Press Release:
CORVETTE RACING AT MONTEREY: Garcia, Magnussen On
Doorstep of GTLM Title
Chevrolet leads Manufacturer’s Championship heading to
Road Atlanta finale
No. 3 Corvette team needs only start Petit Le Mans to
win Driver’s Championship
Chevrolet unofficially four points clear in
Manufacturer’s standings
MONTEREY, California (Sept. 24, 2017) – Corvette
Racing’s pairing of Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen took a huge step toward the
GT Le Mans (GTLM) Driver’s title in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
on Sunday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Their fourth-place class finish in the
No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R at the America’s Tire 250 means
they only need to start the season-ending Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in two
weeks to officially claim the GTLM championship.
Sunday was a doubly good
day for the Corvette Racing program as Chevrolet extended its lead in the GTLM
Manufacturer’s Championship to four points with the result. As long as Chevrolet
is the second-highest finishing manufacturer in the 10-hour Petit Le Mans, the
Bowtie Brand will clinch its second straight title and 12th since
2001.
Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin had another run of bad luck in the
No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. With aims of moving up through
the field like the sister Corvette, the Gavin/Milner pairing placed ninth in
GTLM after Gavin was hit from behind at the first corner of the opening lap. The
contact damaged the Corvette’s rear diffuser, which impacted the handling and
performance throughout.
Once changed, however, the No. 4 Corvette team
gathered valuable information for the No. 3 Corvette’s championship
run.
Magnussen began the race seventh in class, but that was a product of
the team’s qualifying strategy to focus on race setup rather than ultimate pace
in Saturday’s time trials. That paid off in the long run, as did a timely
full-course caution just shy of the halfway point in the two-hour, 40-minute
race. A GTLM competitor went off-track, and No. 3 Corvette lead race engineer
Kyle Millay immediately called in Garcia for tires and fuel before the pits
closed.
The call elevated Garcia from seventh to second by the time the
race resumed. With a mind toward the championship picture and not the race
result, the team elected to stay with a strategy that ensured the No. 3 Corvette
would finish ahead of its closest title contenders.
Corvette Racing
closes the IMSA season with the 10-hour Petit Le Mans from Road Atlanta on
Saturday, Oct 7.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET
CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: "I think we played it really cool
today. It felt like instead of being the ones defending, we were the ones trying
to go for it. We seemed to be the more relaxed car out there out of the ones in
contention. We were not sure about the pace today. For sure the beginning of the
race wasn't really promising when everyone started to pull away. As soon as
everyone started to drop off in lap time and I saw Jan before we pitted we were
almost within a tenth of them so I thought, ‘Um, we might have a chance here.’
For sure if it had been a green race, I think we had a very good chance to
finish second behind the Ferrari. But when it came to strategy, fuel and all of
that, we had to be smart and go for the championship and not worry about the
race results. I was pretty happy with how our Corvette felt, especially during
the last 10 to 15 laps of a stint, which I think the hardest today. It was just
really good. I had pressure for sure. I really liked that the closest car to me
was Richard (Westbrook) because I knew he wouldn't do anything strange. We had a
fair fight. I kind of knew he would try to catch me and try to pass me, but I
also knew he would run out of tires soon. I kept calm and as soon as I saw he
was starting to struggle, I put in a little bit more pace to open the gap. At
the end of the day, we didn't know if all the other cars would make it to the
end of the race (on fuel), and they actually did. But it doesn't matter for the
championship.
“I think we played all year long, I can't remember us making a
mistake. I don't know… I would have to go back race-by-race. But I think this
has been a perfect season for Corvette Racing and the No. 3 car engineers and
crew. Whenever we had the car, we made most out of it and whenever we didn't, we
still made good points… just like today. If you would have told me before the
start we would have come out of here with fourth and while not going for the
race result of podium, I wouldn't have believed it. I am very, very happy. I
still don't believe we are mathematically done and as soon as we start Petit Le
Mans, that is it. It has been a very long season for us since after COTA. We
struggled, but we kept it up there but we proved that we had what it took to win
races and the championship."
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM
CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM: “We’ve managed the whole year
largely because of Kyle (Millay, No. 3 Corvette lead race engineer) to get more
out of races than we should have. Whenever we haven’t had good pace, we always
got good points. Today was no different. We had a good plan for the race but was
painful to execute, but it worked. The painful part was in the beginning
watching everyone drive away. Then things would turn around at the end of the
stint where we would catch everything back and be in the mix. That’s great
strategy that got us ahead of both Fords and the No. 25 BMW. It’s a great way to
go to Petit Le Mans, where we can work on securing the Manufacturer’s
Championship.”
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE
C7.R – FINISHED NINTH IN GTLM: "Unfortunately our race was shaped by contact
from another car. It seems like it has been the story of our year unfortunately.
As I came into Turn One of Lap One, the No. 24 BMW got turned around. I was
right behind Jan; he was checking up and I was just desperate not to hit the
back of him. As I braked, the Lamborghini from GTD just came in and obviously
didn't expect me to be going so slow. It just drilled us in the rear which broke
our rear diffuser, which flapped for all of my two stints. The vibration just
got worse and worse, and we lost performance. The car was tricky to drive, hard
to drive and very snappy. Once again, frustrating. We managed to do a couple of
things just to try things out to give them (the No. 3 car) the right steer with
the right tire choices. It's been a good team effort. They are in a really
strong position now in the championship which is great to see. They just
basically have to start and they lock up the championship. It's been once again
a great team effort for Corvette Racing. We haven't had the fastest car here
this weekend but by strategy, execution, hard work, working certain problems,
the team has come through with an extended lead in Manufacturer’s points, and an
extended lead for Antonio and Jan and the No. 3 car for their championship. So
ultimately, we’ve checked the box for the championships and that is
fantastic."
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
– FINISHED NINTH IN GTLM: "Our race was doomed from the start, in the first
corner. That’s just very unlucky. It was just a racing deal - a car spinning
ahead of Olly and cars behind getting stacked up. That kind of stuff in
inevitable especially in a tight turn like it is here at Laguna. The car was a
little bit damaged there at the start. Our Corvette was okay; it definitely
didn't have the pace today to win the race, but could have maybe been fourth or
fifth if everything went smoothly. I am super proud of the team. We had super
tricky conditions all weekend here. At times it was looking doom and gloom like
we were way off the pace. In the end, the engineers did a really did a great job
of keeping their heads clear and making good calls with tire strategy and pit
strategy. Ultimately we executed as best we could today. That is what makes a
championship team even in the face of some super strong adversity. Even under
all that pressure there, all those guys did an awesome job. I am super proud of
this Corvette Racing team and proud of what we have achieved this
year."
DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER: “When you put
together great race strategy with perfect pit execution and you have drivers of
the talent level that we have at Corvette Racing, you’re going to make things
happen that ordinarily wouldn’t. Today we showed that again. We qualified
seventh and ninth, and we took the No. 3 Corvette to where we needed in order to
put a very firm grip on the Driver’s and Team’s championships. Now we will go to
Atlanta and do everything we can do to defend our Manufacturer’s Championship.
It should be a great race.”
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