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CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: Season’s Third Win for Garcia, Magnussen
Chevrolet, Corvette Racing bolster GTLM Manufacturer’s, Driver’s
championship leads
ALTON, Va. (Aug. 27, 2017) – Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Jan
Magnussen won for the second straight year at Virginia International Raceway
on Sunday as the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R claimed
victory in the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. Garcia crossed the finish line
to win by 12.031 seconds.
The victory increased the pair’s lead in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar
Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) Driver’s standings. The result also moved
Chevrolet back into first place in the Manufacturer’s Championship with two
events left. It also marked Corvette Racing’s 106th all-time victory dating
back to 2000 – three of those coming at VIR.
Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin appeared set to join their teammates on the
podium of the GT-only race before late contact knocked the No. 4 Mobil
1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R from second-place. Milner drove a
storming final stint and had just moved up from third with pass going into
the braking zone of the track’s long backstretch, but the two cars went off
track and briefly stalled.
Milner was able to rejoin the field, but a punctured tire as a result of the
collision added insult to injury. He and Gavin eventually finished sixth.
Out front, both Magnussen and Garcia drove measured stints after starting
sixth on the grid. Magnussen drove the first 51 minutes and weathered
several close calls with slower competitors. He pitted from third to hand
over to Garcia, who rejoined fifth.
The final stop for the No. 3 Corvette saw Garcia rejoin in third place and
directly ahead of his closest championship competitor. After two stellar
laps on cold tires to build up the grip on the Corvette, Garcia set sail for
the lead two cars. The No. 62 Ferrari went off-track from second place with
32 minutes to go, and the lead BMW was forced to pit for a late-tire change
with 10 minutes left.
Up until that point, Garcia had taken impressive chunks of time out of the
lead as the lead car was questionable to make it to the end of the race on
fuel without a yellow flag period.
Corvette Racing’s next event is the America’s Tire 250 from Mazda Raceway
Laguna Seca on Sunday, Sept. 24.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – GTLM RACE
WINNER: "It was another long day at the office, but it was a good one. It is
definitely good to have competitive pace and remain up front. That was
something we weren't used to in the last few races. We had a really, really
tough middle stint where Ferrari and Ford were strong, but I was able to
keep up with them. I didn't know how much fuel they were saving, so I didn't
know what pace we were doing. I think the key was stopping one or two laps
longer than the Ferrari and the Ford because I had really clear laps from
those two, in the low 1:42s that made me so close to the Ferrari and
especially to be ahead of the Ford coming out of the pits. That was 90
percent of the race… that pit stop and being able to get in front of them.
It was a very hard two laps coming out of the pits on cold tires but I knew
if I was able to do that most of the race would come down to that. It was
keeping the pressure up on the Ferrari to force a mistake, and we didn't
allow the BMW to run very slow to make it to the end. That is part of
racing. I think we definitely deserve this one."
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – GTLM RACE
WINNER: "It’s unbelievable for us to come away with a win. Honestly, in the
middle of the race it kind of looked like a situation of 'OK, we aren't
losing too much in the championship – a couple of points here, a couple of
points there, but we would still stay in the lead of the championship.' Then
for things to turn around like they did in the last half-hour with the BMW
coming up short (on fuel) and the Ferrari falling off… crazy, absolutely
crazy result. This is such a fantastic result for the whole team. In a race
like this with no yellows, which we kind of knew it was going to be, you
can't really take advantage of strategy. There are very few knobs you can
turn in that situation. I think the crew, Antonio, just everybody on saving
fuel to start with and then going at the end putting a lot of pressure on
everybody… this is fantastic!"
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED
SIXTH IN GTLM: “Today’s been another day of highs and lows for Tommy and I.
It’s nice that we’re back with pace and hunting for podiums and victories.
Congratulations to the No. 3 Corvette for a great win and big step in the
championship. But once again it’s disappointing for us to be taken out of
the running for what would have been a podium and likely a Corvette Racing
1-2. Every single weekend, someone wants to run into us; it seems like we
are in the middle of incidents every weekend. Nobody wants that; we want to
race hard and fair. Our season has gone like that; every slice of bad luck
has come our way. On the positive side, the Corvette is fast and strong
again. Hopefully it bodes well for the last two races for the championship
where we can support our teammates in the Manufacturer’s, Driver’s and Team
championships. That has to be our focus. We’re frustrated today, but we’re
buoyed by the result for Antonio and Jan.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED
SIXTH IN GTLM: “Another disappointing finish to a race for Oliver and I. We
were judged not being a fault, which pretty much says it all about the
ending. We had the potential for a Corvette 1-2. Our Corvette was so good at
the end. The pit strategy was great; it really helped us at the end having
me in the end for a fresh stint. I was pretty worn out after that first
stint. But after getting a quick bite to eat and some liquids, I was ready
to go again for that last stint. We did everything right today. We’re really
not happy with how our race finished. We are happy that our teammates won,
but we deserved a good finish of our own and wanted to be up there on the
podium with our teammates.”
DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER: ““This just goes on the long
list of races where odds and statistics might indicate we would not have a
good chance of success. But when you take our engineering, our strategy, our
drivers and our crew into account, those are the reasons why we have won 106
races. Today was a demonstration of all those things coming together – as we
are known for – and once again we executed according to our plan.”
CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: Season’s Third Win for Garcia, Magnussen
Chevrolet, Corvette Racing bolster GTLM Manufacturer’s, Driver’s
championship leads
ALTON, Va. (Aug. 27, 2017) – Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Jan
Magnussen won for the second straight year at Virginia International Raceway
on Sunday as the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R claimed
victory in the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. Garcia crossed the finish line
to win by 12.031 seconds.
The victory increased the pair’s lead in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar
Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) Driver’s standings. The result also moved
Chevrolet back into first place in the Manufacturer’s Championship with two
events left. It also marked Corvette Racing’s 106th all-time victory dating
back to 2000 – three of those coming at VIR.
Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin appeared set to join their teammates on the
podium of the GT-only race before late contact knocked the No. 4 Mobil
1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R from second-place. Milner drove a
storming final stint and had just moved up from third with pass going into
the braking zone of the track’s long backstretch, but the two cars went off
track and briefly stalled.
Milner was able to rejoin the field, but a punctured tire as a result of the
collision added insult to injury. He and Gavin eventually finished sixth.
Out front, both Magnussen and Garcia drove measured stints after starting
sixth on the grid. Magnussen drove the first 51 minutes and weathered
several close calls with slower competitors. He pitted from third to hand
over to Garcia, who rejoined fifth.
The final stop for the No. 3 Corvette saw Garcia rejoin in third place and
directly ahead of his closest championship competitor. After two stellar
laps on cold tires to build up the grip on the Corvette, Garcia set sail for
the lead two cars. The No. 62 Ferrari went off-track from second place with
32 minutes to go, and the lead BMW was forced to pit for a late-tire change
with 10 minutes left.
Up until that point, Garcia had taken impressive chunks of time out of the
lead as the lead car was questionable to make it to the end of the race on
fuel without a yellow flag period.
Corvette Racing’s next event is the America’s Tire 250 from Mazda Raceway
Laguna Seca on Sunday, Sept. 24.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – GTLM RACE
WINNER: "It was another long day at the office, but it was a good one. It is
definitely good to have competitive pace and remain up front. That was
something we weren't used to in the last few races. We had a really, really
tough middle stint where Ferrari and Ford were strong, but I was able to
keep up with them. I didn't know how much fuel they were saving, so I didn't
know what pace we were doing. I think the key was stopping one or two laps
longer than the Ferrari and the Ford because I had really clear laps from
those two, in the low 1:42s that made me so close to the Ferrari and
especially to be ahead of the Ford coming out of the pits. That was 90
percent of the race… that pit stop and being able to get in front of them.
It was a very hard two laps coming out of the pits on cold tires but I knew
if I was able to do that most of the race would come down to that. It was
keeping the pressure up on the Ferrari to force a mistake, and we didn't
allow the BMW to run very slow to make it to the end. That is part of
racing. I think we definitely deserve this one."
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – GTLM RACE
WINNER: "It’s unbelievable for us to come away with a win. Honestly, in the
middle of the race it kind of looked like a situation of 'OK, we aren't
losing too much in the championship – a couple of points here, a couple of
points there, but we would still stay in the lead of the championship.' Then
for things to turn around like they did in the last half-hour with the BMW
coming up short (on fuel) and the Ferrari falling off… crazy, absolutely
crazy result. This is such a fantastic result for the whole team. In a race
like this with no yellows, which we kind of knew it was going to be, you
can't really take advantage of strategy. There are very few knobs you can
turn in that situation. I think the crew, Antonio, just everybody on saving
fuel to start with and then going at the end putting a lot of pressure on
everybody… this is fantastic!"
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED
SIXTH IN GTLM: “Today’s been another day of highs and lows for Tommy and I.
It’s nice that we’re back with pace and hunting for podiums and victories.
Congratulations to the No. 3 Corvette for a great win and big step in the
championship. But once again it’s disappointing for us to be taken out of
the running for what would have been a podium and likely a Corvette Racing
1-2. Every single weekend, someone wants to run into us; it seems like we
are in the middle of incidents every weekend. Nobody wants that; we want to
race hard and fair. Our season has gone like that; every slice of bad luck
has come our way. On the positive side, the Corvette is fast and strong
again. Hopefully it bodes well for the last two races for the championship
where we can support our teammates in the Manufacturer’s, Driver’s and Team
championships. That has to be our focus. We’re frustrated today, but we’re
buoyed by the result for Antonio and Jan.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED
SIXTH IN GTLM: “Another disappointing finish to a race for Oliver and I. We
were judged not being a fault, which pretty much says it all about the
ending. We had the potential for a Corvette 1-2. Our Corvette was so good at
the end. The pit strategy was great; it really helped us at the end having
me in the end for a fresh stint. I was pretty worn out after that first
stint. But after getting a quick bite to eat and some liquids, I was ready
to go again for that last stint. We did everything right today. We’re really
not happy with how our race finished. We are happy that our teammates won,
but we deserved a good finish of our own and wanted to be up there on the
podium with our teammates.”
DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER: ““This just goes on the long
list of races where odds and statistics might indicate we would not have a
good chance of success. But when you take our engineering, our strategy, our
drivers and our crew into account, those are the reasons why we have won 106
races. Today was a demonstration of all those things coming together – as we
are known for – and once again we executed according to our plan.”
