Corvette Racing Preps For 53rd Rolex 24 At Daytona

Corvette Racing’s second season with the Corvette C7.R will kick off this weekend, as the team and their yellow cars head to Florida for the 53^rd Rolex 24 at Daytona. The team says they will be looking to “recapture the magic” of their overall victory at Daytona in 2001 during the first round of the 2015 Tudor United SportsCar Championship season.

Both C7.Rs will return to Daytona for the second consecutive year, with Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Ryan Briscoe piloting the No. 3 car, and Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and IndyCar’s Simon Pagenaud piloting the No. 4 machine. Corvette Racing says all six of the drivers logged “significant” amounts of track time during last weekend’s Roar Before The 24 test, in addition to the two tests it completed in late 2014.

Corvette Racing was looking strong at last year’s Rolex 24 before the No. 3 car suffered engine cooling issues about halfway through the race. The No. 4 car’s gearbox bearing also failed while it was leading, knocking it out of contention 22 hours in. The team says their Road Before The 24 test was problem-free, and is expecting a more successful result at the endurance event this year.

 “The main thing is that we’re one year on with this car. Last year was the first time Corvette Racing had been at Daytona in almost 15 years. It was the first time a lot of us who had come from ALMS were there under one banner for the TUDOR Championship,” explained Oliver Gavin. “There was a lot of feeling-out going on. No one really knew how it was going with all the cars being mixed together. This year I think everyone is coming in and they’ve already got an idea as to how everything is going to work after doing a full season of racing with everyone else. It should run a little smoother this year.”

The first round of the 2015 TUDOR United Sports Car Championship begins this Saturday when the green flag waves at the Rolex 24. Coverage will alternate between FOX Network, FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2 and IMSA.com over the entire 24 hour race. Flag-to-flag radio coverage will be available from IMSA Radio.