GM’s long-running record of success in motorsport has just extended even further thanks to Corvette Racing completing a clean sweep of GT Le Mans titles of the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. In fact, the team won by simply crossing the start line at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the final round of the season.
The triple win marks a roaring success for debut season of the all-new C8.R – the race-going version of the all-new mid-engine Corvette. Just as the C8.R represents the first mid-engine Corvette race car, the C8 Corvette represents the first mid-engine Corvette in the model’s 67-year history.
This season, Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor have shared the #3 C8.R. The drivers made this weekend’s job easier on November 1st by finishing second at Laguna Seca, which gave them enough points to win the Drivers and Teams titles. The Manufacturers Championship remained unsettled, but would go to Corvette Racing if the car merely started at Sebring, which it did.
“I knew that finishing at Sebring would be very tough,” said Garcia before the race. “Fighting for a championship at such a hard event would have been difficult. I’m glad we got it out of the way.”
“The first season for the Corvette C8.R has shattered all of our expectations,” said GM president Mark Reuss when the result was confirmed. “The success of the Corvette Racing team wouldn’t be possible without the close link between the crew and the Corvette engineering team. It has been great to watch these two teams work closely together to learn from each other. I can’t wait to see what next season brings.”
Garcia and Taylor finished a promising fourth in the opening round of the 20202 GTLM series, the Rolex 24 at Daytona that took place on January 25th-26th. Like their IMSA contenders, they then had to wait as the championship was delayed by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The season resumed on July 4th, from which point Corvette Racing won six rounds out of seven, one of them thanks to Garcia and Taylor’s team-mates Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner.
This year’s win represents the third IMSA clean sweep by Corvette Racing in five seasons, with the team achieving the same feat in 2016 and 2018. It was also the second time the team has won an IMSA title in a brand new car. The first time was in 2005 – the first year of the Corvette C6.R.
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Comments
it is going to be interesting to see what is going to happen with Corvette Racing as IMSA is not sure of the GTLM series because of lack of competors. What is Corvette going to do or will it compete in the GTE series in Europe? What is the future for Corvette racing ?
This has been my thought too.
If BMW leaves then do they run a Corvette vs Corvette? Not practical.
Too late to get a car ready for GTD.
I suspect they expect the BMW team to remain and will work to get another brand in the series. With the Virus companies tend to be conservative so getting a new brand would be difficult even if they started in June.
Wowzers! America should be proud of this “Star Spangled All American Sports Car and Team”….fresh out of the box and winning or placing at the top at the end is nothing short of incredible! It takes a lot of hard work to do this, to be this successful with basically a new product (The C8) and to go up against established manufacturers with products and teams that are given “Carte Blanche” shows the determination of these “Red White and Blue” Corvette Racing Teams!
As a long time Corvette owner over the years (good grief I’m in my 70’s and still driving my Corvette all over SoCal) I’ve watched every generation of Corvette get out there and compete on race tracks all over the world, and in many instances watched them “kick ass and take names” on those race tracks…and if they didn’t win, they usually placed near or at the top!
So kudo’s to the Corvette Teams that has been “getting the job done”…racing against such amazing foes takes a lot of talented people and products, we can all be proud of these amazing people who have the gift and the talent to “Win, Win, Win”….God Bless ’em all, America’s proud of you and your success with such the new (mid engine C8) Corvette!
Keep up the good work, and I’ll just bet every Corvette Loving owner all across America is proud as hell too! Bravo GM!
GM is the best car company in the world.