The second race of the 2014 TUDOR United Sportscar Championship, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, will kick off this weekend and Corvette Racing will be eager to redeem themselves from their performance at Daytona. The race at Sebring is the oldest in America and will celebrate its 62nd running when the green flag drops on Saturday.
The race at Sebring is especially important for Corvette Racing. The team says it is the spiritual birthplace of the Corvette Racing program, with a Corvette racing for the first time ever at the 1956 Sebring Twelve Hours and placing ninth overall. Now, almost 60 years later, Corvette Racing is gunning for their ninth win since 2002 at the Florida classic, this time in the brand new C7.R.
“Sebring is one of the toughest race tracks in the world,” Mark Kent, Chevrolet’s Director of Racing, said in a statement. “Corvette Racing’s success in the 12 Hours is a testament to the preparation and work ethic of the team at Chevrolet Racing, Pratt & Miller and GM Powertrain. Winning Sebring once is an incredible accomplishment, and doing so eight times is nothing short of remarkable. We are confident the new Corvette C7.R, with its improved handling, stability and efficiency, can help add to that record at Sebring.”
As at the first race of the season, the 24 Hours of Daytona, both of the Corvette Racing cars will be piloted by three different drivers. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen will team up with IndyCar driver Ryan Briscoe in the No. 3 Corvette C7.R, while the defending Sebring class winners, Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner, will share the No. 4 entry with Robin Liddell.
Corvette Racing tested the C7.R at Sebring on multiple occasions prior to this year’s race – and with good reason. Sebring International Raceway is infamous for being one of the roughest tracks of any of the road circuits. The track sits on the site of Fort Hendricks, a former World War II airbase. Certain sections of the circuit, most notably Turn 16 through to the exit of Turn 1, uses the original concrete runway, which makes for some of the bumpiest sections of racing surface in the world.
You can catch Corvette Racing competing in the Mobile 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on FOX Sports 1 from 10 am to 1 pm ET on Saturday, with the last leg of the race airing in a live stream on IMSA.com. A three hour recap of the race will also air on Sunday morning at 8:30 am ET on Fox Sports 1.
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