As a team that has been competing around the world for more than 20 years, very rarely does Corvette Racing experience anything new.

That’s not the case this weekend as the long standing program races for the first time at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval in a 100-minute sprint race.
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will hold its second GT only event of the season Saturday night at Charlotte with C8.R Corvette Racing among the favorites to take its second overall victory of 2020.

In the first year with the mid engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, Corvette Racing has claimed five victories in the last six races since the COVID 19 lockdown period ended in July.
One of those was a GT only win at Virginia International Raceway for Corvette Racing teammates Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor.
The pairing shares the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R and holds the GT Le Mans (GTLM) Drivers Championship lead with four victories, including the most recent IMSA round at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Teammates Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner sit second in points with one victory and three runner up finishes including in the last two races at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and Mid-Ohio in their No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

Those efforts have Chevrolet ahead in the GTLM Manufacturers Championship heading to a new, unique venue.
Corvette Racing participated in a single day test on the 2.28-mile, 17-turn Charlotte Roval circuit a month ago to gain much-needed experience at the facility.

Just as key to the preparations have been multiple sessions at Chevrolet’s Driver-in-the-Loop (DiL) simulator and exchanges of track data between Corvette Racing engineers and t Chevrolet’s NASCAR Cup Series engineering team.
Chevrolet has race winning experience at Charlotte with Chase Elliott’s victory a year ago in NASCAR competition.

Despite the drastic differences in the mid engine Corvette C8.R and the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE in the Cup series, track surface insight from the NASCAR program provided Corvette Racing with data to establish a baseline setup ahead of the Charlotte test.

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s race at Charlotte is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. ET on Saturday with live television coverage on NBCSN and live streaming via TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.
In addition, IMSA Radio will broadcast the race on IMSA.com, which also will host live timing and scoring.
The race also will air on XM channel 202 & SiriusXM Online 972.

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

“We will be racing into the unknown.
It’s a new track for everyone, although all of the GTLM manufacturers tested there for a day.
It will be different feeling like a single day event with just two practices and racing at night with some potential poor weather coming, too.
Things could be very unpredictable. It feels kind of similar to a street circuit in some parts.
There are few places where the walls go by very fast because you are so close to them.
There won’t be much resting, especially on the infield.”

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

“This will be pretty intense. The test was important to do considering how little track time there is.
It’s definitely a unique track with the layout and not much room for error. There aren’t a lot of passing opportunities, so qualifying will be pretty important.

It’s a 100 minute race so it’s going to come down to execution with the one pit stop. Limiting mistakes on track, in the pits and on strategy everything is going to have to go our way to have a good result.
Going in there with the championship lead and four races to go, we will continue to treat it as we have all year-long race for the win and if it’s not in the cards then go for the best result we can get.”

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“All three of my teammates came back from the test and said,
‘Whoa that place is intense!’ I’ve not actually been on the track yet. I’m doing some simulator work a day or two beforehand to familiarize myself, and I’ve had a look at it on iRacing.
In talking to the other guys about Charlotte, it feels quite tight and intense.
It has a street circuit feel to it. I did a little bit on the simulator that I have at home, and I’ll be going to our Chevrolet simulator Thursday and Friday before the race.
We’ll be at the simulator Friday morning and then at the track Friday afternoon going from the virtual world to the real world all in one day.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“Our approach is that we will focus on trying to execute in a situation that isn’t normal for us a new track, racing late at night, not having our normal setup and not using the pit lane until the race comes. It’ll be a big test to see who can execute the best.

The track can be punishing on mistakes. In some ways, it’s almost worse than a street track.
The grip level is so high that you’re going pretty well through some of those corners with zero margins for error.
Racing at night throws another wrench into the game. It’ll be a big challenge.

Ultimately, we have to keep our cars in one piece and get a good result. It’ll be tricky with the traffic and night-time conditions.”

CORVETTE RACING AT CHARLOTTE: Technology & Data Sharing

Exchange of information between Corvette Racing, Chevrolet NASCAR engineering

This weekend’s event at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s road course venue for Corvette Racing and Chevrolet’s NASCAR Cup Series teams is a unique opportunity for the manufacturer with two of its premier programs at the same track on the same weekend.
Corvette Racing competes in a 100-minute, GT-only race for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Saturday night on the Charlotte Roval, with the NASCAR Cup Series hitting the 2.28-mile, 17-turn road course Sunday afternoon.

Given the Chevrolet NASCAR team’s experience with the Charlotte Roval, data and information has been flowing between Cup Series engineering and that of Corvette Racing.
It’s a similar situation to the teamwork between programs ahead of the Cup Series’ race on the Daytona International Speedway road course in August.
Corvette Racing driver Jordan Taylor assisted Hendrick Motorsports drivers in getting up to speed at Chevrolet’s Driver-in-the-Loop (DiL) racing simulator.
Chase Elliott went on to win that race in his Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.

Corvette Racing team manager Ben Johnson explains how the flow of data and information goes back-and-forth between the two programs

BEN JOHNSON, CORVETTE RACING TEAM MANAGER:

“Everywhere we go, our primary goal is to come up with the best setup and tire selection so the drivers can maximize the performance of the car. In 2020, we’re doing that everywhere we go.
There are a lot of tracks that we haven’t previously tested the C8.R before. We’re building up the notebook at all times.
So while coming to Charlotte is a bigger challenge because we don’t have prior experience with the C7.R, we have the tools and methodology.
They are applied the same no matter where we go.”

“The biggest crossover between what we do at Corvette Racing and the Chevrolet NASCAR teams are the tools we use from primarily the simulation space desktop simulations, lap-time simulations and all the way up to the Driver-in-the-Loop (DiL) rig.

We wanted to learn as much as we could from the NASCAR group to see how we can best utilize the track model. Is there anything specific about the track model that we want to learn from while we’re in the DiL rig before we go to the track and then go back to the DiL rig?
Ultimately the cars are very different, but within Chevrolet we use quite a bit of the same technology so you can learn a lot from someone who has used those tools for Charlotte.”

“We tried to learn as much as we could from the NASCAR team in terms of the track itself.
That’s where they have a lot of experience in understanding the grip profile of the track.

The 1st IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship trip to Charlotte Motor Speedway’s ROVAL (as opposed to the original 2.25-mile infield road course/oval used in the ’70s, ’80s and 2000) puts every GT Le Mans (GTLM) & GT Daytona (GTD) competitor on a new & (relatively) level playing field.

While many got a day’s test on the 10-turn, 2.32-mile oval/road course last month, no drivers expected to take part have raced on the current layout before and, of course, no teams have raced there, either.
While that would seem to place everyone on equal footing for the MOTUL 100% Synthetic Grand Prix, it’s never quite that simple.
We live in an age when manufacturers put state-of-the-art simulators at the disposal of their race teams.

What’s more, some teams (most notably Corvette Racing) have had a chance to pick the brains of their NASCAR Cup Series counterparts (read "Chevrolet") who have competed on the ROVAL the past two years and will do so again this weekend in the triple header that includes the WeatherTech Championship along with NASCAR’s Cup and Xfinity series.

As well, various commercial simulation services (iRacing, Assetto Corsa, Forza, etc.) include the Charlotte ROVAL in their catalogue of race circuits.
Thus, most drivers and teams will arrive familiar with the layout, not to mention having worked with their race engineers to develop baseline setups that should only need fine-tuning once practice and qualifying commences.

Virtual Reality to Real Reality at Warp Speed

All that said, a tight schedule means real track time will be at a premium. Communication will be critical between drivers and engineers, engineers and mechanics and throughout teams from top to bottom (including Michelin’s tire engineers) for maximum productivity; to achieve quick qualifying times & consistent performance over the course of a race stint.

Some will hit the moving targets better than others & at different times.
Don’t be surprised if a car that was blisteringly quick over a qualifying lap fades during the course of longer race stints, especially given that qualifying is set for 2 p.m. ET Saturday while the race start is slated for 8:05 p.m. that night meaning, of course, dramatically different track temperatures.

Premium Pit Stops

With a race length of 100 minutes, shortest of the season, each car will likely make just one scheduled pit stop. That will place a premium on execution by the entire team.
Drivers will have to hit their marks, be clean and precise in driver changes, have quickly in and out laps, and, of course, the pit crews must be flawless.
Did we mention that the first time drivers will do "hot" pit stops on pit lane will be during the race itself?

Also, given the short race time, track position will be at a premium. In addition to an abundance of "sharp elbow" racing, there will be little opportunity to regain lost ground via alternate strategies. In other words, expect a sprint from start to finish.

Rain ?

The Charlotte forecast calls for as much as an 80 percent chance of rain Saturday evening. A full wet race is one (entertaining) thing.
But a race where the rain comes and goes (and even comes back again) is quite another.
The outcome of a race run in ever-changing conditions could well be decided by who makes a timely call on switching from slicks to rain tires or vice-versa.

In that case, two-car teams will have an advantage as they’re able to make the tire switch on one car (most likely the lowest placed), monitor its progress and get feedback from the driver, then choose the ideal moment to swap tires on their lead car.
Single-car teams can keep track of their competitors in the same manner but won’t have the benefit of real-time feedback from a driver on "alternate" tires.

Results after first practice

Improved lighting & improved conditions late in the session helped BMW Team RLL take the top two positions in opening practice for the MOTUL 100% Synthetic Grand Prix, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s first race on the ROVAL layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Jesse Krohn laid down the fastest lap with two minutes remaining in the hour-long practice Friday night on the 2.32-mile, 10-turn road course that uses nearly all the 1.5-mile high-banked oval along with a twisting, tight infield section.
Driving the No. 24 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE, Krohn was clocked at one minute, 15.482 seconds (110.648 mph), edging the lap turned in seconds earlier by teammate Bruno Spengler in the No. 25 BMW. The gap between the cars was 0.069 seconds.

A light rain fell throughout much of the session but let up near the end.
It allowed Krohn and Spengler to notch their best laps in improving conditions.
Krohn was also able to run his session-leading lap without putting on a new set of Michelin tires.

"It was drizzling most of the session, so the track kept getting quicker for me, and also I built some confidence," Krohn said.
"The consequences are so high here if you make a mistake, so I was slowly building up to it.
Towards the end, the rain dialed down so then I was able to get a good lap in.

"Overall, a very positive session and it’s good to see that we’re P1 even without putting new tires (on) at the end."

Krohn also credited IMSA for making changes to lighting around the circuit following a test at the track in Concord, North Carolina, last month.
Then, the infield portion had no lighting and the contrast with the full lighting around the oval concerned drivers.
IMSA worked with Charlotte Motor Speedway officials to get lights added to the infield portion this weekend and tone down some of the oval lights to achieve a better overall balance.

"That really made a difference," Krohn said. "I think it made the session safer and more comfortable for everyone."

This weekend’s WeatherTech Championship race is only for the GT classes, and the competition remains fierce.
Led by Krohn, the six cars in GT Le Mans (GTLM) were separated by just 0.359 seconds in Friday’s practice.

Facing same conditions from Friday’s damp night session, Corvette Racing’s Tommy Milner went to the front during the final practice ahead of tonight’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval in the No. 4 Corvette C8.R (1m14.935s).

With light rain & cool temperatures greeting the GT Le Mans and GT Daytona classes Saturday morning, the 18 cars in attendance dealt with the wet track for most of the 75-minute outing.
With a drying line starting to form, a switch to Michelin’s slick tires saw times fall in the latter stages of the session where the Porsche GT Team’s Fred Makowiecki took the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR to second (+0.168s) and Friday’s fastest driver, Jesse Krohn in the No. 24 BMW Team RLL M8 GTE (+0.190s) was a close third in GTLM.

Then how GTLM cars finished in qualify

C8.R Corvette Racing’s Jordan Taylor captured his second consecutive pole position Saturday afternoon ahead of tonight’s 100-minute, GT-only race for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

Taylor set a best time of 1:14.278 (112.442 mph) in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R that he shares with Antonio Garcia in the 15-minute session for GT Le Mans (GTLM) competitors.
It was Taylor’s third pole of the season Sebring and Mid-Ohio were the others – as he and Garcia look to extend their GTLM Drivers Championship lead.

Oliver Gavin was the early pace-setter in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R before a red-flag stoppage halted his momentum.
He will start the race fifth and shares his Corvette with Tommy Milner; they sit second in GTLM points heading into tonight.

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s race at Charlotte is scheduled for 9:05 p.m. ET on Saturday with live television coverage on NBCSN and live streaming via TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold. In addition, IMSA Radio will broadcast the race on IMSA.com, which also will host live timing and scoring.
The race also will air on XM channel 202 and SiriusXM Online 972.

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTLM POLE-WINNER:

“It was a stressful session. Everyone was kind of waiting and knowing that it was only going to take a couple of laps to maximize the tires and then you have a small drop-off.
Most everyone was waiting toward the end to go out. We waited one or two minutes and then the red flag came out on our first timed laps. It was very poor timing for us. The 4 car had put in a quick lap; putting a heat cycle in a tire like that can take a knock on the performance.

No one knew what they had going back out. Our Corvette performed really well. We haven’t done much light-fuel running; most of it has been race prep. So it really came alive. It’s been good all weekend no matter if it’s dry or wet, so whatever the weather brings tonight, we should be alright.”

DIFFICULTY OF MANAGING THE CHANGING CONDITIONS:

“It’s tricky, especially here at the Roval. There is no room for error.
Everyone has been talking coming into the weekend how it feels like a street course and you’re on the edge everywhere. When you mix in rain and those conditions being on slick tires, it makes it pretty hectic.
This morning’s practice gave us a little bit of a warm-up for the race to get an idea of what it will be like. It’ll definitely be tricky.

With it being only 100 minutes, I still think it will be about execution and minimizing mistakes to maintain track position.
I’m happy that we have the pole and can have some clear track at the beginning and hopefully control it from there.”

DO YOU WANT IT TO FULLY RAIN, FULLY DRY OR IS THE CAR IS GOOD IN THE MIXED CONDITIONS?

“I think any driver, and they may not admit it, is a little stressed if it’s a little rainy or mixed.
I think our Corvette suits all the conditions pretty well. As a driver, I’d rather it either rain or be dry to minimize the risk of being out on slicks in mixed conditions.

We had a little bit of running this morning to understand what it would be like.
Thankfully the track grip level is pretty good in those conditions, so it should be an interesting race no matter what we see.”

DO YOU EXPECT THE TRACK TO CHANGE MUCH AFTER THE XFINITY RACE?

“I think everyone has a big question mark of what it’s going to be like.
We haven’t run after Goodyear has put rubber down on a track in awhile, so no one knows what to expect.

The difference from last night when we were putting our own Michelin rubber down to this morning when it was all washed away, the track was completely different. When you mix the rain with two different types of rubber, it’ll be something new to learn as well.”

Tommy Milner crashes out with heavy damage with less then 10 minutes of race left

#3 C8.R takes the win

Fifth win for Corvette this year in IMSA GTLM

Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor won another round in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Saturday with a victory in their No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

Garcia passed John Edwards for the lead with 21 minutes left and held on despite a late-race caution.
The duo extended their GTLM Drivers’ Championship lead to 24 points over their Corvette Racing teammates Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin, who finished fourth in the No. 4 Corvette C8.R. Chevrolet also saw its lead grow in the Manufacturers standings to 14 points.

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

“It was very stressful right away.
The BMWs were really fast when there was a ton of standing water.
But the C8.R ran again perfectly in the end. I got up to the 24 and he started to lose pace.
We gained some time and I saw my chance. He was struggling with tires, but so was I.
I stayed calm and knew the section at Turn Five, Six and Seven was going to be my chance.
As soon as he made a little mistake, I went for it, kept my head down and it’s another victory for Corvette Racing.”

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

“It wasn’t easy. It was the same for everyone in that situation.
For us leading the championship, it was all about minimal risk at that point.
You weren’t going to win the race in those 20 or 30 minutes. It’s all going to be about survival, handing off the car to Antonio and waiting for it to dry out.

Thankfully it did, the track conditions came to our Corvette, and Antonio never put a foot wrong to bring home another win.
It’s an amazing year for the new C8.R and we’re going to Petit Le Mans with some nice momentum.
Six wins for a brand new car, no one would have ever expected this. Hats off to Corvette Racing.
I’m sorry to see what happened to the No. 4 car, but I was glad to see Tommy get out.”

Not even treacherous conditions nor the pressure of a late restart could keep the No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R from continuing its stellar season and winning ways in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Antonio Garcia powered into the lead with 24 minutes to go Saturday night in the MOTUL 100% Synthetic Grand Prix and rolled on to the fifth win of 2020 for the No. 3 Corvette.
The victory under rainy, slick conditions at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL was the fourth in the past five GT Le Mans (GTLM) races for Garcia and co-driver Jordan Taylor, helping them move closer to clinching the class championship.

Garcia crossed the finish line 1.474 seconds ahead of John Edwards in the No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE at the conclusion of the 100-minute race, in IMSA’s return to the Charlotte road course after a 20-year absence but its first event on the 2.32-mile, 10-turn ROVAL layout that includes chicanes on both oval straights.
"That’s a perfect, magnificent car out there," Garcia said of the mid-engine Corvette C8.R that debuted in competition this year, "and I’m glad to be driving for the best team out there and winning."

BMW Team RLL claimed a pair of GTLM podium positions with the No. 24 driven by Bruno Spengler and Connor De Phillippi finishing third.

The No. 4 Corvette placed fourth in class despite Tommy Milner spinning and crashing into the pit lane attenuator with 12 minutes left on the clock. With light rain falling, it set up the final dramatic restart.
But Garcia got the jump on Edwards at the wave of the green flag and pulled comfortably away to earn his 22nd career IMSA victory.
The WeatherTech Championship race for the two GT classes started an hour late under the lights at 9:05 p.m. ET after the NASCAR Xfinity Series race that preceded ran long after being red-flagged for heavy rain and pooling water on track.

Taylor started the WeatherTech Championship event on pole but was passed for the lead soon after by Jesse Krohn, who willed the No. 24 BMW from fourth to first in the opening four laps under the most difficult conditions.

Garcia replaced Taylor in the No. 3 Corvette on an early pit stop during a full-course caution and drove the final 80 minutes without a break.
He bided his time for almost an hour before completing the winning pass on Edwards where the track exits the tight infield section onto the first turn of the high-banked oval.
"As soon as I saw that they were struggling a little bit on tires I just went for it," Garcia said. "I don’t know if it was a risky move or not.
I wanted to win the race and as soon as I saw the opportunity, I went for it. And then as soon as I passed, just head down and tried to open a gap, and it worked."

The Spaniard insisted it was anything but smooth sailing as he hounded Edwards before making the deciding pass, while also holding De Phillippi at bay in the No. 25 BMW.

"It was super, super stressful," Garcia said. "Even if it felt like I was just following, I was hanging (it) out and I almost crashed like everybody, I believe, like four or five times.
Once we got into the pace and into the rhythm, the track improved, for sure.
But also at the end, with (older) tires and it started to rain again, so it was very, very tricky again. And being in the wet and in the dark, it’s very difficult to spot where the standing water is."

Taylor earned career win No. 26 with his 20-minute stint. The American was delighted that he and Garcia expanded their championship lead unofficially to 24 points over No. 4 Corvette teammates Milner and Oliver Gavin with three races remaining.

"Really awesome to maximize the points here when we didn’t expect it," Taylor said, "so we can kind of go into the next three races and race for the win as well. Just another great day for Corvette Racing with the fifth win for us in the C8.R and sixth for the team."

On the flip side, the disastrous season for the Porsche GT Team continued Saturday.
The Nos. 911 and 912 Porsche 911 RSR-19s each sustained damage after sliding into barriers in separate incidents within 10 minutes of the race’s start.
Both cars retired after completing a combined total of 12 laps. Coming off a 2019 season that saw Porsche claim the GTLM driver, team and manufacturer titles, the German marque is win less in 2020.

All four WeatherTech Championship classes GTLM, GT Daytona, Daytona Prototype international and Le Mans Prototype 2 return to action in the week ahead at the 23rd annual Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
The 10-hour endurance race airs live in combination on NBCSN and TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday, Oct. 17.

Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor’s charmed season continued Saturday as they claimed another victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a victory in their No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R at Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

Garcia passed John Edwards for the lead with 21 minutes left and held on despite a late-race caution on a tricky and treacherous night at the Roval the first time for Corvette Racing at the venue.
The duo extended their GTLM Drivers’ Championship lead to 24 points over their Corvette Racing teammates Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin, who finished fourth in the No. 4 Corvette C8.R.

Chevrolet also saw its lead grow in the Manufacturers standings to 14 points.

Garcia and Taylor have now won five of eight races this year and four of the last five in the first year of the mid-engine Corvette C8.R. Taylor began on pole position Saturday for the second consecutive race, but conditions were much different at the green flag with a steady rain having pelted the track since mid-afternoon. The first 16 minutes featured two full-course cautions, and both Corvettes came in at 20 minutes running for fuel, tires and driver changes Taylor to Garcia and Gavin to Milner.

On the restart, Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette ran second while Milner made a big move on the inside of the first corner to move from fourth to third. He fell back a few laps later before the track began to dry somewhat, and the Corvettes grew stronger during a long-green flag run.
It culminated with Garcia moving in front with a move on Edwards to the inside of Turn 8 just before the infield section rejoined the banked oval part of the track.

Garcia pulled away quickly and led by as much as five seconds a handful of laps later. Milner, too, was making a charge back to podium position before part of the No. 4 Corvette’s right-rear suspension broke with 11 minutes remaining. Milner went hard into the outside wall but got out of the car under his own power and later was evaluated and released from the infield care center.

The race began again with five minutes to go, and Garcia pulled out to a one-second lead with a lap to go and rain falling again.
He crossed the finish line with a 1.474-second margin of victory.

Corvette Racing heads back to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for next week’s 10-hour Petit Le Mans on Oct. 15-17.

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

“It was super, super stressful. Even if it felt like I was just following the 24, I was really hanging on. I probably crashed four or five times, just like everyone else. Jordan gave me some very good indications before he jumped out and before we went green to give me confidence in following the BMW. They were really strong right away, but I didn’t really give up.

As soon as I felt like we stabilized on lap times, I kept pressuring him and using traffic to close up. They were very strong as you saw with their sister car. As soon as I saw they were struggling a little bit with tires especially the 24
I stayed patient even when the 25 was coming. I saw my opportunity and went for it. I don’t know if it was risky move or not, but at that point I didn’t think about the championship.

I wanted to win the race. As soon as I got past, I put my head down, tried to open a gap and it worked. I’m very happy for Corvette Racing and Team Chevy. I’m glad Tommy is OK. We have a very fast car but also a very safe car. That’s a magnificent combination of car here.
It’s great to be driving for the best team out there and keep winning races. We need to keep this mentality and go all the way to the end.”

DID THE TRACK IMPROVE FROM THE START?

“The first two laps was close to how we finish. It was very difficult at the beginning.
There was a massive river going across at Turn Three, and I almost lost it two or three times there. The conditions definitely improved, but lap by lap you know where to place your car, and following someone opens the water a little bit for you.
Once we got into a rhythm, the track improved for sure but it started to rain at the end. Being in the wet in the dark also makes it difficult to spot standing water.”

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

“At the beginning of the race, there obviously was a lot of water on the track, and with the lighting it was hard to see where the standing water was. Considering our championship position, it was kind of damage control for me, trying to stay on the track and handing off the car in one piece.
It was easy to get caught up in battling with people at that point of the race, but there was really no point.

You weren’t going to win the race in the first 20 or 30 minutes. I was glad to get through that phase and hand over the car to Antonio and let him go for it. He did a great job of keeping the car out of the wall for those first few laps and putting the pressure on the BMW. We would have been happy leaving here with a podium given the championship position with three races to go.

But he kept the pressure on, never put a wheel wrong and was able to get by. It’s really awesome to maximize the points when we didn’t expect it. We can go into the last three races and race for the win, as well. It’s another great day for Corvette Racing.

It’s good to see that Tommy walked away from that big hit at the end. It says a lot about Chevrolet and Corvette Racing and how safe they build the race cars and how strong they are. It give us a lot of confidence when we strap in that we’re going to be safe.”

ROLE OF THE CHEVROLET SIMULATOR IN RACE PREP:

“If it wasn’t for the simulator, we probably wouldn’t have been able to put it on the pole and been able to stay out of trouble like that. So the simulator was a big tool for us. I’m glad this all worked out.”

LOOKING TO PETIT LE MANS:

“We’re already thinking about it. It’s at the top of Antonio’s list of races to win. The focus has already shifted.
The guys are driving to Atlanta tomorrow to prep the cars, but unfortunately they’ll have a lot to prep on the 4 car. We did a test day there last week where Nicky (Catsburg) and Marcel (Fassler) were able to get some laps.
At the Six-Hour, we struggled with a few things and I think we found a few things at the test for some long runs and working on the different compounds of tires.

This weekend was good to get in some mixed conditions. We haven’t had a lot of rain and mixed conditions in a race setting other than Road America. It was good to get a bit of everything. Now no matter what we see at Petit Le Mans, we feel pretty well prepared.”

DID THE ADDITIONAL INFIELD LIGHTING HELP?

“Yes, we tested here about a month ago and the lighting was pretty difficult to see where you were going. They’ve definitely made some nice improvements. If it had been a dry race, the visibility would have been great.
When you add in the water with the type of surface they have here, it’s very reflective when there’s a lot of water on it.

It’s hard to distinguish what’s a damp section and what’s a deep section. It’s hard to pick out what’s what at night. It took some getting used to, but it probably made a good show on TV. It looked pretty spectacular when I got out and watched all the headlights reflecting off everything.
This was definitely a cool event, and I’m glad we were able to win the first one back here.”

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FOURTH:

“This whole weekend has been a massive challenge. The format of this race and the way it has happened made for some quite difficult sessions.
Then you add in the extra element of the weather conditions, it just seemed like it was culminating in somewhat of a bit of a perfect storm for us. The start of the race for me was crazy.
There were massive amounts of standing weather everywhere. I was just hanging on, just driving the car around and trying not to crash.

I had multiple moments every single lap thinking well I could finish the race by doing something daft, so I just got myself into a position where I could sort of survive. Others were spinning off and crashing, and we ended up in third when we came in for the pit stop and hand it over for Tommy to drive.
It was looking okay for awhile and Tommy had pretty good pace. Then we had the issue at the right-rear. We still are trying to figure out what exactly happened.

It just seems if something can go wrong, it will go wrong for us unfortunately. But I am very happy Tommy was able to walk away.
It was a pretty high-speed accident so that’s a great testament to the guys at Chevrolet and Corvette for how well they’ve engineering the road car and the race car. That was a really big hit and Tommy was able to walk away on his own.
And of course I’m happy for Jordan and Antonio in picking up another win. It’s another positive outcome for the team.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FOURTH:

“I didn’t have any indication at any point that there was something going wrong. Everything felt totally normal up until it wasn’t. I had almost finished on the banking, which is more G-loading than Daytona. It doesn’t really explain the problem, it seems like. At first I thought I lost a tire, like it just overheated or something like that for how quickly it went around.

The first indications were that wasn’t the case. The track had some pretty gnarly weeps in the seams of the race track that would get you a little bit loose sometimes, but it was never really a huge deal. Upon further inspection it looks like once the car got back to the trucks, we did have something at the right-rear and the wheel came off.
Fortunately this is a really strong and safe Corvette that we have and it held up really well. Selfishly I’m glad it is nothing I did wrong, but that doesn’t change the outcome.

There is still a lot of work for the guys to get the car fixed and get ready to go to Petit Le Mans in less than a week. I feel bad for the guys for the amount of work they have to do. Obviously the first thing we do as a team is figure out what the failure is, how it happened and make the necessary changes to prevent that from happening again.
The guys will go through that in the next couple of days and come up with a good plan.

“In the last part there, I don’t know if it was the BMW kind of fading or us getting better.
I got a little bit unlucky at the start of my stint with traffic. I got balked pretty bad there going into Turn One and had a little moment and the No. 25 got around me. We knew that was going to be a big deal here. It seemed like the car was getting better toward the end.

Once Antonio got around the No. 24, he was able to pull away with a little bit of a gap. I was just trying to put a little pressure on the two cars in front of me and see if we could make them make a mistake again to get around.
Passing is very difficult here, but it never quite got to that point unfortunately for us. It just wasn’t our day today.
I felt like we had a pretty good car.
We were fast in practice and it looked like we were making decent progress at the end, but we never got there.”