Corvette Racing’s Jan Magnussen believes the team still has some more fine tuning to do before the team can challenge for an overall win in the upcoming Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Magnussen qualified the No. 3 Corvette C7.R first in Sunday’s qualifying session during the Roar Before the 24 test, which determines pit stall selection for the race. The veteran Danish driver was only able to nab pole after getting a tow from teammate Oliver Gavin in the No. 4 Corvette through the oval section at Turn 7 and down the back straight – just as the team did last year when they nabbed pole in the GTLM class for the race.
Without the drafting strategy, the team probably wouldn’t have had the speed to put the C7.R at the top of the time sheets – leaving the Pratt & Miller squad with some work to do before the green flag flies later this month.
“We did exactly the same as we did last year where we agreed who was going to tow who,” Magnussen said. “It was me again like in race qualifying last year. That gave us a good top-speed advantage in that session. Olly (Gavin) did a fantastic job placing himself at the right distance out of Turn Six so I could take full advantage of the tow down to the Bus Stop and then go by him at start/finish to get the fastest lap.”
“The time today was a little artificial because of the towing we did, but we did want to try and win the session,” he added. “We had one car at the front and one at the back. The difference between our cars is the difference the tow makes. We have some work to do in order to be competitive over the full race. I’m confident the guys at Corvette Racing and Michelin will give us the best chance to win the race.”
Jan Magnussen at the 2019 Roar Before the 24
Corvette Racing may be able to capitalize on the draft during race qualifying later this month, Magnussen explained, as they are the only team using such a strategy.
“We did the exact same thing at the Roar and the race last year, so I don’t really know why everyone else is doing the exact same thing,” Magnussen said. “But it seems we’re the only one doing it at the moment, and it’s working out really well for us.”
“We’ll have a little bit of testing at the race so we can try some different things. But we need to arrive back here with a car that’s ready for qualifying and for the race,” he added.
Corvette Racing completed more than 1,200 miles of testing during the Roar as it prepared itself for the 57th Rolex 24 at Daytona, which is scheduled for January 26th and 27th. The season opening race will mark Corvette Racing’s 21st full season of competition.
Comments
corvettes problem is they have to run a lot of wing downforce for traction coming out of the turns but kills top speed on the straights. they need a on the fly adjustable wing
The down force is a problem but all the teams are sandbagging much right now.
With the Balance of Power no one is wanting to show all they have do most teams are drafting to mask their true speeds to gain a good pit stall.
People like to hate the BOP but it is what has kept the Corvette competitive with the mid engine cars.
I hope it will be less needed once the Corvette moves to the C8.
There is a lot of strategy here and you do not want to show all your cards.
Adjustable wings are not legal and are somewhat dangerous. When they fail the crashes are major. Jim Hall found that out on the Chaparral race cars. Most series have ruled them out decades ago. The mechanical adjustments by the crew are fine but nothing on the fly.
i don’t believe they are sand bagging because the racing assoc. checks the engine computer throttle trace to see if they are not going all out. they do not do that over at le mans and that is how ford GTs got away with it. jim halls wings were controled by a foot pedal and now days it can be controled with a computer driving a servo motor
https://autoweek.com/article/imsa/are-imsa-teams-sandbagging-daytona
There are a number of stories out there on the Sand bagging and how they are trying to stop it.
The teams can mess with telemetry easily. Timing and boost can be rolled back. Just driving in traffic or even not turning full laps are also done.
Suspensions can be set to slow a car too.
As for the moving wing it matters little how it is done. The fact is racing bodied want them mounted solid for safety. A broken cable, broken belcrank, broken hinge, jammed wing is catastrophic at speed and that is why they went away and are not used in racing outside super modifieds today.
I work in the racing industry and know some of the tricks. The IMSA guys know even more.
The reality is you can tune a car for a specific lap time that you want and go easily undetected. Yes they are that good.
I know for sure they can read the boost pressure because one of the cars several years ago was penalized because they went .1 of a pound over boost durring the race.
Yes but can they tell they are using springs and shocks that will change the handling of the car? No because they generally don’t know what is the primary ones as they can be different on each car and with each driver and even be different depending on the weather.
Yes they can read boost.
Tire pressures can change lap times and they are all not the same.
The variables to slow a car are easy to cover if you know what to do.
IMSA does a better job than in France but you can still fudge things a bit.
The GT deal in France the one year was just a give me for Ford on tbe 50th. That one was not even trying to hide it. True sand bagging is generally very hard to spot if done properly.
are you saying team corvette racing is not smart enought to sandbag but try and win the pole by going the fastest ??
Not at all.
They know that this race is won on who is fastest over 24 hours and not one lap.
They know a good pit stall is worth seconds in the pits.
They were smart enough to go fast enough to get it but also hide behind the draft to cover the true speed.
Dan Binks is a long time trans am and GTO pro from years back and knows how to play the weight game.
The Vette team has done well with the oldest car in the field. BOP has helped but they still need the C8R asap. If they see this competitive with this car a new one should really help.
If the Vette team had not tried to draft they would not have gotten the stall. Also if they got it with no draft they would get more weight added.
More strategy in qualifying than it looks.
Still will be a tough race on the old car. Should be the last at Daytona for the C7R
since daytona has a lots of high speed sections the other cars in their class will blow right by the corvettes. corvettes will have to depend on luck to win.. as some one who has owned 11 new corvettes it is sad to see what they have to depend on to winning a championship without a class win.
The entire GTLM class will be close. The BOP has kept the new cars and the old cars close.
Luck always plays a small part to any and all racing. But team prep and execution is what truly fuels a teams performance.
The Ace in the hole for GM has always been Pratt and Milker racing as they have been one of the best racing teams in the history of racing. Even faced with great odds at the end of the race they are almost always with in striking distance.
To be honest they in the past have been so good before the BOP most other MFGs dropped out. One year it was mostly the two Vettes running each other and they ran for the ALMS eco index.
I have been a fan of Pratt and Miller since they ran the old black and silver Goodwrench cars. They have always had top drivers and some of the best wrenches like Dan Binks.
They may not win but they will remain in contention this year. They will compete again for the over all championship.
While doing that they will also be developing the C8R that is already running test. It should be ready right out of the box and will be competitive at the first race.
Note they appear to have already been testing a very fast V8 Turbo at Sebring already. The videos showed it was a new engine.
Exactly, Corvette’s have the greatest restrictions and the heaviest cars in their class. They have the best engines bar none, the only reason that they are even remotely competitive is that their team and builder are extremely skilled.
They drive the wheels off of their cars and they are completely on the edge at all times with little to no margin for unexpected events. All sanctioning bodies struggle with competitive balance, IMSA, SCCA, and FIA. As a racer I would love to be driving a Ford or Ferrari right now. Thinking Porsche drivers are feeling similar thoughts about competitive advantage also. Over many decades of racing, there has always been a pendulum of sorts as one manufacture or another appears to hold a better had. Today, all of them are extremely reliable and all of the drives are the very best at their craft. Best car and a bit of racing luck wins!