CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: Second-, Third-Row Starts for Corvette C8.R

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PRESS RELEASE:

Corvette Racing will line up from the second and third rows at Virginia
International Raceway for the Michelin GT Challenge

CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: Second-, Third-Row Starts for Corvette C8.R

ALTON, Va. (Aug. 21, 2020) – Corvette Racing will line up from the second
and third rows at Virginia International Raceway for the Michelin GT
Challenge following Friday’s 15-minute qualifying session in the IMSA
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) class.

Jordan Taylor qualified fourth and teammate Oliver Gavin fifth in the pair
of Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs around the 17-turn, 3.27-mile
road course on the Virginia/North Carolina border. Saturday’s race will see
Corvette Racing and Chevrolet go for their fourth straight victory on the
season and an extension of their championship points leads.

Taylor set a lap of 1:41.228 (116.291 mph) in the No. 3 Corvette that he
shares with Driver’s Championship co-leader Antonio Garcia. Right behind was
Gavin with a 1:41.662 (115.795 mph) lap in the No. 4 C8.R that he will drive
with Tommy Milner. The quartet will try to give Corvette Racing its fourth
victory at VIR since 2012 and third overall win in the GT-only race since
2016.

Weather could potentially play a factor in Saturday’s 2 p.m. ET race (live
on NBC Sports Gold and Trackpass). Qualifying and Friday’s opening practice
each took place on a dry track while Friday afternoon’s final practice was
in the wet with Gavin setting the fastest time of the session.

Corvette Racing is coming off a soggy, come-from-behind win from Garcia and
Taylor at Road America earlier this month, and the pairing also won at
Daytona in July in a rain-affected race. Gavin and Milner, third in GTLM
points, were winners at Sebring in mid-July and finished second to their
teammates at Road America.

The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on Saturday with
live coverage on NBC Sports Gold and Trackpass. NBCSN television coverage is
set for 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. IMSA Radio will broadcast the race on
IMSA.com, which also will host live timing and scoring.

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED
FOURTH: "Starting on the second row isn’t what we wanted, but I think it’s
close to what we expected. It was a tough day to get a read on the track
with a number of different series and going from dry to wet to dry again.
Qualifying was the first time I’ve run dry laps here since 2017, which was
interesting but a good learning experience. It looks like the race will
likely be dry so we’ll take a close look at the data from this morning and
qualifying to get a read for our race setup. I feel like we have a better
handle on tire wear than we did at Road America, and we’re in good shape
with our allotment. If this race comes down to strategy then I like our
chances."

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED
FIFTH: "Certainly today was very challenging in a number of ways. The track
and weather conditions were all over the place, which made nailing the
qualifying setup difficult. We gave it our best shot, and I think we will
race better than where we qualified. A lot goes into winning a race here at
VIR with the track layout and unpredictable weather, which we could have
more of tomorrow. So we will see. I’m confident that we have a good sample
of data from this track with this new mid-engine Corvette now to come up
with a good setup and strategy for the race.”
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