Corvette Racing’s Ryan Briscoe is hoping the team can carry the winning momentum from their class victory at Daytona to the next leg of the Tudor United Sportscar Championship and the second endurance race of the season, the 12 Hours of Sebring. Briscoe, who joined the Corvette Racing camp as an occasional third driver last year, drove the No. 3 C7.R to a win at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January alongside Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia.
In a recent interview with RACER, Briscoe acknowledged there will be “really tough competition in the (GTLM) class (at Sebring), extremely close,” and that “the key is going to be keeping your nose clean.” At Daytona, the C7.R finished without a scratch on it, with Briscoe saying everything in the race “just went right,” a result the team is likely looking replicate as they head to Sebring.
Briscoe, who occupied a seat in a Chevrolet IndyCar for Chip Ganassi Racing last year, says he’s familiar with Sebring and likes its notoriously bumpy sections, a result of its history as a World War II-era Air Force base.
“I love it. I’ve done lots of miles around that place (in IndyCar testing),” he said “It’s fast. It’s got some really high-speed corners. It has both bumpy and smooth sections to the track. The wind always plays a huge part on the balance around the whole circuit. It’s kind of like Indianapolis. Every time you hit the track you watch the wind, because you know that’s going to play a big effect on your car’s balance from corner to corner. I like that.”
The 33-year old driver has good reason to “love” Sebring. He won the P2 prototype class with former team Level 5 Motorsport their in 2013, and also raced Penske’s well-known Porsche RS Spyder prototype at the track over the course of his four seasons in the car.
“Winning (P2 with Level 5 Motorsport in 2013) was really cool,” he said. “But I’d say racing the (Penske Racing Porsche) RS Spyder was the highlight. Those cars were incredible around that place, back in ‘07 and ’08. The downforce those cars had was just super exciting and very fast. We didn’t manage to win in that car – we had mechanical issues.”
Watch Briscoe, along with Corvette Racing teammates Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia, Tommy Milner, Oliver Gavin and Simon Pagenaud battle for the team’s second straight win of the Tudor season as the 12 Hours of Sebring takes the green flag on March 21st.
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