The No. 3 Corvette C7.R of Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen attempted to take the lead in Sunday’s Monterey Grand Prix at Laguna Seca with a strategic pit call, however the team’s plan was foiled after being forced to pit in the race’s closing minutes.
The race-winning No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT of Richard Westbrook took the checkered flag after Westbrook managed to save fuel throughout a 50-plus minute stint following the team’s first and only pit stop. The No. 3 C7.R team had attempted to mimic their strategy, however Briscoe was unable to make it until the end of the race and was forced to pit for fuel before finishing fourth in GTLM.
The No. 4 Corvette C7.R of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner was running a strong race until Gavin spun the wheels of the car in the pits before the jack had lowered it all the way, forcing him to serve a drive through penalty. This bumped the No. 4 car from seventh to tenth, however Gavin turned in an expert drive to recover the positions and finish seventh.
The No. 66 Ford GT had attempted to use the same one-stop pit strategy as the No. 67 sister car and the No. 3 C7.R, but like the Corvette was forced to pit for a splash of fuel before finish sixth in GTLM. The No. 68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 of Alessandro Pier Guidi slotted in behind the No. 67 car in second, while the No. 912 Porsche 911 of Fred Makowiecki took the final podium position.
Corvette Racing heads to Le Mans next for the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team will attempt to defend their 2015 GTE Pro class win in the 84th edition of the endurance race, but will face additional competition this year thanks to the four-car Ford GT effort.
Comments
i thought a gtlm car had to be selable off a showroom floor? ford gt is not being produced for consumer consumption. and what all of a sudden ford is allowed 4 cars at le mans? ford hasnt even run there for years. i thought one had to be invited to race le mans. i guess ford was invited and allowed 4 cars so the foreign car makers, especially porscha could help knock out corvettes #’s 3&4. even though porscha has done a good job of that in several races this year with no penalties. it is a good thing corvette racing are gentlemen about all of this. i am shure if they, corvette racing had knocked out porscha or whoever, they would have been disqualified from racing imsa races. i guess its in who you know, who you pay off and who are dirty racers.
good luck corvette at le mans. hopefully it will be 1-2 just like sebring.
I am a Die Hard P&M Corvette fan but Howard here is the deal.
#1 Ford GM and Porsche can enter how ever many cars the like. P&M just does 2 of their own choosing. There will be a couple other private cars entered too for the Corvette.
#2 The Ford technically is sold to the public even though it will only be 500 cars. Ford is doing similar to what other MFG have done over the years and taken a race car to the street while GM here has taken a street car and gone racing.
#3 IMSA has been tough on Corvette and at times I agree it has not been fair. That has been racing in SCCA and IMSA or some of the other series for years. Nothing new there. If you are dominate often it can be unfair. They want to keep the cars even as they can in competition and points or they lose MFG and when they lose MFG the series dies. Just look at the IMSA, Can Am and Trans Am series and how many times they dies with no competition.
#4 I am ok not being dominate at ever race with a win. This may help not give the Corvette team another weight penalty like we have seen the last two years. If they can lay back a little now they can dominate the end of the season and win a championship. They have the best cars and to be honest here they cost them selves the race on stratigy not due to the lack of performance. Ford only won on MPG.
i agree, ford won legally and fair but you have to admit corvette racing has many enemies at imsa. even when the bop has gone against corvette they still have won many races due to drivers, pit crews and managment so let them race and hopefully imsa will eventually quit having favorites and let all the teams race as is, no more favorites and hopefully porschea will start racing fair and square and lose without pouting and crying to imsa how corvette almost alwaus wins. may the best team win legally and fairly.
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Howard I understand how you feel but in the racing industry it is much different than how you perceive it.
I work in the racing industry and here is what you are missing.
#1 Racing is a business not just a sport.
#2 Racing is entertainment not just a sport.
The reality is no unlike football and Baseball racing is business and entertainment as much as anything. In the ball and stick sports it is much less complicated and technology has not been as difficult to control.
In Football you can not build a bigger faster player but in racing where cost is no object to some you can do about anything you want. This is where the series managers have to watch out for them selves as if some MFG comes in and dominates they will lose all the other MFG’s and the series will dies a fast death.
We saw this with IMSA back in the early 90’s when everyone pulled out but Toyota at the end. The same has happened in the Trans Am series several times. Trans Am is now more a spec series for non factory teams now in the 4-5th attempt.
It is difficult to keep a series alive today with cost and technology running wild. All series are struggling right now from NHRA, NASCAR, Indy and even F1 has seen some real challenges.
Even Pratt and Miller knows this is not personal and more about keeping them in check due to the fact they have the best car most places. IMSA to remain strong needs all the MFG they can get.
I agree it suck to see this and the way they handled the last two years in IMSA rally sucked as I think it could have been done better.
The reality is there really is little pure racing anymore. Even on the lowest levels of racing not much is pure anymore.
The bottom line is this is not about favoritism but more about keeping people watching and coming to races. Also it is about keeping as many Mfg.’s involves as possible. The performance levels keep changing and so the rules keep changing.
I was there when Audi was eating everyone’s lunch with Hans Stuck and the Audi Trans Am cars. They kept adding weight and they kept winning till they finally took away their advantage. What did Audi do? They left. Same for some others when it happened to them.
Their system is not perfect and I agree could be applied better at times but there is not much other way to handle this. If you have a way to keep everyone happy and even I am sure they would pay you well to share it.
Next thing is to watch NASCAR as Toyota has an advantage and in time NASCAR will help Ford and GM catch up again. Toyota will cry fowl but when the fans stop coming because only a Gibbs car wins NASCAR will not sit and do nothing.
Sorry there is no conspiracy here just business.
The best thing for the Vette’s to do is lay low stay at the top of the points and unleash holy hell in August and finish the season on a winning streak when it is too late to stop them. That is what most teams do in cases like this.
Dan Binks has played this game for years and will deal with it well.
I remember a few years back when almost every team was upset by the corvettes in gt3. If I remember correctly, the corvettes were too “fast.” They broke no rules, they just had a better setup squeezing every ounce of power out of the engines and putting that power to the pavement. I believe it was Porsche who wanted the corvettes de-tuned, or run in a faster class. I found it ludicrous and amusing at the same time. I agree with Howard. As long as a race is won fairly, accept it and move on. It’s not team corvette’s fault that they win races, they know how to win races, and they do it very well.
Funny how I spoke to a Guy retired from GM performance last night and we talked about this.
I said racing today is about business and entertainment and that is why these changes are made in many series. He said you nailed it on the head. He spoke how there is little pure racing anymore due to tech and money and the need for PR.