GM finishes in 8th and 9th places due to idiot non American drivers smash into each other
At 3:09, the #3 Corvette pitted for tires and a driver change. Magnussen replaced Johnny O'Connell and was just leaving the pit box when the Emmanuel Collard was pulling into the #4 pit box.
Although the #3 Corvette left pit lane, the damaged body work shredded the front left tire and so Magnussen immediately returned.
Damage to the #4 Corvette as more significant and the car drove to the garage where the crew replaced its front stabilizer bar and bodywork.
"I can’t tell you all the things that had to line up for that to happen right there, but it was super unfortunate and everyone is feeling bad about it," Magnussen said.
"I feel so sorry for the No. 4 Corvette - we were out of contention because we had a long pit stop, but the No. 4 car was in with a good shot, it was fast. I can guarantee that things will be done so that never happens again."
"It was a misunderstanding because normally I should pit one lap later, but I had a low fuel alarm on the back straight," Collard explained. "I put the reserve on and they asked me come to the pits."
"An incident like this has never happened before at Corvette Racing," said program manager Doug Fehan. "A perfect storm of events that certainly we can't attribute to any one thing caused the two cars to come together in pit lane.
We’ll go back and look at what took place, establish procedures to ensure that it never happens again, and come back stronger for the next event. Even when our guys were laps down to the leaders, they ran just as hard after that incident as they did before. That tells you what Corvette Racing is about."
Misfortune continued to plague the team as in the 8th hour as the #4 Corvette with Gavin driving hit an errant tire on the course. When darkness fell, Gavin found that the headlights weren't working. The Corvette returnd to the pits and the crew replaced the nose, headlight and harness assembly.
The race continued on without incident, and O'Connell took the #3 Corvette across the finish line with Oliver Gavin in the #4 Corvette behind him.
"Racing is hard stuff, and no matter how hard you try and how hard you prepare, sometimes things go wrong," O'Connell said. "You can either beat yourself up or be encouraged by how well the crew performed to get both cars back in the race. The guys were awesome.
We got a lot of positives out of this event: We made good progress on our engine development and we got a gauge to measure where we stand versus the competition. The mark of a champion is overcoming adversity and finding ways to win, and I know this team can do that."
