Press Release:
CORVETTE RACING AT ROAD AMERICA: Another Double Podium for
Corvette C7.Rs
Milner, Gavin place second in GTLM; Garcia, Magnussen finish
third in tight championship
ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin (August 5, 2018) –
Corvette Racing’s pair of Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs raced their way to the GT Le
Mans (GTLM) podium Sunday at Road America in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar
Championship. With second- and third-place finishes in the Continental Tire Road
Race Showcase, both teams solidified their championship standings heading into
the final three events of the season.
Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner
finished second in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R on Sunday,
their highest finish since winning at Long Beach earlier this season. Antonio
Garcia and Jan Magnussen placed third in the No. 3 Sirius/XM Corvette for their
fifth straight podium finish in IMSA competition.
Garcia and Magnussen
remain second in GTLM Driver’s points after Sunday and just four points out of
first place. The result for the No. 4 Corvette elevated Gavin and Milner one
position to fourth and 10 points behind their teammates.
Chevrolet also
remained second in GTLM Manufacturer’s points.
Sunday’s race featured a
number of different strategies until the final restart with 40 minutes to go
following the race’s fifth and final caution. Both Corvettes gained a spot in
their opening stints to second and fourth, respectively, before fuel and tire
strategies came into play.
Teams elected to make anywhere from two to
four pit stops in the two-hour, 40-minute race with the Corvette Racing team
electing to split their strategies. Garcia drove the first 38 minutes in the No.
3 Corvette before handing off to Magnussen. The Dane entered the race sixth but
gained a couple of positions before Garcia re-entered the race with 80 minutes
left.
Meanwhile, Gavin drove the same opening stint as Garcia and handed
off to Milner, who made just one more stop with 63 minutes to go as the No. 4
team chose to gamble on having enough fuel to make it to the end.
Garcia
came in for fuel and fresh Michelin tires a minute later, just as the race’s
fourth full-course yellow came out. He came in again to top off on fuel with 55
minutes to go. When the race began again, Milner ran fourth and Garcia
seventh.
Milner moved up another position to third with 44 minutes left,
and Garcia began marching his way forward to fourth inside the final 30 minutes.
The Corvette Racing engineers huddled in the pitlane and decided to let Garcia
take a run at the then-second place No. 67 entry in the final 15 minutes to see
if he could gain another position, but the clock and opportunities ran out.
Milner went back around Garcia on the last lap to solidify the final
order.
Corvette Racing’s next event is the Michelin GT Challenge at
Virginia International Raceway on Sunday, August. 19.
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4
MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTLM: “That is the
name of the game here is to keep us scoring good points in this championship,
and this championship is going to go right down to the wire. A double podium is
very good for the team. The team really did a fantastic job and kept digging and
digging to keep working on the car. The boys had great pit stops as always. That
first stint for me was action-packed with the Porsches and the BMWs. There was a
lot of stuff going on in turns One, Five and Six. I managed to give it back to
Tommy in a reasonable state. He did a really solid job. Finishing second and
third is a great team effort for Corvette Racing. I’m very proud of the effort.
We’ll move on to Virginia and hope to get one better!”
TOMMY MILNER, NO.
4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTLM: “Another
Corvette double podium. I am very proud of this team. We work really hard to get
the best car every time, and we had really good cars there at the end. We were
just missing that little bit. The cars were super reliable; I could hit every
curb I wanted to. We have great cars at Corvette Racing as always. Olly did a
great job during that first stint. There was lot of action out there during the
first couple of laps, and I was pretty nervous. He did an awesome job. He
brought it in third, and we ended up second. Thanks to the whole team. It was a
good team effort at the end trying to catch the Ford. Antonio was just a bit
quicker than I was, and it was worth a shot letting him go by late in the race.
It felt weird getting by him on the last lap, but it was a good team effort
today.”
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R –
FINISHED THIRD IN GTLM: “I’ve never won here, and I thought for sure we had a
chance today. So it’s a little frustrating in that way. GTLM is so close. When
it comes down a pit stop under caution, you cannot afford to lose one second.
Unfortunately today for the first time in a long time, we went the other way on
the first stop. That compromised our race a bit and we had to go crazy on the
strategy. Before the last restart, I was last among the lead-lap cars. Winning
this race from seventh with 40 minutes to go would have been amazing. I wanted
to go for the win so bad. It was a gamble to ask the team to let me go after the
67 instead of fighting the 4 car. Unfortunately we were a lap short, which we
didn’t get when the overall leader got by us. Thanks to Corvette Racing and
Tommy to let me by and have a shot at the win. We’re still up there in the
championship, but it’s frustrating that we could have won the last four races.
But we are looking forward to the next three events and getting a
win.”
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R –
FINISHED THIRD IN GTLM: “Considering the race we had and how we went up and down
the order, third place for us and second for the No. 4 was about the best we
could hope for. The team did a great job as usual. The car was great to drive…
good as a race car. Even being close to other cars, we didn’t have a massive
loss of grip. We changed strategies toward the end of my stint, but I was so
happy with the car and where we were in the race. Fantastic job by Antonio as
usual… he was super-fast in the end. But we were just a lap or two short to get
the win. But it’s another podium. This is starting to look a lot like last year
in terms of the consistency we have. But man, we want that win.”
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