CORVETTE RACING AT LIME ROCK: Going for Two

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Press Release:
CORVETTE RACING AT LIME ROCK: Going for Two

No. 3 C8.R team will try to go back-to-back after class win in Canada


DETROIT (July 18, 2023) – Long tracks and short tracks… Corvette Racing has won at them both. It’s the latter that’s next on the team’s calendar as the longest-running sports car racing program in North America heads to Lime Rock Park for Saturday’s FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix presented by Liqui Moly.


The No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor will look for back-to-back victories this weekend, having won the last time out at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park two weeks ago. As was the case then – and at most stops on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule – Corvette Racing owns a stellar record at Lime Rock.


With six victories at the 1.474-mile, seven-turn road course in northwestern Connecticut, no team in IMSA history has won more times at Lime Rock than Corvette Racing. In fact, no team in the paddock has half the number of victories at the circuit.


A seventh Lime Rock triumph would go a long way toward helping Garcia, Taylor, the No. 3 C8.R team and Chevrolet get back in prime position to fight for the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO championship. There are five rounds to go counting this weekend with the Corvette squad third in the Drivers, Manufacturers and Teams standings and within striking distance of first place.


The Garcia/Taylor pairing has stood on the top step at Lime Rock before, taking victory in the GT-only race in 2021. This is the first of two races this season to feature only GTD PRO and GTD cars, the second coming at Virginia International Raceway in August. Of note, six of Corvette Racing’s 126 victories worldwide have been overall wins, including the 2021 Lime Rock win for the No. 3 Corvette.


The FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 22. The race will air live on USA and stream live on Peacock inside the United States and IMSA.com outside the U.S. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions beginning with Friday morning’s practice at IMSA.com with the race call also on XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.


ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “It’s always good to go right back to racing after a win. Everyone I think gets to the track feeling better about things, so I hope that is the case for us at Lime Rock. This is a very intense and physical race usually. It’s so hard to pass and if we are stuck behind GTDs, especially early, then it can be a long and frustrating day. This race is all about track position, so we need to arrive at the track with everything right on our Corvette so we can start fine-tuning immediately. That will be the easiest and best way to start toward the front and hopefully stay there.”


JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Lime Rock is such a unique race for us. It’s nothing like any of our other events, a true bullring of a track. I feel like we’ve had a few races in a row now that we’ve been executing on all levels, and everything fell into place for us at CTMP to get the win. With Lime Rock being such a big race on execution, I always like our chances with Corvette Racing. And if we need to make some positions on track, maybe some of my stock car experience from this year can come into play.”


2023 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTD PRO (After six of 11 events)

Driver Standings

1. Ben Barnicoat/Jack Hawksworth – 2,110

2. Daniel Juncadella/Jules Gounon – 2,014

3. Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2,001

4. Klaus Bachler/Patrick Pilet – 1,955

5. Alex Riberas/Ross Gunn – 1,698

*
Team Standings

1. No. 14 Vasser Sullivan – 2,110

2. No. 79 WeatherTech Racing – 2,014

3. No. 3 Corvette Racing – 2,001

4. No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports – 1,955

5. No. 23 Heart of Racing Team – 1,698


Manufacturer Standings

1. Lexus – 2,110

2. Mercedes-AMG – 2.014

3. Chevrolet – 2,001

4. Porsche – 1,955

5. Aston Martin – 1,709


CORVETTE RACING AT LIME ROCK: By the Numbers

• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 25 years of racing: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette

• 4: Generations of Corvette Racing entries at Lime Rock Park since 2004 – Corvette C5-R (2004), Corvette C6.R (2005-13), Corvette C7.R (2016-2019) and Corvette C8.R, which made its Lime Rock debut in 2021

• 6: Number of victories at Lime Rock for Corvette Racing, the most of any entrant in IMSA.

• 7: Number of drivers who have won races at Lime Rock for Corvette Racing – Oliver Gavin (four), Olivier Beretta (three), Jan Magnussen (two), and Johnny O’Connell and Tommy Milner (one each). Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor joined the list with last year’s victory

• 7: Fastest race laps for Corvette Racing drivers at Lime Rock. Antonio Garcia (2017) was the most recent

• 7: Pole positions at Lime Rock for Corvette Racing, the most of any entrant in IMSA. Jordan Taylor (2021) was the most recent

• 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001

• 27: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Monza, Portimão, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen

• 34: Number of drivers for Corvette Racing since 1999. Ben Keating and Nico Varrone joined that list with their participation – and victory – in the 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the World Endurance Championship

• 100: As in Corvette Racing’s 100th program victory at Lime Rock Park in 2016

• 126: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 113 in North America, nine at Le and three in the FIA WEC. The most recent came in the last IMSA round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

• 277: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999.

• 6,708.24: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 15 previous trips to Lime Rock Park. That represents 4,412 laps or 64 trips from the Empire State Building in New York City to the track

• 359,080.28: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon… and then some!


Corvette Racing at Lime Rock Park (wins in bold)

2004

No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GTS

No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GTS (Beretta pole, fastest race lap)


2005

No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT1

No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Beretta pole, fastest race lap)


2006

No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT1

No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 4th in GT1 (Beretta fastest race lap)


2007

No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT1 (O’Connell fastest race lap)

No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1


2008

No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1

No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GT1 (Gavin pole, Beretta fastest race lap)

*
2010

No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Johnny O’Connell – 12th in GT2

No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 5th in GT2


2011

No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner – 9th in GT

No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 10th in GT


2012

No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GT

No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 3rd in GT


2013

No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GT

No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GT
*

2016

No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTLM

No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GTLM (100tth Corvette Racing win; Gavin fastest lap)


2017

No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLM

No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 8th in GTLM


2018

No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTLM (Garcia pole)

No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GTLM


2019

No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 5th in GTLM

No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Marcel Fässler – 6th in GTLM


2021

No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 1st in GTLM (Taylor pole)

No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 2nd in GTLM


2022

No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 4th in GTD PRO


Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick