Corvette Racing driver Antonio Garcia, who had led the GTLM class in points throughout much of the series, has taken a back seat to Jonathon Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer of the SRT Motorsports No. 93 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R. Garcia and his No. 3 Corvette C7.R trail behind the two Dodge drivers by seven points going into the final race of the season: the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
While Garcia’s co-driver – Jan Magnussen – is another 14 points behind Garcia, all hope is not yet lost for Corvette Racing. Magnussen will be eliminated by mathematics as soon as the Viper is on the track for the minimum 45 minutes to begin accumulating points, but Antonio Garcia could still beat out the Dodge duo if he places well enough. Meanwhile, SRT Motorsports only has to finish in third or better to clinch the championship.
Still, it’s not unreasonable to hope for a GTLM class win for Antonio Garcia and Corvette Racing, as this season has certainly seen its fair share of tumult. Corvette Racing currently has a total of four class wins this season, as compared to SRT Motorsports’ two, and you can bet that every qualifying car in the class will be giving it their all for a hopeful podium finish next Saturday.
Comments
Hopefully, the powers to be will NOT saddle the Corvettes with sanctions/restrictions as they’ve been doing all year.
Corvettes don’t stand much of a chance as they’re being held back by new IMSA/Tudor regulations that were imposed on them about three races ago. IMSA is using these regulations to manage who will win the GTLM championship.
The Bop or Balance of Performance index has bitten the Vette hard. This is nothing new as it is the same formula that the SCCA killed the Trans Am series with several times.
I know sanctioning bodies are hard pressed to keep all models competitive or they risk losing MFG’s. NASCAR does a good Job of it and several others do too like Pirelli World Cup.
This series is really lacking the ability to work to balance all models as they have proven to not even to show an interest in getting the Corvette back to an even plane.
This series also has made some very bad calls with on track incidents that they penalized cars for things they did not do or not penalizing them for things they did do.
If things do not improve I would like to see the Corvette go else where to race. The Trans Am series is coming back and really showing some vigor with many of the past big names getting back involved. So far the SCCA has been doing a good job of balance and treating the fans well at the track. I have been to the last two races they had at Mid Ohio and had a great time and have two posters on the wall with all the driver signatures on it. The last race started a record 60+ cars.
Tommy Kendal was back as well as some other drivers are coming back too.