Corvette Racing fell short of the mark at Road America this past weekend, with the team’s two Corvette C8.R entries finishing behind the sole Porsche 911 RSR entry in the GTLM class.
The Michigan-based team controlled the race early on, with Jordan Taylor leading in the No. 3 Corvette C8.R and Nick Tandy following close behind in the No. 4 sister car. The team then took a gamble on strategy, calling Taylor into the pits for fuel on tires just 22 minutes into the race. This handed the lead to Tandy, with the WeatherTech Racing Porsche following in second and Taylor now in third.
Tandy dove into the pits for fuel and tires about 40 minutes into the race, with a caution coming out shortly after. Taylor then came into the pits under yellow for fuel and tires and handed driving duties over to teammate Antonio Garcia. Tandy, meanwhile, remained in the car and took a fuel top off.
When the green flag came out, Tandy extended his lead over Garcia to more than five seconds, although another caution period undid his hard work and bunched the field back up. Garcia then stopped the No. 3 Corvette for more fuel and tires with 75 minutes left, while the No. 4 car came in less than 15 minutes later for a driver change to Tommy Milner. The pit crew allowed the Corvette’s wheels to turn while it was up on the air jacks, though, resulting in a penalty that relegated the No. 4 car to third in class.
As the No. 4 Corvette incurred a penalty and the No. 3 sister car struggled for grip, WeatherTech Racing’s Matt Campbell found even more pace and extended the team’s lead over the two Chevys. They crossed the finish line a significant 15 seconds ahead of the No. 3 car, while the No. 4 car rounded out the three-car GTLM field.
Corvette Racing now turns its attention to the FIA WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans, which will unofficially begin with a test day at La Sarthe on August 15th. The team has already travelled to France in preparation for the endurance race, which will go green on August 21st. This year’s running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be the first time the mid-engine Corvette C8.R has participated in the race, with Chevy sitting out last year’s edition of the event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Comments
Sam, just STOP already.
Your implying and miss leading in that the team is giving up due to struggles when you’ve known for months that the #4 car, the new car, the 4th C8.R chassis would “be air freighted to France following the IMSA round at Road America on August 8th.” Your words
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corvette-racing-building-fourth-corvette-c8-r-chassis-for-le-mans-appearance/
You also imply/miss lead the “Corvette appeared to struggle for pace at Road America”. Really? The #4 car qualified 2nd behind the #3 C8.R with a time that was 2.5 sec. faster then the #79 Porsche and ran a fastest lap (of the GTLM car) of almost 0.2 sec. faster in the race then the #79 Porsche. With a new chassis!
Pathetic.
Only 1 other car in race and the Chevy got beat!
The biggest issue in the loss was the fact that the Porsche was on a two stoo strategy, as opposed to the Corvette three stop strategy. The difference at the end was defined by pit stops. I was at the race and it was obvious.
Why talk about the Corvette loss in their class and avoid even mentioning that Cadillac finished first and third overall and in their DPI class?
In my opinion it’s because Sam is Anti-GM, look at the average narrative of his stories!
There are over 6 million car accidents in America each year but Sam can only find ones where the idiot crashing or causing an accident is driving a GM vehicle, as if GM owners are all idiots.
I guess that goes for the race teams also.
Words to live by, Corvette Team…”NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOUR ADVARSARY”, especially when they’re Porsche Teams!
Even one little, tiny lonely Porsche can wreak havoc against you and if you were to make just one small wrong decision or just one small thing goes wrong on the race track and your timing is off or you make a “bad call” (sic) you will be in the battle of your life to regain the lead or stay ahead of those Stuttgart Terrors!
That said, I’m rooting for “The Home Team”, and as a long time Corvette owner (and an SCCA competitor many long years ago) I speak from experience. Those “Foreigners” can be a handful, they are relentless and very cunning, you have to be one step ahead of them constantly, or you’ll not even make a “Podium Finish”, words to the wise, always be on your guard.
Factually speaking, these new C8’s are a force to be reckoned with, very impressive for a fairly new vehicle and team, so while those Porsche Teams are tough, they’ve proven that they can be beat at their own game, but sometimes, well….
you just have to accept that you got snookered or the “Forces That Be” were against you, but don’t give up or give in, just rethink your strategy and game plan for that race and go onto the next race, kicking ass and taking names! Go America!
And your surprised !! OK you all can start to complain. lol
it wont be long before the Corvettes have to add 300# of weight so the precious ugly volkswagons can win. Sounds like the volkswagon got lucky this time . The Porsche is without a doubt the ugliest car i have ever seen. Ramblers are better looking
BRING BACK DOUG FEHAN!
Well, as is usual in the circumstances, IMSA has the Corvette weighing 100 pounds more than the Porsche which had enough fuel to run for 1 hour and 8 minutes and then a 4 mile cool down lap. That kind of advantage forces Corvette to try and get creative with strategy. It’s just that simple and has always been that way going back to the Aston Martin days.
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