Corvette Racing Claims 100th Win In Lime Rock Thriller

Corvette Racing captured their 100th win in Saturday’s Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park, with No. 4 Corvette C7.R drivers Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin driving a clean race to defend their IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship lead.

Finishing second behind the No. 4 Corvette C7.R was the No. 3 sister car of Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, while the No. 67 Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook rounded out the GT Le Mans podium in third. The result marked the first loss for the Chip Ganassi Ford squad since before they won the GTLM round at Laguna Seca on May 1.

“Achieving 100 victories is a tremendous accomplishment for Corvette Racing,” Jim Campbell, Chevrolet motorsports vice president, said in a statement post-race. “It’s a testament to the dedication of all the crew members, engineers, drivers and our engine team members over the past 17 years.”

The short 1.5-mile track at Lime Rock played host to 31 cars for the two hour, 40-minute affair, making for a scrappy race that saw multiple caution periods and a couple of memorable wrecks. The worst came late in the race when No. 912 Porsche 911 driver Earl Bamber attempted to pass the No. 25 BMW M6 and made contact, sending both cars hard into the wall.

Another scary moment came earlier in the race when the No. 88 Prototype Challenge car of Misha Goikhberg hit GT Daytona Ferrari driver Christina Nielsen under yellow, ripping the Ferrari’s passenger door off and sending the GTD series leaders to the pits for repairs.

The C7.R got groove back at Lime Rock after struggling to find pace under altered Balance of Performance rules at Watkins Glen and Laguna Seca. The No. 4 Corvette was the fastest GTLM car with a lap of 51.341 seconds, while the No. 3 car was close behind with a lap of 51.474. The quickest lap from the No. 67 GT was a 51.403. The team had pace at Canada earlier this month, but fell victim to pit strategy.

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will head to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin next for the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase the weekend of August 5th. Click here for full results from Lime Rock and here for a full schedule for Road America.