DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 26, 2017) – Corvette Racing will go for a third straight class victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona from the fourth and fifth rows of the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class following qualifying Thursday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway.

A trio of practice sessions and time trials will give way to a final single practice Friday before the official start of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Saturday. When it gets under way, Jan Magnussen will start the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R seventh after a lap of 1:44.359 (x mph). In the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, Oliver Gavin will roll off ninth from the grid following his best lap of 1:44.685 (x mph).

Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler won last year’s Rolex 24 in GTLM in a thrilling race that saw the two Corvettes separated by just 0.034 seconds at the finish. Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Mike Rockenfeller were runners-up a year after the No. 3 Corvette C7.R won the race in 2015.

For reference the two Corvettes qualified seventh and eighth last season, and the gap to the class pole-winner was much closer Thursday.

The Rolex 24 was the site of Corvette Racing’s debut on Jan. 31, 1999. Since that first race, the team has competed in more than 170 events around the globe with 102 victories worldwide – including five wins in 2016 – along with 11 Manufacturer and Team championships in the American Le Mans Series and WeatherTech Championship to go along with eight victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The 55th Rolex 24 At Daytona is the start of the 2017 IMSA season and is set for 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Jan. 28. It will air on live on FOX beginning at 2 p.m. ET with coverage also on FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2 and FOX Sports Go. Live audio coverage from IMSA Radio is available on IMSA.com.

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – QUALIFIED SEVENTH IN GTLM:“It’s been a little tougher than everyone expected coming back here for the race weekend. I think everyone left the Roar pretty happy with how the Corvette was handling and how we were stacking up against everyone else. But today for sure, we’ve been struggling a little bit. Qualifying I think is a good indication of where we are right now. It will be a tough race ahead of us.”