Corvette Racing kicked off the 2023 IMSA season with a dramatic showing, as the No. 3 Corvette C8.R appeared to be a dominant force before adversity struck during the dark hours of the 24 Hours of Daytona. However, The Bow Tie managed to recover and put up a fight right down to the line, finishing second in the GTD Pro class overall.
The No. 3 Corvette C8.R, driven by a joint effort between Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner, suffered a blown tire that resulted in brake damage. The Bow Tie’s sole GTD entry was forced to undergo repairs to replace the race car’s rear brake calipers and rotors before charging back out on track, two laps down.
The Corvette C8.R would ultimately lead 201 out of its 729 completed laps, certainly proving that it had speed. As the clock ticked into the final three hours, the Corvette Racing team had managed to claw its way back up inside the top three competitors in the GTD class. The No. 3 C8.R fought tooth and nail against the No. 14 Lexus RC F and the No. 79 Mercedes-AMG GT3 on the tricky Daytona infield road course. The No. 3 C8.R edged ahead of the Lexus, but could not rein in the Mercedes, flashing across the line 3.9 seconds back for second place.
After the race, Taylor explained that he was satisfied with his team’s performance despite the setback. “If you look at our race as a whole, we had some adversity during the night but came from two laps down,” he said. “Everyone executed well. We were in the hunt most of the way.”
Garcia said, “It was a bit crazy out there. With the P3 cars ahead of us, it was a lottery, especially in Turns 1 and 3. Everybody was getting super crazy. When you have a car with ABS, you can just go for it and that’s what people are doing.”
Milner was also encouraged by his Corvette Racing team’s efforts at Daytona. “Based on how everything was going in practice and in the [Roar Before the 24], I think P2 in the end is quite good,” he said. “My teammates did a great job. We were just missing a little bit of pace at the end. It was a good race for all three of us. We were racing super-hard and pushing super-hard. We just came up a little short.”
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Comments
They did well considering the brake and blow tire. The team really is where they shine as they are great at strategy.
But it will still be a tough season as this car is compromised, it still is an ill match for the tires it is running. The new car is coming that was designed for smaller tires. It should be a major advantage for them when it arrives.
I hope the Vette teams work together next year to make them all strong.
It will be interesting to see who all fields a team. I hope Hendrick is one. The three spdrivers of the Lemans Camaro would make a good team.
Team Corvette had a solid showing and ran very well considering the circumstances. I’m hoping they can keep it rolling for the entire season!
Where was the #4 corvette? Was it even entered? Couldn’t find any info anywhere!
Sadly the #4 isn’t running this year, only the #3 in IMSA. Last year they ran both but due to technical problems the #4 didn’t make it through the race. I believe it’s due to supply issues that they’re only running one. Hope that helps!
Actually they are doing like last year and running one car in IMSA and one in Europe at a number of events. This way they will have experience at all the tracks globally to better set up the new car and understand the new tracks.
Also this car is running at a disadvantage as they are running tires and weight placements that it was never designed for.
The BOP is helping them to keep competitive for now. Next year it may be to slow them down.
If your not Lead Dog the view never changes!
I agree with all of them. Sad to see that the C8 has had not enough speed agains the Aston, Mercedes as well eventually the Lexus.
Seems that BOP has heavily favored the Mercedes and the Astons for stright-line speed (both with same engine). But when you see the times of the new Porsche as well the new Ferrari and Lambos, then they still could be happy. These not only missed fractions of seconds, they missed a handfulll of seconds.
So wait and see wht IMSA is doing in realtioon of BOP for the 12 hrs of Sebring and FIA for the WEC /LM-class race and hope that there at least the merc engined cars get restricted.
I assume that Corvette is then much more able to be on front, because they clearly were been better on the brakes .
Bop went to Benz to start the season. They have not been doing well up till now,
They will adjust to try to keep them all close.
The truth was the Corvette held the advantage on the straights but the GTLM car struggles on the smaller tires so this is where the GT3R will be a car they will have to slow.
To be honest the BOP has favored the Corvette as losing the bigger tires killed the car as well moving weight.
Shocking that a front-engined car outqualified everyone and then won the race ! Is IMSA doing a number on their BOP to favor AMG ?
I can understand campaigning the two cars in IMSA and the WEC (I guess for more exposure?) but I believe both cars have competed better as a team. The crews learn from each other and the sharing of ideas and problem solutions just makes both cars much more competitive. If they are looking for more validation on the world stage, just look at their LeMans results through the years.