Corvette Racing remains in the hunt for the GTD Pro title in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship after securing a podium at Road America on Sunday.
Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor started the IMSA Fastline SportsCar weekend off strong, with Garcia qualifying third to put the team on the second row of the GTD grid. The Spaniard also had a trouble-free opening stint, maintaining third throughout his 40-minute session before coming into the pits just as rain began to fall on the 4.048-mile circuit.
Quick work from the Corvette Racing pit crew put Taylor at the front of the GTD Pro field after the first round of green flag pit stops, however the American lost two places in rapid succession as the Chevy struggled on Road America’s numerous long straightaways. Taylor then proceeded to fall to fourth as he grappled with the tricky conditions and an overall lack of straight-line speed from the C8.R.
The track began to dry toward the end of Taylor’s stint, with the American coming into the pits for tires, fuel and a driver change during the second of three full-course yellows, which came out with roughly 78 minutes left on the clock. Garcia re-entered the track in fourth on slick tires and moved his way back into third before the final caution came out with 58 minutes remaining.
Chevy elected to keep Garcia out during the final caution, believing track position to be a greater benefit than fresh tires, however the Corvette once again fell through the order once the green flag came back out. Garcia was forced to settle for third in GTD Pro, with the Lexus RCF GT3 of Vasser-Sullivan taking the overall win in the class and the Porsche 911 GT3 R of Pfaff Motorsports claiming second.
The 2022 IMSA season will continue with the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR from Virginia International Raceway on August 28th. Corvette currently sits second in the GTD Pro team’s championship, trailing Pfaff Motorsports by 227 points. Click here to view full results from Road America.
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Comments
I am okay with this. I had hoped for a track-killing always winning, and maybe it will eventually.
Still love my 2021 C8 and even though it is not gonna beat that person in the Euro car (who paid twice as much).
Let’s not give up.
Save the Wave!
I’m not ok with this, it takes longer to fill up the gas tank, weight, and throttle body restriction play into the overall performance of the teams ability to be competitive and then comes down to pit strategy. Even if the team comes out first, eventually PRO and GTD eventually pass the team… Visible on the straightaway.
Early in the year the team was in learning mode and made great strides and began to win in PRO and pass GTD. Then powers to be stepped in and the team gradually started to fall out as restrictions play a role in the teams bracket and placement.
JMO
Don’t get me wrong, the C8.R is impressive in many ways. Is the current issue mostly BoP? Sure, I think so. That said, I’m still really missing the deep baritone roar of the C7.R. You could hear it coming and then hear it pulling hard all the way down the straights. It was the sound that Chevy fans had come to know and love for almost 70 years. Even when BoP’d, it seemed to still have great torque pulling out of the turns. Maybe even the C7.R’s 50/50 weight distribution was beneficial at certain parts of the track? I dunno. A lot of us have long desired to see a 6.2 liter turned loose to “clean house”, but alas, that is not in the rules. In the end, I’m still a Corvette guy and will move forward.
Was at the track all weekend, What I couldn’t understand is how the C8R could lead out of the pits, be P3 by turn 3, but could generally keep overall pace with the Lexus & Porsche. The only thing I can think of is the car was setup more for corner downforce which would hurt straightline speed.