|
Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Marianna
Posts: 898
Name :
|
CORVETTE RACING AT LONG BEACH: Expect the Unexpected
PRESS RELEASE:
Team looking to extend southern California success after bizarre 2022 race
CORVETTE RACING AT LONG BEACH: Expect the Unexpected
Team looking to extend southern California success after bizarre 2022 race
DETROIT (April 11, 2023) With its two longest races of the season in the
rear-view mirror, Corvette Racing now faces its shortest contest of the
season as it heads west to southern California for its only street race of
the season.
The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is an intense 100-minute dash for the
Corvette Racing program and the rest of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar
Championship. Its an event that the team has won more than another team in
series history four times since 2014 to go along with four more
victories in the American Le Mans Series era from 2007-2013.
The familiar pairing of Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor will pilot the No.
3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO
class. The two finished third in last years Long Beach race the first
street race for the GTD-spec C8.R despite a bizarre pitlane incident that
took the Corvette out of contention for the victory.
Taylor was the class pole-winner after a last-lap flyer and led the entirety
of his first stint. A loose wheel nut during the pit stop escaped the
Corvette pit, hit a stone and flew into the radiator of another car a
one-in-a-million occurrence that unfortunately netted the Corvette a
drive-through penalty.
Aside from that round of bad luck, there is reason to be confident again.
Corvette Racing has a full year of data on the GTD-spec configuration, most
notably the customer Michelin tire that all GTD teams must run in IMSA
competition. Simulation tools aided the teams preparation last year, and
expectations are that 12 more months of work in the virtual world plus
sessions in the Chevrolet Driver in the Loop simulator will put the C8.R
in contention again.
The results through the first two races are encouraging for this weekend.
Garcia and Taylor along with Tommy Milner finished second in class to
open the season in the Rolex 24 and ran out front most of the Sebring 12
Hours before late-race contact and on-track chaos meant a fifth-place
result.
The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. ET / 2:05 p.m.
PT on Saturday, April 15. The race will air live on USA Network from 5-7
p.m. ET with full streaming coverage on Peacock. IMSA Radio will air
qualifying and the race at IMSA.com along with Sirius 217, XM 207 and
SiriusXM Online 992.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: Its been a
long time since Ive won at Long Beach. I feel like Ive been through more
ways of losing this race than winning it! There was a crash in the Hairpin
that blocked the track one year, I had a shifting issue on the restart
another and then last year with the wheel nut coming off in pitlane and
going into another car
Im ready for one normal year! But this is a fun
event that is very unique. The fans are great and there are so many that
come to watch us race. I hope we can give them a good show and finally
another win for the 3 Corvette. We are due for it.
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: Its always
nice to go back to Long Beach. Its the first sprint race of the year. Weve
settled in with Daytona and Sebring with endurance races, and the end of
those races gets pretty intense. But Long Beach, the whole event is intense,
right from the start with practice. Last year we had a great car. We were on
the pole and led for the whole first stint and then had a that crazy fluke
incident on pitlane which kind of put us out of contention for the win. It
would be nice to go back there and be as competitive as we were and execute
as well as we did last year. Having a year under our belt with this car and
this class, we learned a lot throughout last season that already has been
beneficial this year.
2023 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD PRO (After two of 11 events)
Driver Standings
1. Daniel Juncadella/Jules Gounon/Maro Engel 708
2. Ben Barnicoat/Jack Hawksworth 682
3. Klaus Bachler/Laurens Vanthoor/Patrick Pilet 659
4. Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Tommy Milner 643
5. Jordan Pepper/Romain Grosjean 612
Team Standings
1. No. 79 WeatherTech Racing 708
2. No. 14 Vasser Sullivan 682
3. No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports 659
4. No. 3 Corvette Racing 643
5. No. 63 Iron Lynx 612
Manufacturer Standings
1. Mercedes-AMG 708
2. Lexus 682
3. Porsche 659
4. Chevrolet 643
5. Lamborghini 612
CORVETTE RACING AT LONG BEACH: By the Numbers
1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 16 years at
Long Beach: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette.
3: Generations of Corvette Racing entries at Long Beach since 2007
Corvette C6.R (2007-13) and Corvette C7.R (2014-2019) and Corvette C8.R
(2021-current). All three generations have won at least once at Long Beach.
4: Number of Long Beach race victories for Corvette Racings duo of
Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor.
8: Number of drivers who have competed at Long Beach for Corvette Racing
Olivier Beretta, Antonio Garcia, Oliver Gavin, Jan Magnussen, Tommy Milner,
Johnny OConnell, Nick Tandy and Jordan Taylor. Each driver won at least
once at Long Beach.
8: Number of Long Beach victories in 15 appearances for Corvette Racing
more than any other IMSA entrant at the circuit.
10: Number of Long Beach sports car victories for Chevrolet. Throw in 12
IndyCar wins, and Chevrolet has claimed 22 victories in the events two
premier races.
14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since
2001.
19: Number of street circuit victories for Corvette Racing more than any
other IMSA entrant at the circuit.
26: 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, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St.
Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen
30: Number of wins in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for
Corvette Racing since the start of 2014.
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.
123: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing 113 in North America and
eight at Le Mans.
269: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999.
4,081.61: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 15
previous trips to Long Beach. That represents 2,074 laps around the
1.968-mile street circuit.
353,311.01: 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 Long Beach
2007
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell 2nd in GT1 (Magnussen
fastest race lap)
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin 1st in GT1 (Gavin pole)
2008
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen 1st in GT1 (Magnussen
pole)
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin 1st in GT1 (Gavin
fastest race lap)
2009
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell 2nd in GT1
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin 1st in GT1 (Beretta
pole, fastest race lap)
2010
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny OConnell 2nd in GT2
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen 9th in GT2 (Gavin fastest
race lap)
2011
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner 5th in GT
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen 2nd in GT (Magnussen
fastest race lap)
2012
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia 4th in GT
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner 1st in GT (Gavin fastest
race lap)
2013
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia 5th in GT
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner 4th in GT (Gavin fastest
race lap)
2014
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia 1st in GTLM (Magnussen
pole)
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner 3rd in GTLM (Milner fastest
race lap)
2015
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia 3rd in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner 7th in GTLM
2016
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia 9th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner 2nd in GTLM
2017
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia 5th in GTLM (Magnussen
pole)
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner 1st in GTLM
2018
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia 4th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner 1st in GTLM
2019
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia 2nd in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner 3rd in GTLM
2021
No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor 2nd in GTLM (Taylor
pole)
No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy 1st in GTLM (Tandy fastest
race lap)
2022
No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor 3rd in GTD PRO (Taylor
pole)
Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick
|
Linear Mode
