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• Second victory in a row at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for Corvette Racing
• Westbrook, Valiante finish second overall for Spirit of Daytona
• Chevrolet maintains leads in both Prototype, GTLM manufacturer championships
BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada (July 13, 2014) – Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen kept the momentum going for Corvette Racing and the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R with a victory Sunday in the Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix presented by Hawk Performance at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Garcia, Magnussen and the No. 3 Corvette C7.R won their fourth consecutive race in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship’s GT Le Mans class. Garcia finished 11 seconds clear of the second-place Viper as he and Magnussen extended their lead in the GTLM driver’s championship, along with Chevrolet’s and Corvette Racing’s advantage in class manufacturer and team points, respectively.
“Today was an exciting day for Corvette Racing at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “The win in the GTLM class did not come easily. Strategy, teamwork and persistence of Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and the Corvette Racing crew were key to the win. The No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R also showed improved performance each time it was on the track throughout the weekend.”
Magnussen started and ran second for the majority of his stint before the class leader went off track just before the first round of pit stops. Magnussen pitted a lap later and handed off to Garcia, who had to fend off several challenges from the Viper before race traffic stabilized the Corvette’s advantage.
“Congratulations to Antonio, Jan and the Corvette Racing team on a hard-fought and well-earned victory today,” said Mark Kent, Director of Chevrolet Racing. “It took strategy, skill and even just a little luck. Today’s result is a tremendous achievement and continues to grow the championship lead in the GT Le Mans class.”
The story was not as bright for the No. 4 Corvette of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner. Running third 30 laps into the race, Milner was hit and spun by a slower GT Daytona car in heavy traffic at the exit of Turn 3. Milner had light contact with the tire barrier but was able to continue albeit in sixth position. Gavin and Milner, last year’s winners at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, finished seventh class.
Spirit of Daytona, Wayne Taylor Racing Finish on Overall Podium
Corvette Daytona Prototypes filled two of the three podium positions in the TUDOR Championship’s Prototype class as Michael Valiante and Richard Westbrook placed second in the first race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for the Corvette DPs.
The finish for No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP backed up its victory two weeks ago at Watkins Glen. Wayne Taylor Racing’s Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor were third Sunday and maintained their lead in the Prototype driver’s championship standings.
The two Corvette DPs battled in the final 30 minutes with the cars running nose-to-tail for multiple laps before Westbrook began to pull away slightly in the waning moments.
Oak Racing was the race’s overall race winner.
The next round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship is the Brickyard Grand Prix, set for 5:45 p.m. ET on Friday, July 25 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
GTLM QUOTES
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – GTLM RACE WINNER
WHAT IT IS ABOUT THIS PLACE THAT SEEMS TO WORK WELL FOR THE CORVETTE?
“I don’t know, but we end up winning. As you see, last year and this year it was really close between us and the Viper. During the first stint, we were bumper-to-bumper. During the second one, I went out with a little bit of a lead – like three seconds. The most it went was eight seconds because of traffic. So it was really hard. (Before the race) I was expecting safety cars. And I was also counting on them to help save just a tiny bit of tires to have at the end. But everything ran perfect. The Corvette Racing team did a perfect job everywhere, in every single situation.”
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – GTLM RACE WINNER
THREE MONTHS AGO WOULD YOU EVER OF THOUGHT THAT WE WOULD BE TALKING ABOUT THE NO. 3 CORVETTE C7.R HAVING FOUR WINS IN A ROW?
“No, not in this category. It’s such a tough category and every tenth of a second counts. For us to be here now with four wins in a row is just an absolutely fantastic result. We owe it all to the team and everybody behind Corvette Racing to first of all give us a fantastic race car, but also making sure that it runs every time. Our engineers are making really good decisions every time we are racing. I’m just super pleased and very proud to be part of this.”
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED 7TH
ON THE RACE
“We came into the weekend confident but today despite a tremendous effort by everyone at Corvette Racing, we again faced frustrating challenges. It seems that no matter what we try, nothing is giving us the positive results we need to turn this season around. That combined with Tommy’s unfortunate hit by a slower car is the epitome of our season. Our luck has to turn around at some point. Hopefully it comes at Indianapolis.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED 7TH
ON HIS STINT AND ON-TRACK INCIDENT
“We came up on two slow guys in GTD cars who didn’t know where they were or what they were doing. They caused a big pile of cars behind them. There was nowhere for me to go and nowhere for anyone to go. They were kind of two-wide and just blocking the road. I had a little bit of a gap for the two or three GTD cars that were behind me. I got a decent run through Turn 2 and the guy in the Ferrari just came up on the situation; he may have gotten squeezed a little bit by one of the other cars in the group. It obviously wasn’t on purpose but it was a bad situation made by two guys who didn’t know what was going on. It’s like they were saying, ‘You go ahead. No you go ahead. No you go ahead.’ Then what happens is that I get hit from behind. That’s sort of our luck this year.”
DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER
“Anybody who watched the Watkins Glen race would have to notice the similarities between there and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The tracks are both very quick. The No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R crew simply has it figured out. The car is hooked up, the drivers are performing flawlessly and the crew showed a total team effort with great pit stops. If you look at the traffic at the end, Antonio was masterful working his way through it. That’s what really created the opportunity to win. It was just a great opportunity by everyone on this team.”
PROTOTYPE QUOTES
MICHAEL VALIANTE, NO. 90 SPIRIT OF DAYTONA CORVETTE DP – FINISHED 2ND
“We had some gearbox issues on the downshifts early on. I got passed by (Christian) Fittipaldi; it just wasn’t selecting the lower gear. It seemed to be OK as long as we are patient with the downshift. Other than that, the car had good pace. On the first stop we had an issue and lost about 12 seconds. But I knew then we had the pace to finish second or third.”
RICHARD WESTBROOK, NO. 90 SPIRIT OF DAYTONA CORVETTE DP – FINISHED 2ND
“It was pretty good racing with Jordan (Taylor).I don’t race hard enough with him. We always seem to avoid each other on the track. So it is good to have a battle with him. It is a good day for us. P2 – we’ll take that. It was nice to put the No. 42 (Nissan Morgan -winner) under some pressure. You never know. He had a quite comfortable spot but I wanted to put some sort of pressure because with all the traffic, you never know what a little bit of pressure can do. It wasn’t our today, but it was really enjoyable racing. My first time at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, and I actually loved it.”
RICKY TAYLOR, NO. 10 WAYNE TAYLOR RACING CORVETTE DP – FINISHED 3RD
“I’m okay. I’ve had a virus for the last three or four days and I haven’t really been keeping up with my fluids, but I’m okay. The medical center guys took care of me, I’m fine. It was a good day. We got good points. The 90 (Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP) gained on us. They are proving to be really strong this year. We’ll go on to Indy and hopefully get back to our winning ways.”
IT WAS A GOOD COMEBACK FROM AN EARLY OFF: “The off was not a good mistake. But, it worked out to be the perfect timing if you are going to have an off. It put us off sequence, but we still only had two stops, so it is good.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 10 KONICA MINOLTA CHEVROLET CORVETTE DP – FINISHED 3RD
“It was a tough race. We were flat-out the whole time. We were off strategy so we had to push really hard and it was tough. The car wasn’t the fastest so we were fighting a lot. We were happy to get track position in front of the No. 90 (Spirit of Daytona Corvette), but it was just a matter of time for them to get by us. We had no chance to battle the No. 42 or the No. 1 car. Considering how bad of a day it was, it was pretty good for the points.”
JIM LUTZ, CHEVROLET DAYTONA PROTOTYPE PROGRAM MANAGER
“Second and third in the first race for the Corvette Daytona Prototype at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park are solid results. As we suspected, the track ended up favoring the P2 cars but our teams still came through with great efforts. We are glad to maintain the championship lead in the Prototype engine manufacturer standings and head to Indianapolis with continued momentum.”
Photo courtesy of Richard Prince
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