SEBRING, Fla. (March 20, 2021) – Corvette Racing ended an up-and-down day with fourth- and fifth-place class finishes in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Advance Auto Parts. Both Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs faced adversity throughout, and the team nearly won for the 13th time at Sebring International Raceway. 

The No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R of Antonio García, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg placed fourth in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) category after leading much of the day in the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Garcia began on the class pole position, and the trio controlled from the outset and led 211 of 334 laps. After winning the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, the No. 3 Corvette team appeared on its way to a Florida sweep before Garcia was spun from the lead with less than 10 minutes remaining.

On the opposite side of the Corvette garage, the No. 4 Corvette C8.R trio of Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy and Alexander Sims had a day to forget. Beginning the race second in GTLM, the No. 4 C8.R developed an electrical problem from the outset that hampered the Corvette’s performance. Milner, Tandy and Sims – who finished second in GTLM at Daytona – were fifth in class Saturday at Sebring.

Despite a couple of mid-race setbacks, the García/Taylor/Catsburg trio re-established themselves as the race entered twilight with a mix of fuel savings and solid strategy. A fortunate pit stop before a full-course caution period with less than two hours to go allowed the No. 3 Corvette to take the lead, although never by more than three seconds.

García drove the final 2.5 hours and attempted to work his way through traffic when he was forcefully hit under braking by the second-place GTLM car and sent spinning out of the hairpin Turn 7. 

The front-left of the C8.R was damaged, and García had to pit with a flat tire. The damage was too great, and the No. 3 Corvette missed the podium. 

The outcome spoiled a weekend in which Corvette Racing and Chevrolet celebrated a 25-year technology partnership with Mobil 1. Both of the Corvette C8.Rs sported liveries that matched the Mobil 1 brand.

Corvette Racing’s next event is the Six Hours of Spa in the FIA World Endurance Championship on May 1.

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FOURTH IN GTLM: “I don’t know what to say. I’m definitely disappointed in the whole situation. It was a very hard race for all of us. We managed to be up there, and with two stints to go we were both going flat-out. It definitely was between them (the No. 25) and us. Up to that point, it was fair. The whole thing was good. He was pushing hard, and I was pushing as hard as I could. I think we put on a good show but I’m disappointed with the way it ended. I’m sure we would have been super happy to bring home a real result. It’s a tough break, especially after such a long race. I’m disappointed for the guys, for Corvette, for Team Chevy and the fans. We all deserved a little bit better. We will just move on. My next stop is Spa and I’m looking forward to that and the rest of the season. Thank you to Jordan and Nicky… it’s just a tough break.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FOURTH IN GTLM: “It’s definitely a tough end to the day. We came back from some adversity mid-race which is good and got back in the race with strategy and good fuel mileage for the last few hours. We were able to jump everybody in the pits on that last yellow stop which was great. Then Antonio was able to build a small gap and maintain it. Unfortunately the race ended the way it did. But at least we were competitive. When we were here for the 12 Hours last year, we had our own issues we had to deal with. So taking some positives away, we ran a flawless race reliability-wise for our car with no issues, so I think that is one promising thing we can leave here with and only hope for better next time.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FOURTH IN GTLM: “It was crazy… up and down. We went from in the lead to being almost last to being in the lead and then being fourth. Honestly, there were too many mistakes from our side but we recovered and did really well. The Corvette held up really well even after my spin; the car was still in good shape. We managed to get back with good strategy and good pace. Then it looked like we were going for the win… we had the right man at the right moment in the car. This is typical Sebring, though. You see the same thing in Sebring every year. You win some and you lose some. This was very unfortunate, a bit of a divebomb from the 25. These things happen. We need to regroup, learn from the mistakes we made and try to improve for the next race.”