García, Magnussen score fourth straight GT Le Mans podium; No. 4 Corvette out early

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (June 30, 2019) – Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen finished on the podium for the fourth consecutive race in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) class Sunday with a runner-up finish in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

The No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R finished just 0.452 seconds behind the class-winning Porsche, and the Garcia/Magnussen duo claimed their third straight podium at Watkins Glen International. The day included an added bonus: Garcia and Magnussen are a single point of the GTLM Drivers’ Championship as they seek their third consecutive title.

The news on the other side of the Corvette Racing garage wasn’t as good. Tommy Milner suffered contact and crashed on the opening lap in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C7.R, ending the day for him and teammate Oliver Gavin.

The damage to the Corvette was extensive but the team will have the No. 4 entry repaired for this week’s Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The Corvette Racing crew faced a similar rush job after a heavy crash at the 24 Hours of Le Mans forced the team to switch chassis for the No. 4 Corvette ahead of Watkins Glen.

Down to one entry, the Corvette Racing team soldiered on and very nearly pulled off a storybook ending. Garcia and Magnussen led Sunday’s race four times but a call to pit ahead of a full-course yellow that never came seemingly put the No. 3 Corvette on the back foot to the end.

Magnussen, making his 150th start for Corvette Racing, drove the middle three stints and gave the Corvette back to Garcia for the final two hours and 40 minutes. A final full-course yellow set the stage for the late-race charge from seventh to very nearly a long-awaited victory.

There is little time to rest. Corvette Racing’s next event is the Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix on Sunday, July 7 from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTLM: “I can’t be super, super happy about the result. I think we had this race. We have such a strong field. We took one part of the strategy away thinking there would be a yellow when one didn’t come. The race was split then between half of the field and us. We could gain back some spots but when we restarted after the last yellow, we didn’t have track position. To be sixth or seventh in this field and try to win with an hour to go is tough. At the end of the day, we didn’t make it. It was a good call to top off the car on the last yellow to give me a chance to jump both Porsches at the end, but the big thing is that the winning Porsche was too far up the road. I don’t know what’s worse… ending up six or seven seconds off or three-tenths off. I think it hurts more to finish so close. But it’s good points and we’ll take that.”

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTLM: «We had a shot at it today, but we are just missing that last little bit. I am happy for the team and happy for the points. But it’s been awhile since our last win. We keep getting so close but it is getting hard to come up with excuses. We just need to go out there and do it… get that win. I am very happy with how the whole team performed. We could not have done much better. So we will just go on to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, another fantastic track, and see if we can get a win there.”