Corvette Racing Takes Third Straight IMSA Win In Rainy Road America Race
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Corvette Racing took its third straight victory in Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship race from Road America, with Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia crossing the finish line ten seconds ahead of the No. 4 Corvette C8.R sister car of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner.
The race began under dry conditions and would have likely been won by the No. 912 Porsche 911 of Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor if rain clouds did not descend on the 4.048-mile circuit. Bamber had pulled out a 15-second gap over the No. 3 Corvette C8.R in his opening stint – a sizable lead that Taylor and Garcia no doubt would have had trouble closing up. As raindrops began to fall, though, Corvette Racing called Garcia into the pits to swap his slick tires for wets. The Porsche team, by comparison, elected to leave Bamber out for one more lap – a decision that ended with Bamber sliding off into the kitty litter at Turn 1, bringing out the caution flag.
When racing got back underway, Garcia found himself battling with new leader John Edwards in the No. 24 BMW M8 and the second place No. 911 Porsche of Nick Tandy. Edwards and Tandy eventually got a bit carried away, though, and went off track trying to navigate the GT Daytona traffic. This allowed Garcia to inherit the lead and take the win in the No. 3 Corvette C8.R – marking the first time the experienced Spaniard has won at Road America, believe it or not.
“Finally! It took me forever to win here,” Garcia exclaimed post-race. “How wild was that? I don’t know how I got through the Kink there. From the Carousel, (Nick) Tandy and I were navigating and we had to go around the GTD cars… their leaders probably. I was risking a lot and obviously Nick was risking a lot too, as I saw later on. I don’t know how I made it through and I saw the 24 spinning too. It was just amazing. Obviously the Corvette C8.R navigates as well, too! We will take it. Another Corvette 1-2 today is just awesome!”
“Our race went to a three-stop race strategy pretty early on,” added Taylor. “The way we were track-position wise, we saw the rain before the other guys and were able to duck in the pits before it went yellow for the first time. It was a great call and Antonio did a great job to survive the conditions and bring home another 1-2 finish for the Corvette C8.”
The IMSA WeatherTech Championship heads to Virginia International Raceway next for the Michelin Challenge from VIR on August 23rd.
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Chevrolet C8.R winning again, this is something that no one who loves Chevrolet or the Corvette will ever get bored with as you hope it’s a battle between the two Corvette teams for the championship at the end of the season.
As a fan it is awesome to see all the c 8 r teams battle it out for what can be a championship season
They were a little off pace this weekend. But the team keep them in the hunt and the car is much better in rain than the 911. They played a strategy to keep them close at the end and the guys got it across the line,
The really sad thing is this class is going to be down to just 4 cars unless something happens. GM may have to go to GTD class but that is ok as those cars are more closer to stock It would mess up the driver line up as they need at least one less than pro per car. Though the teams kind of bluff their way through.
They will still run these cars at Lemans next year and they should be even more sorted by then,