Team ZR-1 Corvette Racers
Custom Tuning
>Enter Here
Test and Tune
Common Information
IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring 2024
by teamzr1. 03/25/24 10:39 AM
Onstar means OnSpy
by teamzr1. 03/20/24 11:09 AM
Corvette Racing History
by teamzr1. 03/13/24 03:34 PM
If you cannot afford a C8 ZO6 - Than Steal One
by teamzr1. 03/12/24 03:47 PM
C8 Used Prices dropping like a Log
by teamzr1. 03/11/24 08:17 PM
IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring March 16th
by teamzr1. 03/07/24 08:48 AM
WEC Season Starts Feb 28th
by teamzr1. 03/02/24 01:24 PM
Newer Corvettes
Teammate Jason does 140 MPH in standing 1/2 mile
by teamzr1. 03/25/24 06:05 AM
C8 Corvette Convertible Water Leak
by teamzr1. 03/21/24 11:41 AM
GM Raises Extended Warranty Prices 30%
by teamzr1. 03/13/24 03:21 PM
Tech Talk
Stiffer Laws for Stealing CATs
by teamzr1. 03/12/24 05:14 PM
Forum Statistics
Forums27
Topics3,423
Posts6,135
Members50
Most Online265
Jan 21st, 2023
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Rate This Thread
#3523 - 01/25/15 02:07 PM C7.R Wins GTLM Class of Rolex 24 Hour Race  
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 5,268
teamzr1 Offline
Owner - Pays the bills
teamzr1  Offline
Owner - Pays the bills
Lives in Engine Bay

Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 5,268
America
In DP class the Corvettes had first place most of the race but failed to win taking 2nd, 3rd and 4th place

Same for the GTLM class the 2 C7.Rs were up front all race and then #4 blew it but the #3 won their class with #4 coming in 3rd place

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates earned its sixth win in America’s most prestigious sports car race when Scott Dixon held off last year’s winner, Sebastien Bourdais of Action Express Racing, in a desperate sprint to the finish.

The three-time IndyCar champion passed the checkered flag just 1.33sec ahead of his open-wheel rival after a late full-course caution, caused by the demise of the PC class’s AX Racing RSJmost dominant car with 20 minutes to go, bunched the field up.

It was Dixon’s second win in the event, having played his part in Ganassi’s first win here, back in 2006. This time he shared the Ford EcoBoost-Riley with IndyCar teammate Tony Kanaan, and Ganassi’s NASCAR stars Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray.

Wayne Taylor Racing had appeared to be the fastest team in the second half of the race, as Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor and Max Angelelli excelled in their Corvette Daytona Prototype.

Despite struggling in the first few hours of the race with traction control problems, once the engine mapping was reprogrammed, the trio were at least a match for anything their rivals could throw at them, and usually appeared quicker.
Apart from an unnecessary brush on pit lane with the No. 5 AX_Racing machine, the drivers contained their natural exuberance, often choosing to closely track their rivals and pressure them rather than make any bold lunges.
Wayne Taylor crew’s slick pit work often made up time, even on the Ganassi crew, and whenever the track was clear ahead, they cut loose.


However, Ganassi had kept some pace in reserve, and Dixon’s famously superb fuel-saving ability while matching the speed of his rivals not only allowed him to delay his final stop and take advantage of a clear track once the WTR Corvette pitted, it also allowed him a shorter final stop than the WTR car.
When the Taylors were forced to pit one more time to exchange Jordan for Ricky – to ensure Jordan didn't go over the time limit of four hours driving in six hours time – Bourdais’ Corvette DP slipped ahead easily.

“It was just a miscalculation on drive time, said Jordan.
“You’re only allowed to drive four of six hours and I guess i would have gone over that. It’s a bit disappointing, but you live and die as a team.
We’ve gone 72 hours now without a problem in this race and we just can’t win it; two seconds and a third now. But we’ll look back on it as a good points day and go to Sebring second in the championship.”

Although doubtless frustrated by missing out, Action Express and Bourdais’ co-drivers Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa could at least gain satisfaction from having overcome a two-lap deficit when the car ground to a halt in the middle of the night.

What made Ganassi’s battle with WTR particularly thrilling was the difference in the strengths of their respective cars. The Ford EcoBoost engine in the Ganassi Rileys had an edge on the vast swathes of oval used in the Daytona International Speedway’s road course, but the Corvettes looked more stable under hard, late braking and so, in the infield, recovered the lost ground.

The leading trio finished six laps ahead of the fourth-placed Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP piloted by Richard Westbrook, Mike Rockenfeller and Michael Valiante, with the similar machine of Whelen Engineering passing the checkered flag a further 13 laps adrift.
That meant the Eric Curran/Dane Cameron/Max Papis/Phil Keen-driven car was beaten to the checkers by the first two GT Le Mans cars, such was the attrition in the top Rolex 24 Race Vettes category.

That said, GTLM was barely better in terms of finishers.
By the end of the race, it was a straight fight between the No. 3 Corvette of Ryan Briscoe, Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen, and the Rahal Letterman Lanigan-run BMW Z4 GTE of Bill Auberlen, Bruno Spengler, Dirk Werner and Augusto Farfus.

It went to the ’Vette by less than half a second, the C7.R having been fast and also (crucially) having avoided any significant conflict.

By contrast, the BMW took a couple of bumpy trips across the grass, damaging its rear splitter and bumper, which took the edge off a pace that even at its most ideal, had never looked quite a match for Ferrari, Corvette and Porsche.

Some of the big GTLM names to fall out of genuine winning contention?

Well, there was the No. 4 Corvette which clinched third in class, but was seven laps behind its teammate, after first Oliver Gavin and then Tommy Milner banged into slower cars and had to make long stops to repair damage.

In the Prototype Challenge class, the Jon Bennett/Colin Braun/Mark Wilkins/James Gue-driven CORE autosport ORECA was demolishing its opposition through the second half of the race, by the simple art of not getting into trouble. At one point, it held a five-lap lead! But this got whittled down and in the final hour, but even then seemed firmly in control. But then it went wrong with only 20 minutes left.

“We were just trying to maintain our gap to Tom [Kimber-Smith]; I think we both had one pit stop left just to put some gas in real quick,” explained Braun.

“There was a slower DP car that was ahead of me, pretty off the pace through the kink. I moved inside of him in the kink to pass him, and that sets me up for the outside through Turn 5. I’m not sure if he missed his braking marker or what, but I turned into the corner and next thing I knew he pretty much just squared me up right in the right rear tire and that, I think eventually, broke our suspension,
So I got spun out and tried to get it back going. Once we got it going, we thought we could limp it back to pits and on the exit of the Bus Stop the suspension collapsed and I hit the wall pretty hard. I’m just gutted for all the guys. John and Mark and James all drove really well, and we played the strategy well.
We made good decisions It would be one thing if it was a bold move, a banzai move. But that was a move I made probably 150 times during the night and never had any issues with it.”

That incident allowed the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports machine of Mike Guasch, Andrew Novich, Andrew Palmer and Kimber-Smith to come through for the PC vicotory, and caused the 20th and final yellow.

Attached Files CORVETTEWINNER.jpg

Team ZR-1
True Custom Performance Tuning
Teamzr1.com
Team ZR-1 Store
Enter Here
#3524 - 01/25/15 02:19 PM Re: C7.R Wins GTLM Class of Rolex 24 Hour Race [Re: teamzr1]  
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 5,268
teamzr1 Offline
Owner - Pays the bills
teamzr1  Offline
Owner - Pays the bills
Lives in Engine Bay

Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 5,268
America
RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 3 CORVETTE RACING CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R

HAS IT BEEN MORE HECTIC THAN YOU WOULD HAVE THOUGHT?

"Honestly, I've been out there trying to keep it on the tarmac and make sure I can give a clean car to Jan and Antonio.
There's a lot of action, and I think everyone can feel the competition in GTLM. You can see it when you're out there racing.
The BMWs, the Porsches… they're all pushing so hard and it's hard not to get caught up in it. So far it's gone well. The car feels fast and I'm looking forward to the finish."

HAS THE CAR BEEN FAIRLY CONSISTENT FROM STINT TO STINT?

"Yes it's been pretty good. The conditions have been changing a bit. I've found that whether we've been playing with tire pressures or something, the balance comes and goes a little. In that last stint, the car felt the best it's been all race.
It's super fast and consistent, and we had great longevity with the Michelin tire throughout the stint. That's exactly what we need right now."

RICHARD WESTBROOK, NO. 90 VISITFLORIDA.COM CORVETTE DP

TALK ABOUT THE PROGRESS THROUGHOUT THE RACE.

"For us it has been almost like a test session, trying to get to the bottom of that TC (traction control) issue that we have had.
It is working intermittently. Sometimes we've got it, and sometimes we don't. We are putting new maps in the car constantly at each pit stop. It actually seems quite unreal that we are only a lap down considering that we have had quite a few issues.
The car generally is good, we are just lacking a little bit down the straight. Not sure why that it. If we can just keep the TC working until the end and get back on the lead lap, who knows."

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 CORVETTE RACING CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R

FROM YOUR VIEW, WHAT HAPPENED ON THE RESTART?

"It was a bit of a crazy restart this morning.
Everyone was everywhere. We were on new tires. The BMW was racing us hard, I was trying to catch up to the 3 car and I went a bit too deep into Turn 6. I got into the back of a PC car and that meant an extended stop to fix it. It was a shame but fortunately through some strategy and clever pit work, we got back on the lead lap.
I got to within about 10 seconds of Jan but he's really tricky.

I've done that for many years. It's looking like it's going to come down to one of our cars and maybe the BMW. Everyone is pushing hard but they don't want to screw it up because if you really make a mess of it now, you're really out of the game."


Team ZR-1
True Custom Performance Tuning
Teamzr1.com
#3525 - 01/25/15 02:20 PM Re: C7.R Wins GTLM Class of Rolex 24 Hour Race [Re: teamzr1]  
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 5,268
teamzr1 Offline
Owner - Pays the bills
teamzr1  Offline
Owner - Pays the bills
Lives in Engine Bay

Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 5,268
America
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 5 ACTION EXPRESS RACING CORVETTE DP

TELL US ABOUT THAT RUN FOR YOU.

"It went OK.
I'm not really comfortable in the car for some reason. The car is very tricky under braking and it's easy to lock up the rears or the front.
For awhile I was getting more comfortable and then made a mistake and had to give up the lead. In terms of pure pace when you put a lap together, it's right there with the other guys.
But we are simply running with a little bit of inconsistency and you can't attack the corners. We're about a second a lap slower than last year, which is a little annoying. We're in the mix and will keep at it to have a shot at the end when it's party time."

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 CORVETTE RACING CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R

HOW WAS THE CAR COMPARED TO YOUR FIRST STINT?

"The stint went really well. We're eight-and-a-half or nine hours in, and we're still battling like it's a sprint race.
It's fantastic and a great feeling. You push really hard all the times and go for the gaps. So far so good. Everything seems to work like we hoped.
There is good balance in the car. I'm able to tow up behind people and use that to pass.

Unfortunately in that stop, I knocked one of the seat belts into the seat when Antonio got in. So that stop was a little slow. That was a little bit of a shame."

IT SEEMS LIKE THERE IS A LOT MORE CONFIDENCE ALL THE WAY AROUND WITH THIS CAR.

"For sure. We know we are not immune to mechanical issues. It does feel like we are a lot more in control of things (compared to 2014). We will have to wait and see. This is a 24-hour race and we're not even halfway yet

TROY FLIS, TEAM OWNER, NO. 90 VISITFLORIDA.COM RACING CORVETTE DP

CONSIDERING HOW THINGS WENT EARLIER THIS WEEK, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE RUN SO FAR?

"We're alright. We still have a couple hurdles we have to get over. Hopefully we can milk it home. Speedwise, I think the car came to us a little bit.
We made a couple changes early in the race and gave up some track position. Ricky and Rocky (Mike Rockenfeller) really like the car right now.

We're a little down on the max speed we're looking for but I don't think we can trim it out any more. It would be too much a handful. But we're happy with the car and how things are going so far."


Team ZR-1
True Custom Performance Tuning
Teamzr1.com
#3526 - 01/25/15 04:34 PM Re: C7.R Wins GTLM Class of Rolex 24 Hour Race [Re: teamzr1]  
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 5,268
teamzr1 Offline
Owner - Pays the bills
teamzr1  Offline
Owner - Pays the bills
Lives in Engine Bay

Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 5,268
America
No.3 C7.R Corvette piloted by Jan Magnussen, Antonia Garcia and Ryan Briscoe who came out on top in the GTLM class.

After a yellow caution period went green with just minutes left in the race, Antonio Garcia held off the second place No.25 BMW to bring home the checkered flag for the first race of the 2015 TUDOR United Sportscar Championship.

“I knew that yellow was coming!” said Garcia.

“We always have a yellow.
I just can’t thank the whole team and Corvette fans enough and Corvette Racing and all the guys and these two drivers (teammates).
We all did amazing. We stayed out of trouble. The car is in perfect shape.
Not a single touch. I think that’s what it takes just to keep it alive and bring it home in one piece, that’s the thing. So, again, finally I get this watch and I think these guys were waiting a few years for that (laughs).

Some of the most amazing sports car racing happened during the 24 hour race and many will remember the thrilling battle overnight between Ferrari, Porsche, BMW and the two factory backed Corvettes in the overnight hours.

The No.4 Corvette C7.R with Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Simon Pagenaud led the race at various times and had just taken the lead in GTLM with 3 hours left when Tommy Milner ran into a Prototype Challenge car just after a restart and the time to fix the damaged front nose put the car four laps down.

Gavin also had a problem on a restart earlier in the race but the repairs mostly consisted of yellow bonding tape on the front nose and so he was back out immediately.

“It was a bit of a crazy restart, just trying to get heat in cold tires, I was trying to catch the #3 car, got a bit too deep into Turn 6, got into the back of an LMPC car,” said Gavin.
“I had my head in my hands after that, but the team saved me, and we managed to get ourselves back on the lead lap.”

The No.4 Corvette earned a podium spot with a third place finish in class.

The No.25 BMW was leading GTLM with two hours left but had a problem in the pits when during a tire change the rear wheels starting spinning as the new tires were going on.
The issue cost the BMW team the lead and they never were quite able to seriously challenge the Corvette until the caution period at the end of the race.

Following the checkered flag, Jan Magnussen said
“Well, it’s just a fantastic feeling.
When you arrive at the race and the car just comes alive and you feel you have a car that you can race with, and you can attack, and you can be fast when you need to; then you’ve got to be lucky.

You’ve got to stay out of trouble and run to your plan and I think everybody on the No. 3 car, the crew, the drivers and everybody just performed perfectly today.
We were fast and made no mistakes and pushed when we had to and relax when we needed to.”

Ryan Brisco had the third seat on the No.3 Corvette and it was a special win today for him. “Yeah, it’s awesome. I’m so proud.” said the IndyCar driver.
“There’s a lot of pressure to do my part and this team just gave us a car that was a dream to drive. We started off struggling a bit I think.

The key was Friday in final practice. We really got the car dialed in and it was just so consistent through the whole race and was really, really good. I couldn’t wish for better teammates and a better team to race for.”


Team ZR-1
True Custom Performance Tuning
Teamzr1.com

Moderated by  teamzr1 

Who's Online Now
0 registered members (), 28 guests, and 7 spiders.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
What's New
Teammate Jason does 140 MPH in standing 1/2 mile
by teamzr1. 03/25/24 06:05 AM
C8 Corvette Convertible Water Leak
by teamzr1. 03/21/24 11:41 AM
IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring 2024
by teamzr1. 03/14/24 07:15 PM
No warranty Flipped Z06 now needs costly repairs
by teamzr1. 03/14/24 02:29 PM
Corvette Racing History
by teamzr1. 03/13/24 03:34 PM
Popular Topics(Views)
Techie
Teammate Jason does 140 MPH in standing 1/2 mile
by teamzr1. 03/25/24 06:05 AM
C8 Corvette Convertible Water Leak
by teamzr1. 03/21/24 11:41 AM
GM Raises Extended Warranty Prices 30%
by teamzr1. 03/13/24 03:21 PM
Stiffer Laws for Stealing CATs
by teamzr1. 03/12/24 05:14 PM
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.6.0