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CORVETTE RACING AT LAGUNA SECA: 25 Years of Monterey Magic
Team seeking ninth win at Laguna Seca; Garcia to make 100th post-merger start
DETROIT (May 9, 2023) – Corvette Racing will wrap up its two-race West Coast swing this weekend with what’s been an annual stop for the last quarter-century. WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on the Monterey Peninsula will play host to America’s most successful sports car team for Sunday’s MOTUL Course de Monterey.
The two-hour, 40-minute race, set for 3 p.m. ET and airing live on NBC, is the third race of this year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Full-season teammates Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor will pilot the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in the GT Daytona (GTD PRO) class as the team goes for its ninth victory at WeatherTech Raceway.
This is the 25th straight year that Corvette Racing has visited the 2.238-mile, 11-turn circuit just off the Pacific Ocean. The track is one of two where the program has raced in each of its previous 24 years – Sebring is the other – with Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta joining the list at the end of the season.
This weekend also marks another important milestone: Garcia will become the first driver in the WeatherTech Championship to make 100 starts in the series since the start of the post-merger era in 2014 when the American Le Mans Series and GRAND-AM joined together for one American sports car championship.
Since that time, Garcia has won 20 races – including in 2014 at Laguna Seca – and four championships… all with Corvette Racing.
He and Taylor hope to improve on last year’s fourth-place finish in GTD PRO. This time around, the Corvette program has a year’s worth of car and tire data to fall back on following its inaugural season in the class during 2022 with a modified version of the mid-engine Corvette C8.R.
The MOTUL Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai N is set for 12:10 p.m. PT / 3:10 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 14 and airs live on NBC with full streaming coverage on Peacock. IMSA Radio will have live audio coverage on XM 207, SiriusXM Online 992 and IMSA.com, which will have IMSA Radio coverage of all practice sessions, Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “We have made good progress with our car since we were last at Laguna a year ago. There is data we can look at for tire wear and performance, plus we have some correlation from our simulator to help. Last year we did lead early thanks to some luck and strategy, but it was clear we didn’t have the pace to compete. I’m hoping this year is better.”
(Making 100th start post-merger): “It doesn’t seem like it should be my 100th IMSA race! I have always said that racing in America is a lot of fun because of the tracks, the fans and the competition. It’s a lot of time away from home, but I feel like I have a second family with Corvette Racing, who I’ve been with since 2009. I am fortunate to have had a lot of great teammates and great races with many wins and championships in this series with I hope more to come.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “I’m looking forward to Laguna Seca. We didn’t have great pace there last year, but it was also early on in our development with this car on this tire. I feel like since that event we’ve made some big gains which we saw late last year and even in Long Beach and Sebring this year. Our guys have been nailing everything in the pits and strategy the last few events, so hopefully we can be a contender for the win.”
2023 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTD PRO (After three of 11 events)
Driver Standings
1. Ben Barnicoat/Jack Hawksworth – 1067
2. Daniel Juncadella/Jules Gounon – 994
3. Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 991
4. Klaus Bachler/Patrick Pilet – 989
5. Alex Riberas/Ross Gunn – 844
Team Standings
1. No. 14 Vasser Sullivan – 1067
2. No. 79 WeatherTech Racing – 994
3. No. 3 Corvette Racing – 991
3. No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports – 989
5. No. 23 Heart of Racing Team – 844
Manufacturer Standings
1. Lexus – 1067
2. Mercedes-AMG – 994
3. Chevrolet – 991
4. Porsche – 989
5. Aston Martin – 854
CORVETTE RACING AT LAGUNA SECA: By the Numbers
• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 25 years at Laguna Seca: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette.
• 3: Tracks where Corvette Racing has competed in each of its 24 previous years: Sebring, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (later this year).
• 4: Generations of Corvette Racing entries since 1999 – Corvette C5-R (2000-04), Corvette C6.R (2005-13), Corvette C7.R (2014-2019) and Corvette C8.R (2020-present).
• 4: Laguna Seca victories for the current Corvette Racing lineup – Antonio Garcia (three) and Jordan Taylor (one).
• 8: Number of Laguna Seca victories for Corvette Racing dating back to 2004.
• 12: Victories at Laguna Seca for Chevrolet in IMSA competition.
• 13: Drivers who have competed for Corvette Racing at Laguna Seca. Of those, eight went on to win at Monterey.
• 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
• 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.
• 124: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 113 in North America and eight at Le Mans.
• 271: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999.
• 13,534.20: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 24 previous trips to Laguna Seca. That represents 6,130 laps… or almost 800 trips around Carmel’s famous 17-Mile Drive.
• 354,050.01: 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 WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (wins in bold)
1999
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel – 2nd in GTS
2000
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Andy Pilgrim – 2nd in GTS (Fellows pole)
No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Justin Bell/Kelly Collins – 4th in GTS
2001
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GTS
No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins – 3rd in GTS
2002
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 5th in GTS
No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins – 3rd in GTS
2003
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GTS
No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Oliver Gavin/Kelly Collins – 3rd in GTS
2004
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 1st in GTS (O’Connell fastest race lap)
No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GTS (Beretta pole)
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 (Gavin fastest race lap)
2006
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 3rd in GT1
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GT1 (Beretta fastest race lap)
2007
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT1 (Magnussen pole, 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 – 2nd in GT1 (Magnussen pole, fastest race lap)
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1
2009
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT2 (Magnussen pole, fastest race lap)
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 10th in GT2
2010
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 6th in GT2
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 3rd in GT2
2011
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner – 7th in GT
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 5th in GT
2012
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd 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 – 1st in GT
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 9th in GT
2014
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM
2015
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 7th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GTLM
2016
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 7th in GTLM
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 – 3rd in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM (Gavin pole)
2019
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GTLM (Milner fastest race lap)
2020
No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GTLM (Taylor pole)
No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GTLM (Milner fastest race lap)
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 – 4th in GTLM
Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick
CORVETTE RACING AT LAGUNA SECA: 25 Years of Monterey Magic
Team seeking ninth win at Laguna Seca; Garcia to make 100th post-merger start
DETROIT (May 9, 2023) – Corvette Racing will wrap up its two-race West Coast swing this weekend with what’s been an annual stop for the last quarter-century. WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on the Monterey Peninsula will play host to America’s most successful sports car team for Sunday’s MOTUL Course de Monterey.
The two-hour, 40-minute race, set for 3 p.m. ET and airing live on NBC, is the third race of this year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Full-season teammates Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor will pilot the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in the GT Daytona (GTD PRO) class as the team goes for its ninth victory at WeatherTech Raceway.
This is the 25th straight year that Corvette Racing has visited the 2.238-mile, 11-turn circuit just off the Pacific Ocean. The track is one of two where the program has raced in each of its previous 24 years – Sebring is the other – with Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta joining the list at the end of the season.
This weekend also marks another important milestone: Garcia will become the first driver in the WeatherTech Championship to make 100 starts in the series since the start of the post-merger era in 2014 when the American Le Mans Series and GRAND-AM joined together for one American sports car championship.
Since that time, Garcia has won 20 races – including in 2014 at Laguna Seca – and four championships… all with Corvette Racing.
He and Taylor hope to improve on last year’s fourth-place finish in GTD PRO. This time around, the Corvette program has a year’s worth of car and tire data to fall back on following its inaugural season in the class during 2022 with a modified version of the mid-engine Corvette C8.R.
The MOTUL Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai N is set for 12:10 p.m. PT / 3:10 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 14 and airs live on NBC with full streaming coverage on Peacock. IMSA Radio will have live audio coverage on XM 207, SiriusXM Online 992 and IMSA.com, which will have IMSA Radio coverage of all practice sessions, Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “We have made good progress with our car since we were last at Laguna a year ago. There is data we can look at for tire wear and performance, plus we have some correlation from our simulator to help. Last year we did lead early thanks to some luck and strategy, but it was clear we didn’t have the pace to compete. I’m hoping this year is better.”
(Making 100th start post-merger): “It doesn’t seem like it should be my 100th IMSA race! I have always said that racing in America is a lot of fun because of the tracks, the fans and the competition. It’s a lot of time away from home, but I feel like I have a second family with Corvette Racing, who I’ve been with since 2009. I am fortunate to have had a lot of great teammates and great races with many wins and championships in this series with I hope more to come.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “I’m looking forward to Laguna Seca. We didn’t have great pace there last year, but it was also early on in our development with this car on this tire. I feel like since that event we’ve made some big gains which we saw late last year and even in Long Beach and Sebring this year. Our guys have been nailing everything in the pits and strategy the last few events, so hopefully we can be a contender for the win.”
2023 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTD PRO (After three of 11 events)
Driver Standings
1. Ben Barnicoat/Jack Hawksworth – 1067
2. Daniel Juncadella/Jules Gounon – 994
3. Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 991
4. Klaus Bachler/Patrick Pilet – 989
5. Alex Riberas/Ross Gunn – 844
Team Standings
1. No. 14 Vasser Sullivan – 1067
2. No. 79 WeatherTech Racing – 994
3. No. 3 Corvette Racing – 991
3. No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports – 989
5. No. 23 Heart of Racing Team – 844
Manufacturer Standings
1. Lexus – 1067
2. Mercedes-AMG – 994
3. Chevrolet – 991
4. Porsche – 989
5. Aston Martin – 854
CORVETTE RACING AT LAGUNA SECA: By the Numbers
• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 25 years at Laguna Seca: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette.
• 3: Tracks where Corvette Racing has competed in each of its 24 previous years: Sebring, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (later this year).
• 4: Generations of Corvette Racing entries since 1999 – Corvette C5-R (2000-04), Corvette C6.R (2005-13), Corvette C7.R (2014-2019) and Corvette C8.R (2020-present).
• 4: Laguna Seca victories for the current Corvette Racing lineup – Antonio Garcia (three) and Jordan Taylor (one).
• 8: Number of Laguna Seca victories for Corvette Racing dating back to 2004.
• 12: Victories at Laguna Seca for Chevrolet in IMSA competition.
• 13: Drivers who have competed for Corvette Racing at Laguna Seca. Of those, eight went on to win at Monterey.
• 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
• 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.
• 124: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 113 in North America and eight at Le Mans.
• 271: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999.
• 13,534.20: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 24 previous trips to Laguna Seca. That represents 6,130 laps… or almost 800 trips around Carmel’s famous 17-Mile Drive.
• 354,050.01: 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 WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (wins in bold)
1999
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel – 2nd in GTS
2000
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Andy Pilgrim – 2nd in GTS (Fellows pole)
No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Justin Bell/Kelly Collins – 4th in GTS
2001
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GTS
No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins – 3rd in GTS
2002
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 5th in GTS
No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins – 3rd in GTS
2003
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GTS
No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Oliver Gavin/Kelly Collins – 3rd in GTS
2004
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 1st in GTS (O’Connell fastest race lap)
No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GTS (Beretta pole)
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 (Gavin fastest race lap)
2006
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell – 3rd in GT1
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GT1 (Beretta fastest race lap)
2007
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT1 (Magnussen pole, 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 – 2nd in GT1 (Magnussen pole, fastest race lap)
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1
2009
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O'Connell – 2nd in GT2 (Magnussen pole, fastest race lap)
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 10th in GT2
2010
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 6th in GT2
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 3rd in GT2
2011
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner – 7th in GT
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 5th in GT
2012
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd 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 – 1st in GT
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 9th in GT
2014
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM
2015
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 7th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GTLM
2016
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 7th in GTLM
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 – 3rd in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM (Gavin pole)
2019
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GTLM (Milner fastest race lap)
2020
No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GTLM (Taylor pole)
No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GTLM (Milner fastest race lap)
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 – 4th in GTLM
Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick
