IMSA this weekend at Road America Sunday

[teamzr1]

It’s getting close to the end of Corvette Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
And there’s no better place for the perennial powerhouse team to accelerate its title push than historic Road America.

The 4.048-mile, 14-turn road course is the site of the upcoming IMSA SportsCar Weekend, which culminates Sunday with the eighth round of this year’s GT Daytona (GTD) PRO championship. The Corvette Racing duo of Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor are hoping for a return to its winning ways in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

The pairing won last month in class at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – the first victory of 2023. A second win this season would go along nicely with a 2020 triumph at Road America in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. With only four races to go, victories are what will help the Garcia/Taylor tandem and the No. 3 C8.R team most in the hunt for the GTD PRO title.

Although they finished fourth two weeks ago at Lime Rock Park, the result was enough to move into second in the class championship standings 151 points from the leaders with 1,500 points still available with four races left.
However, pole positions and race wins are the most immediate goals for Garcia and Taylor, with points taking care of themselves after that.

To get back on the top step of the class podium, Corvette Racing will need to come to grips literally with a recently repaved Road America surface. In years past, Road America was notorious for eating up tires with high levels of degradation. That very likely won’t be the case this year, with substantially more grip available to the field of 46 cars.

Road America and the Corvette brand have a lengthy history, dating back nearly 60 years. Chevrolet routinely used the track to test and validate the performance of early-generation Corvettes, with that tradition continuing into the present day.
Road America was the site of the first on-track running of the Corvette C8.R in 2018, and the mid-engine Corvette continues to write new chapters at each event.

The IMSA SportsCar Weekend race at Road America is scheduled for 10:10 a.m. ET on Sunday, August 6.
The race will air live on USA beginning at 11 a.m. ET and stream live on Peacock inside the United States and IMSA.com outside the U.S. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions beginning with Friday morning’s practice at IMSA.com with the race call also on XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“We don’t really know what to expect at Road America. It’s a kind of track where you can run a completely different configuration that is completely opposite than the rest. So maybe there’s more room to play with setup in order to go completely against everyone else.

At most other IMSA tracks, everybody is kind of running the same full-downforce, full-everything. At Road America, there’s a little bit more play. I don’t know how the new surface will affect things. Tire degradation used to be very big there, but I anticipate the tire deg to not be as big as such a big thing there this year. Let’s see. We are definitely knocking on the door every single race.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“Road America is great and has given me a lot of good memories.
One of my first wins with the C8.R was there in a downpour late in the race. It wasn’t necessarily our strongest track last year, so hopefully with the new repave we can make some gains on everyone else.
We’ve done some simulation work to perfect what we can do on our side to get as much performance out of the car as possible.
From this point, it’s all about going for race wins.”

 

[teamzr1]

Sebastien Bourdais was quickest in an accident-filled opening IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice session at Road America, which saw a total of five red flags.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver reeled off a best lap of 1:49.538 in his No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R to outpace Pipo Derani in the similarly prepared No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac by 0.054 seconds.

Augusto Farfus was third quickest in the No. 24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8, while the debuting No. 59 Proton Competition Porsche 963 completed a total of 26 laps with the 10th quickest time overall.

The 90-minute session was marred by multiple incidents, including separate crashes for Giedo van der Garde, Mathieu Jaminet and Misha Goikhberg.

Van der Garde crashed his No. 35 TDS Racing Oreca 07 Gibson in the Carousel early on, which was followed by a second red for debris from an incident by Jaminet in the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 that resulted in nose damage.

The No. 78 Forte Racing by US RaceTronics Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Goikhberg, meanwhile, sustained heavy damage from a crash at the Kink, while a fourth red came out for debris in Turn 12.
It was followed by a spin by the No. 92 Kellymoss by Riley Porsche 911 GT3 R of David Brule, who skidded through the Turn 3 gravel trap and into the barriers.

LMP2 was led by the No. 11 TDS Oreca of Mikkel Jensen while Garett Grist was quickest in LMP3 in his No. 30 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan.
Seb Priaulx topped the time charts in the GT ranks, with his GTD class No. 80 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R going quickest in the closing stages, thanks to a 2:05.126 lap time.

It was 0.080 seconds quicker than the GTD Pro class pace-setting No. 23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Alex Riberas.
The second and final practice session of the day is on tap for 3:15 p.m. CDT.

 

[teamzr1]

2nd practice completed

Jordan Taylor topped the time charts in GTD Pro in his No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD, thanks to a 2:03.712 lap time in the final moments of the session.

It was 0.471 seconds quicker than second-placed Dani Juncadella in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes.

 

[teamzr1]

The new pavement at Road America has more grip, at least on the racing line, and is producing times below track records in several classes, indicating that several records will fall in qualifying. Even the GTP cars were under the DPi track record, set in 2019 by Dane Cameron at 1m48.715s.

The newfound traction on line has a price, though a marked difference in traction once a car strays off the rubbered-in pavement, making passing in the race a challenge, and it has contributed to the plethora of session interruptions for crashes.

“It was very messy and very difficult to get a read with the red flags,” said Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia after the first practice session.
“The track is tricky in a way.
There is definitely way more grip overall. In years before, the racing line was way wider, so you had room to find your way or choose your line. Here it is a tiny bit different. You need to really stick to the line, otherwise the drop-off in grip is quite fast.
That’s why I think there were so many mistakes and offs and crashes.
It’s going to be tricky in the race when you get passed or need to pass.”

Once the qualifying simulations for the pro classes began in the final 15 minutes, the GTD PRO cars went to the top of the time sheet,
Jordan Taylor, turning the top time of 2m3.712s (117.8mph) in the No. 3 Corvette Racing C8.R.

That time was a relatively large margin over second-place Daniel Juncadella’s 1m4.183s in the No. 29 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG GT3. Jack Hawksworth was third in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 at 2m4.225s.
All the GTD PRO cars were within a second and all under Hawksworth’s track record set last year.

 

[teamzr1]

Alex Riberas claimed GTD Pro class pole honors as the quickest production-based car in qualifying.

The Heart of Racing driver reeled off a best lap of 2:02.918 in his No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 to edge out the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Dani Juncadella by 0.057 seconds.

Jordan Taylor qualified third in class in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD.

 

[teamzr1]

Jordan Taylor put C8.R Corvette Racing on the inside of the second row in class Saturday for qualifying ahead of Sunday’s feature event for the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America.

Taylor set a best lap of 2:03.143 (118.340 mph) in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R that he shares with Antonio Garcia in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Daytona (GTD) PRO class. Critically, the result put Taylor and the No. 3 C8.R on the inside of the second row of the GTD field on a track that is much more of a one-lane surface following a track repave late last year.

Just as key is that the Corvette gained critical class points as it qualified ahead of the GTD PRO championship-leading Lexus.
The Taylor/Garcia duo, Corvette Racing and Chevy, entered Road America second in the Drivers, Manufacturers and Teams championship standings with four races left in the season.
A victory Sunday would be the ninth class at the circuit for Corvette Racing.

This is the first time for the Corvette program on the recently repaved Road America track. Gone is the cheese-grater of a surface that promoted high levels of tire wear and degradation, with high levels of grip available around the circuit provided cars stay on the racing line.
As a result, track position and qualifying toward the front, as a result, has a higher level of importance this year compared to past Road America races.

Key was cross-program tire analysis from Chevrolet’s IndyCar teams, which provided valuable input from their race in June at the circuit.
That, combined with pre-event work at GM’s Driver in the Loop simulator, played a prominent role in the results so far this weekend.

Road America and the Corvette brand have a lengthy history, dating back nearly 60 years.
Chevrolet routinely used the track to test and validate the performance of early-generation Corvettes, with that tradition continuing into the present day. Road America was the site of the first on-track running of the Corvette C8.R in 2018.

The IMSA SportsCar Weekend race at Road America is scheduled for 10:10 a.m. ET on Sunday, August 6. The race will air live on USA beginning at 11 a.m. ET and stream live on Peacock inside the United States and IMSA.com outside the U.S. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions beginning with Friday morning’s practice at IMSA.com with the race call also on XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R QUALIFIED THIRD IN GTD PRO:

We were quickest yesterday and made some gains in lap time from then, but everyone else made humongous jumps.
We are where we thought we would be laptime-wise. It just wasn’t enough for pole.
It’s kind of been the trend of the year when qualifying is a bit of a struggle for us, but we race better. Hopefully that plays out tomorrow.
We’re closer to qualifying now than we have been the past few rounds, so hopefully that’s another good sign.

“It’ll be tricky to race. Off-line around here is very slippery.
Track position is very important and being somewhat defensive when guys are making moves not to be put in a precarious position is going to be tricky.
There will be a lot of mistakes tomorrow because of that.”

 

[teamzr1]

Second race this year, C8.R leading a race and then blow a race by :
Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas gave The Heart of Racing its second consecutive win in GTD Pro, benefitting from a drive-through penalty for the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD in the closing stages.

Gunn in the No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 crossed the line one lap ahead of the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Ben Barnicoat following a late-race stop from the then-second placed No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Jules Gounon.

The No. 3 Corvette of Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia was classified third after the Spaniard dashed to the pits with 22 minutes to go for a 30-second drive-through due to not adhering to the minimum refueling time on its last stop.

This damn well could be the last pro racing GM does with the Corvette loses the championship for also the last year of the GTD-Pro IMSA class :-(

 

[teamzr1]

C8.R Corvette Racing finished 3rd out of 5 cars in class Sunday in the GTD PRO class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s feature event at Road America.

The No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor led multiple times in the two-hour, 40-minute race with strong pace and engineering strategy that elevated the team from its third-place starting spot.

Taylor got things started early by getting the jump at the drop of the green flag with a run from third to second place by the first corner. He moved into the class lead just shy of 40 minutes running when the class-leading and race-winning Aston Martin made its first stop as differing fuel strategies emerged in the first stint.
Taylor set his best lap of the race a lap later before handing off to Garcia at the 51-minute mark.
Having been the last of the top three cars to pit, Garcia and the No. 3 Corvette carried a fuel advantage for the race’s second and final scheduled pit stop.

That happened with Garcia leading and taking on fuel and four tires with 52 minutes left.
He emerged directly ahead of the Aston Martin and barely in the lead.
The two cars raced nose-to-tail and side-by-side for a half-lap before Garcia took charge.

Things changed, however, as the No. 3 team was forced to serve a penalty again for not meeting the minimum refueling time required by sanctioning body IMSA on the final stop.
Team and series officials discussed the matter, but the call stood, and Garcia had to give up the lead with 24 minutes left in order to drive through the pitlane.

The Corvette Racing team will continue to work with IMSA to understand its process of determining refueling penalties.

Corvette Racing’s next event is the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR on August 25-27 from Virginia International Raceway.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED THIRD IN GTD PRO:

“A very disappointing result and a shame about the penalty.
We had strong pace and good strategy calls that put us in the lead late.
It was a hard but fair fight with the Aston late. Instead of gaining points in the championship, now we have lost more. Winning races is our only goal from now on.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“I was happy with my stint.
The Corvette Racing guys did a great job giving us a good setup to move forward and eventually take the lead a couple of times.
Things were looking great until the penalty on the last stop. Now we have to focus on getting maximum points in every race from here on.”

 

[teamzr1]

The C8.R Corvette team was penalized for not meeting the minimum refueling time during that final fuel stop, and Garcia was forced to give up the lead by serving a drive-thru penalty with 24 minutes left to race. The Corvette would reenter the race about 30-seconds down from the leader, and would finish in third place.
It was a screwup penalty from the team who prides itself for its pit lane performance.

Adding insult to injury, instead of winning and gaining those extra points to close in on the points-leading Lexus, that car finished P2 in class ahead of the Corvette, and now we are even further behind in the GTD-Pro standings.

On Tuesday, Luke from Pratt Miller Motorsports grabbed a white board and filmed a video for YouTube explaining why the Corvette team was hit with the refueling penalty.
According to Luke, the team’s internal formula for determining what the minimum refuel rate should be when they weren’t doing a full refueling was incorrect.
We believe the minimum refueling times are one of the stupidest rules in IMSA as it takes away from the crew’s performance in pit lane, and this explanation will make you hate the Balance of Performance hoops that teams have to jump through even more.