efforts at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Advance Auto Parts.

The trio in their No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R placed sixth in GT Le Mans (GTLM) after a trouble-free run that saw the Corvette go from ninth at the start to the lead of the race at the four-hour mark.

As was the case at the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, the No. 4 Corvette team didn’t make any missteps, didn’t lose any time in the pitlane and kept the C7.R running all day and into the night. The pace from the rest of the front-running cars, however, proved to be more than a spotless race could overcome.

Saturday marked Corvette Racing’s 20th appearance at the Sebring 12 Hours, which started with the team hoping for its 12th class victory and fourth in a row. The race also was the 200th event for the Corvette Racing program.

Defending Sebring class winners Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller – in the No. 3 Corvette – finished eighth in class after a determined fightback from a variety of early-race troubles. The Corvette suffered a punctured tire resulting from contact on the opening lap, followed by visits to the garage to solve electrical and steering problems in the first six hours.

The next event for Corvette Racing is the Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach from the streets of Long Beach, Calif., on Saturday, April 14 with live television coverage on FOX.

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED SIXTH IN GTLM: “It looked like in the middle of the race that we were looking pretty good. As we started to lose the sunlight, it looked like we lost the balance and performance in the car. We were unable to generate the grip we needed to be competitive. There are some lessons to learn here. We battled all weekend with our Corvette and tried to come away with as many points as possible. It’s frustrating through to have a clean race, not make any mistakes and come away with nothing. Marcel and Tommy drove well. We rolled the dice a couple of times on strategies.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED SIXTH IN GTLM: “All things considered, that was as good as we could have expected today when you look at how practice shook out. All the guys on the team did a great job. Marcel and Olly did a great job – no mistakes. I only had one little bit of contact from another car all day between the three of us. We can’t be unhappy about that. We tried everything we could throughout the race to make something happen… strategy calls, car changes, things like that. We can be proud of the effort we put in all weekend. We never gave up! But I still think we can be disappointed with the finishing result. That is a valid frustration. We got OK points. Our Corvette’s in one piece. We can all hold our heads high knowing we did the best job we could today.”

MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED SIXTH IN GTLM: “If you look at the results, I think it we can for sure be a bit disappointed because we knew it was going to be a very tough race for us going into it today. But now seeing it… that there really wasn’t a chance to go on the podium, it is disappointing for the team. But we look now to the future, and we know that we come back stronger. It wasn’t our weekend, now we focus forward.”

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R- FINISHED NINTH IN GTLM: ”For us here, it feels like we either go from winning to completely out of contention. It is a bit of a shame to not even be able to fight for it. We knew at the start that it would be hard. After the puncture, we kind of came back and I had the feeling following the Porsches that the car wasn’t that bad. That was in the opening hour. I had some hope there that it was probably going to be a good race for us. But then everything fell apart. It was very unfortunate. It was very difficult to spot are issues were. We lost a ton of laps. In this category, as soon as you have a little mistake, you lose every opportunity.”

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED NINTH IN GTLM: This is Sebring for you. When things are great around here, man they are so great. But when they are like they are today, boy is it a long day. Our guys worked hard so we could go back out. We drove to the end to take whatever we can take. It is just about salvaging one or two more points if we can. It’s not what we came here for, but it is what we have.”

MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED NINTH IN GTLM: “I had a couple of decent stints there. In the first one, we were still struggling with the steering. After that, things were fine. The Corvette was very good and it was good to get more laps. The track was difficult and very greasy for everyone toward the end of my second stint. We thought we would have a chance of victory, but we tried everything we could. Our pace was similar to the No. 4 Corvette. Things happen at Sebring but we kept fighting.”

Article by Ryan Smith and Judy Kouba Dominick

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)

Article by Blackdog Speed Shop

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

Camaro ZL1 to start first in debut outing

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.”

Article by Ryan Smith and Judy Kouba Dominick

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.

Read full article at www.thedrive.com