The No. 4 Corvette C8.R of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner led a 1-2 sweep of Saturday’s IMSA Cadillac Grand Prix from Sebring International Raceway for Corvette Racing. The victory was the second straight win for the General Motors factory team after it took victory at Daytona earlier this month and was also the second win for the new mid-engine Corvette C8.R.
The No. 3 and No. 4 Corvette C8.Rs ran second and third early on in the two-hour and 40-minute sprint round, but moved into the first and second positions after the two leading Porsche 911 GTLMs collided in the pit lane. The yellow No. 3 Corvette led the grey No. 4 sister car until the midway point of the race, when Garcia was forced to pit one lap earlier than Milner thanks to fuel-saving efforts from Gavin early on. Milner then put in a fast lap in clean air before diving in for fresh tires and fuel and emerging with a three-second lead on Taylor.
With the No. 4 car leading, the two Corvette C8.R entries pitted for the final time about 20 minutes apart, holding their respective positions and giving the Pratt & Miller-run team its 101st IMSA victory, 109th team victory and 61st one-two finish. Interestingly, the Sebring win also came on the one-year anniversary of the debut of the 2020 Corvette C8.
Milner acknowledged the race was made easier by the Porsches coming together in the pits, but congratulated the team for keeping it clean and minimizing mistakes.
“The success of this team is incredible, and to be a small part of that is obviously an honor,” he said. “It took us awhile to get 100 so it’s nice to get over the hump to get 101 and not have to talk about that one! Today was all about strategy and not making mistakes. It looked like we were going to have a pretty good race with the Porsches. It was all pretty close but then all fell apart there as far as that goes.”
The No. 912 Porsche 911 was third in GTLM, while the No. 24 and No. 25 BMW M8 entries were fourth and fifth. The No. 911 Porsche 911, which cut down a tire after the pit lane clash with the No. 912, was last of the six cars competing in GTLM in 2020.
Check out the video embedded below for full highlights from the IMSA Cadillac Grand Prix from Sebring.
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Comments
Was a 1-2 win for Corvette, and a 1-2-3 for Cadillac
I was looking forward to a good race with the 911’s, but…
The two Corvettes performed flawlessly and it gives a glimpse of what the future Corvette Z06 will be like.. a wide body with bigger tires for even better handling characteristics.
It is a shame we have great cars like these at a time the class is at risk.
They may have to rework these cars for GTD class if no one comes to the class.
Porsche is leaving and BMW really is not looking like they are motivated. Then add in the economic issues due to the virus.
I expect Chevy to ride this out and do what ever is needed to be racing this car.
To be honest GTD may not be a bad option as these cars are much closer to stock production.
GTLM needs to go away. Unless they plan to compete with super GT or the DTM, might as well just go with a class that races everywhere.
DTM has their own issues with Audi pulling out.
GTD would be the way to go.
Look at the ADAC GT Masters series. 30-35 competitors racing in one class, Two Callaways represent Corvette,
one a team car and one a private entry. The racing is great, very competitive.
The Le Mans race will determine the future of the category. With the new P1 regulations allowing supercars, will GTE/GTLM still be a thing?