Press Release:
CORVETTE RACING AT SHANGHAI: Venturing to the Far East for WEC
Return
Gavin, Milner set to close team’s 20th season in Six Hours of
Shanghai
Corvette Racing returns to FIA World Endurance Championship
Gavin/Milner pairing coming off runner-up finish at Petit Le Mans
Second
WEC event outside Le Mans for Corvette Racing
DETROIT (Oct. 24, 2018) –
Fresh off a strong finish to their North American racing campaign, Corvette
Racing confirms Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner as drivers for its single-car
entry in next month’s FIA World Endurance Championship race at Shanghai,
China.
Gavin and Milner will team in a special Redline-liveried
Chevrolet Corvette C7.R with the familiar No. 64 – the same number on the side
of the Corvette which Gavin and Milner drove earlier this year at the 24 Hours
of Le Mans in the GTE Pro category. It was their only other FIA WEC appearance
of the season.
The Six Hours of Shanghai will wrap up Corvette Racing’s
20th season of competition. The Gavin/Milner duo ended the IMSA WeatherTech
SportsCar Championship season by placing second in class at Road Atlanta’s Petit
Le Mans to take third in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) Driver Championship; Corvette
Racing teammates Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen shared the Driver
title.
This will be the first race at the 16-turn, 5.45-mile kilometer
Shanghai International Circuit for Corvette Racing and its two drivers although
Gavin has some experience with testing and other non-racing activities at the
track. As far as FIA WEC experience, this will be the second appearance in the
series outside of Le Mans for both Gavin and Milner.
Milner competed for
Corvette Racing at the FIA WEC’s 2014 round at Circuit of The Americas,
finishing seventh in GTE Pro. Gavin raced the previous year for another
manufacturer at COTA.
The Six Hours of Shanghai will conclude Corvette
Racing’s historic 20th season of racing around the world. Since 1999, the
program has scored 107 global victories – including eight at the 24 Hours of Le
Mans – 13 IMSA Team championships, and 12 Manufacturer and Driver titles. It
also has completed more than 280,000 racing miles in two decades of
competition.
The FIA WEC’s Six Hours of Shanghai takes place Nov.
16-18.
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 64 REDLINE/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:
“It’s fantastic to go to Shanghai and compete in the World Endurance
Championship. The last time we saw most of those competitors was at Le Mans. We
know it’s tight, it’s tough and very competitive. So we’re looking forward to
it. It’ll be great to see the challenge of the race in China. Going back to the
WEC gives us a great chance to stay sharp in what is the offseason for IMSA. We
are going there to be competitive, to run up front and to go for victory.
Whenever Corvette Racing goes anywhere, it’s to win. A victory would be very,
very sweet. It’s a challenge but one we’re really looking forward to. It’ll be
great to see the challenge of the race in China.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64
REDLINE/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “We’re excited to challenge ourselves
in the World Endurance Championship. Usually it’s at Le Mans but to do it at a
place like Shanghai in more of a sprint format will be a lot of fun. It will be
a big challenge – just like it is here in the U.S. But everyone in the FIA WEC
is on top of their game as well. So it will be fun for us to challenge ourselves
and see how we do with our Corvette
C7.R.”
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CORVETTE RACING AT SHANGHAI: New Challenge Awaits in China
First race in
Far East for reigning IMSA powerhouse program
· Six-hour enduro to
test Corvette Racing team, drivers
· Gavin, Milner aiming to head into
offseason on a high note
· China is second-largest global market for
Chevrolet
DETROIT (Nov. 12, 2018) – For the entirety of its 20-year
run, Corvette Racing has shown itself to be one of sports car racing’s premier
programs. The team hopes again to prove its mettle in a completely new
environment this weekend.
The Six Hours of Shanghai is part of the
FIA World Endurance Championship and represents Corvette Racing’s second event
in the series this year – the first being the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Oliver Gavin
and Tommy Milner will pilot the team’s No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, which
highlights Chevrolet’s Redline series of vehicles with a striking silver, red
and black livery scheme for the event.
China is the second-largest
global market for Chevrolet, hence the special design treatment on the Corvette.
The Redline livery showcases a more contemporary look with sleek, stylish and
sporty design elements on the exterior and interior of all Chevrolet Redline
models.
While the C7.R may look different on the outside, it’s still
part of a program that is coming off three straight Driver and Team
championships in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM)
class. The competition in the WEC’s GTE Pro category is made up of many of the
same manufacturers and teams, so all of Corvette Racing is well aware of the
upcoming challenge.
There is plenty to study. The track – a 16-turn,
3.39-mile circuit – will be the 28thh different venue on which Corvette Racing
has competed. Gavin has some experience with testing and other non-racing
activities at the track, and Milner has driven the circuit on Chevrolet Racing’s
simulator.
The Six Hours of Shanghai will conclude Corvette Racing’s
historic 20th season of racing around the world. Since 1999, the program has
scored 107 global victories – including eight at the 24 Hours of Le Mans – 13
IMSA Team championships, and 12 Manufacturer and Driver titles. It also has
completed more than 280,000 racing miles in two decades of
competition.
The FIA WEC’s Six Hours of Shanghai takes place Nov.
16-18. Television and live streaming coverage will be available through Velocity
and MotorTrend On-Demand in North America on Saturday night into Sunday morning
Eastern Time.
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 64 REDLINE/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE
C7.R: “I’ve been to Shanghai a number of times but I’ve never competed there.
I’ve been there for test days and been around the circuit quite a lot. So I know
it very well and I know the area pretty well. It’s certainly a fast track and
challenging track. It has an exceptionally long backstraight with a fast,
sweeping right-hander onto that straight. It’s going to be a great challenge for
us. We’re all looking forward going back to the WEC and be part of that series
again. It’s a fantastic championship and it will be a big challenge for Tommy,
myself and the whole of Corvette Racing.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64
REDLINE/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “This will be my first time in China
and obviously first time to this racetrack. But we’ve done quite a bit of work
in the Chevrolet simulator already to get up to speed. Oliver has been to the
track in the past driving a number of different cars. So I feel like we will be
ready to go. It’s always something different and something special when you go
to a new racetrack – especially this one, which looks really impressive in
pictures and on video.”
About Redline in China
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. The Redline series 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.
https://tracksideracingnews.egnyte.com/dd/cyjGWA3Nbw/?thumbNail=1&w=1200&h=1200&type=proportional&preview=true
|UPDATED|11/14/2018 1:37:59 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|
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