The No. 3 Corvette Racing C8.R struggled at Lime Rock Park on July 22nd, 2023, but managed to cross the line in fourth place in the GTD Pro class – enough to propel The Bow Tie-backed team into second in the division point standings.
Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor split driving duties during the two-hour and 40-minute race, which only featured GT-class entries. Garcia took control of the No. 3 C8.R from the start, hanging onto his third-place position and even leading before his first pit stop. The No. 3 Corvette Racing team was on a three-stop strategy, but unfortunately, a caution period just a few minutes after the C8.R peeled out of the pits meant that strategy wouldn’t hold water long term.
Forced to now consider fuel conservation, the No. 3 C8.R muscled onward until the last pit stop, which occurred with 72 minutes left in the race. Garcia handed control of the race car to Taylor, but unfortunately, as he was trying to leave the pit box, the No. 3 C8.R would not go into gear, losing nearly 10 seconds. Taylor got it sorted out and rejoined the other racers at speed, but was only able to get back to fourth place, all said and done.
“It was a pretty frustrating day,” Taylor said after the race. “We didn’t have the fastest car, but with the way the strategy was looking, it looked like we were going to be able to jump a bunch of guys on that last stop and then something went wrong on the stop itself. I couldn’t get it back in gear, and we were sitting there for an extra 10 seconds. Once you lose all that track position, it’s impossible to pass around here.”
Garcia echoed his sentiments about the difficulty of passing. “A very frustrating race,” he said. “It felt like it was impossible to pass anybody on track, and it was all about track position. It’s a shame we didn’t have a better starting position in qualifying, but that was kind of a key thing this year. We never had the ultimate pace to be upfront in qualifying.”
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I remember in the early 2000's when AM and other manufacturers were given a small advantage over the C5R's to balance competition. This track and some others along with IMSA’s efforts to balance the cars makes it difficult if not impossible to pass a competitor and the pit actions seem to be controlling the end result. Had Corvette or Porsche or MB been able to gain the lead it would have likely resulted in their win. The result in this race was a merry-go-round effect with not much excitement generated by the cars or drivers.
That is why strategy plays a big role. Many Corvette races have been won short pitting or on mpg when they have been at a disadvantage.
The 10 seconds lost in the pit was really more time once you count in and out time. The strategy failed this time.
The Balance Of Performance (BOP) rules still dictate the likely outcome of the race even before it’s run. Team lobbying, whining and sandbagging plays a part in it. IMSA denies it but it feels like their strategy is to make sure each manufacturer gets a BOP advantage on a rotating basis just to make sure they don’t dropout of the series.
Myself and a few of my friends have been road racing for many years and none of us care about the GT Classes. Too scripted.