No. 4 C7.R Wins Class At Daytona 24, Corvette Racing Goes 1-2 In GTLM
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Corvette Racing’s No. 4 C7.R has won its class in the 2016 Rolex 24 at Daytona following a nail-biting end-of-race battle with the No. 3 C7.R sister car. The two Corvettes crossed the finish line nearly neck-and-neck to give the team a 1-2 finish – Corvette Racing’s first 1-2 at Daytona in its history.
The result came after an intense 15-minute battle between Oliver Gavin, driver of the No. 4 C7.R, and Antonio Garcia of the No. 3 car. Gavin had made his pass for the lead on Earl Bamber, driver of the No. 912 Porsche 911, with just over 30-minutes to go and was looking like a shoe-in for the win, but Garcia was closing in fast on fresher tires.
Garcia took two late-race shots at Gavin for the lead. The first came at Turn 1 where Garcia looked as though he might complete the pass, however Gavin shut the door upon the corner’s exit. On the final lap he made another bid for the lead on Gavin’s outside, but again he was shut out by the Huntingdon, United Kingdom native.
The No. 4 C7.R ended up crossing the finish line just 0.034 of a second ahead of the No. 3 car, making for an epic photo-finish between the two yellow ‘Vettes. The result marks the first win for Gavin and Tommy Milner in the United States since 2013 and was Marcel Fassler’s first-ever win in a Corvette.
Both Corvettes experienced minor setbacks throughout the race. The No. 4 car was handed down a 60-second stop-go penalty in the 21st hour of the race for violating pit-light rules, while the No. 3 car was given an infraction for speeding in pit lane. The No. 3 car was also turned around by Ferrari driver Olivier Beretta about 12 hours into the race following a restart, bumping them back to eighth.
Check out the video below to see the nerve racking photo finish between the two Corvette C7.Rs, and click here for full preliminary results from the 2016 Rolex 24 at Daytona.
A brilliant finish. I hope the @CorvetteRacing fans enjoyed this finish. We love to fight it out like this! pic.twitter.com/oZ9IwBBwVr
— Jan Magnussen (@janmagnussen) January 31, 2016
Photo via IMSA.tv
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Now THAT is an impressive race, with 2 great cars and drivers. Looking good for the 2016 season!
Extremely good news. Finally some very positive news on the Vette front.
Just seems it has been continual bad press for the Vette, most recent being ZO6 placed last in Motor Trend comparison test with Viper ACR and Porsche 911.
Great job guys!
Motor trend mag is a rag mag. I own a 15 Z06 and have had none of the problems they post.
As far as a good season and not won in north america since 2013, last years win at daytona and the 12hrs of sebring both won by corvette racing. Please get your facts straight. I know 24hrs at lemans is not in north america but corvette racing won that one too. THE TRIPLE CROWN OF SPORTS CAR RACING. GREAT SEASON LAST YEAR AND THE LAST ELEVEN YEARS ACTUALLY.
I suppose all the foreign teams will cry fowl now like they have so many times in the past and IMSA will find something that is not fair to foreign cars and will penilize corvette racing.
If you dont believe me, DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE YOU START TEARING ME APART.
Congrat’s Corvette Racing, way to spank ’em!
Ridiculously close finish for a 24hr race. Looks like the C7.R’s will be very competitive this season.
They have always been competative. Great teamwork. Drivers, pits and corvette
Well I spent quite a few hours watching this race the last two days and could not have loved a better finish.
the penalty and making it up was awesome!
Now my real worry is IMSA and their confounded rules. Pratt and Miller has been the best team on the track the last three years. But being dominate they have been penalized the last two season late and it has cost them two championships.
It is time for IMSA to let them alone and for once garner the awards they have earned with a better car.
I was expecting Porsche to be tough but at the end they were just not strong enough. The Ford I had a fear of Sandbagging after the test but it appears the GT needs some more work but I expect with the funds from Fords Chip will bring them around soon enough.
Having got to spend some time around the P&M team this could not have happens to a better group of hard working guys.
You want a good read get Dan Binks book going faster and it tells you the kind of guys that make this team work.
Congrats guys lets take Sebring and Le mans now!
I will wear my team hat to work tomorrow with pride!
IMSA has and the crybabies of all the foreign cars have been doing this to corvette racing more than two seasons. The last year and i believe it was the last race of the C6.R season one of corvette drivers said before the race, “we dont cry about things like this but, we might as well give the trouphy to someone else with all imsa has put on the corvetts”. This might be out of context a little bit i remember reading this article.
Well corvette won that race even with what imsa did to corvette racing team again.
Imsa and the foreign teams have done these things time and time again.
Corvette racing is just plain a great team. I dont remember what imss did either .. i believe it was to add weight and made them start with less fuel.
Corvette racing is the best.
By the way did anyone else notice Mark Reuss was right there in the pits with the P&M team. Good to see that and I hope they keep sending their race work to them. They have the best race car builders involved and need to retain them.
Hey Mark. We had a Jake edition , How about a Pratt and Miller edition with some tweaks by them?
Congrats to the Corvette racing program.. especially as whatever they learn to make their cars better will be incorporated to the C7 Corvette we’re able to buy for the street.
I own a 15 Z06. Great car. The Z06 and the C7.R were built side by side at the corvette plant and have alot of the same items in each. Some things are different. Smaller motor in the C7.R and the rear axel and tranny coolers arent in the same place and the C7.R runs with the C6 paddle shift while the C7 has an 8 spd paddle shift. Same exact frame and cockpit enclosure though and are both built at the corvette factory. One great car. I loved my C6 Z51 paddle shift but was kinda pushed into purchasing the C7 Z06 and happy i did but would have been just as happy with my C6. 154mph at the glen. Cant wait to get my Z06 up there.
So glad to hear that.
That photo is one of the historic.
Catch the latest Doug Fehan YouTube video that is available and you will find some interesting BOP (balance of performance rules) information that is encouraging for this years racing. It was filmed one day before the Daytona 24 and Doug is quite informative of how the BOP is formulated this year. With this information and Doug’s optimism, this might be the best IMSA GTLM racing yet. I agree that P&M builds and races the best race car that is made from the best Sports Car out there. Congrats to GM, Corvette Racing, Pratt & Miller, the Race Crew, and the very talented Drivers. Sebring and Le Mans…………Go For It!!!!!!!!!
Black C7, 7 speed! Thank God I retired and live in Daytona Beach where everyday is race day!!