Fourth in GTD PRO for García, Taylor and No. 3 Corvette with Le Mans up next.

MONTEREY, Calif. (May 1, 2022) – Corvette Racing made the right strategy calls Sunday and put itself in position for another incredible comeback in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Things didn’t exactly pan out in the best way but Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor still came out better than where they started with a fourth-place finish at the Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R challenged for a third straight podium in the new-for-2022 GTD PRO class. The team now takes a break from IMSA competition and will prepare for its annual trip to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June with eyes on a ninth class title in France.

Starting at the back of the GTD PRO grid Sunday and in the middle of the regular GTD field, Corvette Racing elected for a three-stop strategy in attempt to gain early track position. Taylor brought in the No. 3 Corvette 25 minutes into the race on the strategic call from team engineers for fresh Michelin tires and fuel. The move paid off as Taylor got back around ahead of the No. 14 Lexus, which stopped a lap later in an attempt to mirror the Corvette Racing strategy.

Things got better with a full-course caution on the following lap. The Corvette strategists called Taylor back to the pitlane for a fuel top-off under yellow once the GTD pits opened, sending the No. 3 C8.R to the class lead.

Misfortune struck on the restart with Taylor falling back slightly and suffering contact, which pushed the No. 3 Corvette to third in class. Any damage was minimal as Taylor drove another 57 minutes until giving way to Garcia, who went the final 60 minutes without another stop. Garcia whittled a four-second deficit to the third-place BMW of Connor de Phillippi to a half-second inside the final seven minutes, with both within 1.5 seconds of the second-place Lexus at the same time.

Faster prototype traffic and slower GTD cars stymied García’s challenge in the final laps.

Corvette Racing’s next round in IMSA is the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on June 24-26 from Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FOURTH IN GTD PRO: “Things almost played out our way. We stopped first and the Lexus followed us from the same position to cover us. In a way, I think it was a smart race from our point of view. We got the most out of the pace we showed over the weekend. I knew I had to do more than 40 laps on the last stint on the same tires so I didn’t want to kill them. I think everyone was struggling with tires. It was difficult. The different cars achieve lap times in different ways, so when we race BMW for example, it’s very difficult. I got close to them for about four or five laps before traffic got very bad. Without that, maybe I would have had a shot but it’s the way it is around here. Traffic is always very bad at Laguna when we are all struggling with tire degradation. Coming out fourth and being able to maybe get P2 with what we had, I think we have to be happy. I feel just a little disappointed that I couldn’t find my way through to gain those positions.”

On to Le Mans: “It will be fun. Going from this race track with the least amount of grip in GTD PRO, it will feel like we are in LMP1 at Le Mans! It will be nice to get back into WEC and GTE Pro mode as fast possible. I can’t wait to work with the 64 guys again to get a good result for both Corvettes.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FOURTH IN GTD PRO: “From where we started the race, we had to take risks with strategy to make things happen. Fortunately the first call to pit early and the early yellow put us to the lead. I didn’t have a good restart, which shuffled me back to third. I think we were going to be third or fourth on pace with the other guys’ strategies. So it’s not the greatest day but looking at the weekend as a whole, the race is what counts for points. We’ve learned a little bit so hopefully we can go to Watkins Glen and be in a little stronger position.”

On to Le Mans: “I’m already thinking about it. It’s nice to shift gears and go back to the GTE spec of the C8.R. I’ll go to the simulator in the next week-and-a-half to do some Le Mans prep, and I’m looking forward to that. It’ll nice to get back over there and redeem ourselves from last year.”

García, Taylor, No. 3 Corvette drive back to take third in wild sprint race.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 9, 2022) – Corvette Racing’s Antonio García and Jordan Taylor left the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday with a third-place class finish and the championship lead after three rounds of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

García and Taylor recovered from a mid-race, drive-through penalty in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R for a second consecutive podium finish in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO class. The pairing parlayed the result into an early-season points lead in the category’s Manufacturer, Driver and Team standings heading to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in three weeks.

Taylor began from pole position after a sterling qualifying effort Friday. One of the biggest early keys to the race occurred at the drop of the green. Taylor perfectly timed his jump at the start and protected his lead down the long frontstretch and into the heavy braking zone into Turn One. From that point, he slowly and methodically opened a margin due to the strategic fuel and tire management.

Taylor made the No. 3 Corvette’s one and only pit stop with 61 minutes left. García took over after what appeared to be a perfect tire change and refuel by the Corvette Racing crew – carrying on the good work from the victory at Sebring last month.

Unfortunately, the team had to serve a drive-through penalty for losing control of a portion of its pit equipment. García fell back to fourth in class and a lap down, but the race’s first full-course caution only minutes later (for part of the track curbing coming up) allowed García to gain back his lap and move back into podium position.

A pair of full-course cautions inside the final 30 minutes stymied any hope García and the Corvette team had to move back into the lead.

Corvette Racing’s next event is the Hyundai Monterey SportsCar Championship from Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif., on May 1.

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED THIRD IN GTD PRO:“Knowing that you had the pace and everything ran really smooth, I think we should have won. But I do agree that it was fair that we had a drive-through. It’s a bit of a shame. We worked very hard. We know we are strong over a lap, but to race the other GTD cars is very tough. The way every car achieves a lap time is completely opposite to us. That makes it very difficult in order to gain back positions, especially here. Maybe if we had a full 30 minutes of green after the penalty, who knows what would have happened. We will take the result but it’s a shame for sure. That’s another one to add to my list of ways to not win at this race!”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED THIRD IN GTD PRO:«All things considered, it was a pretty good save for a points day. Unfortunately because we had such a strong car and I think we had a winning car, it’s tough to swallow to not maximize the points. As a whole, we had a decent lead at the beginning of the penalty didn’t destroy our race as much as it could have. It was such a fluke of an accident. It’s unfortunate that it happened in the race. We’ll leave here with the championship lead, which is great. We’ll go to Laguna Seca with more that we’ve learned this weekend and build on that.”

García, Taylor, Catsburg, No. 3 Corvette C8.R take 12th victory in 12 Hours.

SEBRING, Fla. (March 19, 2022) – Corvette Racing made it a dozen victories in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Saturday, the first victory in America’s oldest sports car race for the mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

Antonio García, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg teamed for the landmark win with the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette in the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The trio combined to led 247 laps or 913.9 miles for Corvette Racing’s first Sebring 12 Hours win since 2017 and 12th since 2002.

It also marks the first win for the GTD PRO-spec Corvette C8.R in its second race as part of the new class. The result goes along with a runner-up GTE Pro finish for Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy in Friday’s 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the FIA World Endurance Championship.

«Congratulations to Antonio García, Jordan Taylor, Nicky Catsburg and everyone on the No. 3 Corvette C8.R team,» said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. vice president, Performance and Motorsports. «Winning in class for the 12th time at the 12 Hours of Sebring is the result of great driving, race strategy and execution of pit stops. The Corvette C8.R’s 5.5-liter, flat-plane V-8 engine delivered the right combination of performance, reliability and efficiency throughout the race.

“This win is even more special thanks to the support of so many Corvette owners and fans at the track and around the world,” Campbell added. “This has been a great weekend with a runner-up class finish in the World Endurance Championship on Friday and now this win in IMSA. I’m proud of everyone at Corvette Racing and our technical partners at Mobil 1 and Michelin.»

The No. 3 Corvette also won the Sebring round of the Michelin Endurance Cup – a championship consisting of Sebring, the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and Petit Le Mans. Points were awarded at the four-, eight- and 12-hour marks.

Corvette Racing wasted little time going to the front in the race. Garcia set the table from the beginning as he advanced from his third-place starting position to the head of GTD PRO. He passed six cars in his opening two hours before handing off to Taylor for an impressive three-hour run.

Catsburg drove an equally stirring three hours, 18 minutes in the middle of the race. He soldiered through four full-course caution periods and enjoyed a highlight-reel battle with Pfaff Motorsports’ Matt Campbell for the GTD PRO lead at the seven-and-a-half-hour mark. The two raced side-by-side for three corners before Catsburg pulled ahead.

That left Taylor to drive one stint before Garcia closed with a triple-stint to score the victory.

Corvette Racing engineers dedicated significant time at a February test to gain a better understanding of the performance and degradation levels of the GTD Michelin tires, which are different than what the team has used in past seasons. That combined with more than 51,000 racing miles across the familiar bumps around the 3.7-mile, 17-turn Sebring circuit was the right combination.

Corvette Racing’s next event in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is April 8-9 at the Long Beach (Calif.) street circuit.

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTD PRO WINNER: “We had to carry on after Daytona and do all we can. There we didn’t have the pace and little issues we had put us back and out of contention. The main thing here was to stay up front, don’t make any mistakes and have no failures that would set us back. That was the first goal. I was the first guy surprised about our pace. We started seventh and slowly started to make our way through. I wasn’t expecting to be leading after the first stop. I thought our car was the best during the day and when it was as warm as possible. I was a little bit afraid of the rest of the field at night. It seemed like everything was switching on for them, the track would go toward them and maybe all the advantage we had went away a little bit. It was up to us to control the pace and keep the gap. If we had been in a situation to catch another car, it would have been difficult. It was perfectly executed by everyone at Corvette Racing, good strategy and amazing drives by Jordan and Nicky.”

ON 12TH WIN FOR CORVETTE RACING AT SEBRING: “It’s amazing. I said before the race that whenever you come to Sebring in a Corvette, it is always a good feeling. You know something good is going to happen. In the end and having the pace or not having pace, there is still a Corvette factor. It’s the best team to be on when you race here. I’m very happy with that.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTD PRO WINNER: “Daytona was frustrating for us. We lacked pace there and had a mechanical issue in the middle of the night. We learned a lot after that and used it as a test session. That really helped us here. Zero issues around here is a big feat in itself. Twelve hours at Sebring is tougher than 24 at Daytona or Le Mans. It’s a big accomplishment for the team. We won Daytona and the championship last year, so it’s nice to get another major endurance race for the C8.R and start our championship fight again.”

HOLDING THE LEAD THROUGHOUT: “I was surprised how quick we were. I think we were quick in clean air. If we had been stuck behind guys, it would have been difficult for us to get ahead. Once we got to the front, the name of the game was to maintain our track position whether it be saving fuel and extending windows or saving tires. The guys nailed the strategy and kept us out front all day. That’s what really won us the race.”

IMPORTANCE OF FEBRUARY TIRE TEST: “That was big for us. If we showed up here with no test time or setup and development for this track, we would have been out to lunch. Two days here of testing with the guys doing the development and going back and doing their homework really made our weekend.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTD PRO WINNER: “Daytona is a lot about going in a straight line on the banking. This was difficult for us. Sebring was always going to be a bit easier. At the start of the weekend, we really struggled. We got a little break which definitely helped us and brought us back into contention, but it wasn’t easy. Not at all… definitely not. I was struggling on the tires in the middle of the race. It was tough. You never know where you really are until the race. In practice, you don’t know what people are doing in terms of fuel loads, qualifying runs or race runs. It’s difficult to say how much we picked up.”

GETTING THE CORVETTE BACK UP FRONT MID-RACE: “We stuck to our initial plan. We didn’t try anything too crazy. The Lexus and Porsche were going out of sequence but we always stuck to our original plan. It worked out well.”

IMPORTANCE OF FEBRUARY TIRE TEST: “That was huge. It was a huge role. We are still quite new to this tire and to this class. The team had two really good days here. They learned a lot and turned the car around. If we hadn’t done that, we would have had to do it here this week and we probably wouldn’t have won the race. It made a lot of sense.”

Corvette C8.Rs, team soldier through to complete full 24 hours. 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 30, 2022) – Corvette Racing made it through a tumultuous Rolex 24 At Daytona on Sunday and gained valuable information on its Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs in their new GT Daytona (GTD) PRO configuration.

The No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette of Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg – 2021 winners in the GT Le Mans class – led Corvette Racing’s charge with a sixth-place finish. It was a solid drive back from ninth place in the middle of the night when an electrical issue cost the team 13 laps in the garage.

The No. 3 C8.R is the team’s full-season entry in the new-for-2022 GTD PRO class. Other than the visit in the garage late Saturday night, things ran almost like clockwork for the Garcia/Taylor/Catsburg trio.

The same couldn’t be said of the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette of Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy and Marco Sorensen. Their C8.R appeared to be the strongest of the Corvette Racing entries in the opening hours until rear contact after a restart with Sorensen at the wheel caused significant damage near the 8.5-hour mark.

Sorensen had to brake hard to keep from hitting the wayward LMP3 car, which also just missed collecting Catsburg in the No. 3 Corvette. The No. 4 team lost nearly 2.5 hours replacing the diffuser, exhaust pipes and starter, among other components. It eventually salvaged a top-10 class finish.

Daytona marked the only scheduled IMSA appearance for the No. 4 Corvette, which moves to the FIA World Endurance Championship’s GTE Pro class starting with the 1,000 Miles of Sebring (Fla.) on March 18. It is part of a combined weekend with IMSA, which will see Garcia, Taylor and Catsburg race in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on March 19.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SIXTH IN GTD PRO: “This was one of those races where you wanted it to be shorter. We learned a lot and there is still more for us to learn. We had 25 or 26 stints to learn this tire. So it was a proper first real test in race conditions. We were lacking pace both days. There still was a lot to be gained. If you add some extra testing and something else, then maybe we can be in the hunt. In the last stint, I could tell we were missing a tiny bit. If we were on the lead lap, it would have taken a tiny bit for us to be competitive. We’ll carry on to Sebring.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SIXTH IN GTD PRO: “Other than the alternator issues, we’ve had a faultless and flawless race. The strategy and pit stops have been great. It’s good to see the team executing so well. It’s unfortunate we had that issue otherwise we’d be fighting in the top-five somewhere. It’s good to get the extra miles and it’s good the guys got us back out there because we have a championship to fight for at the end of the day. We’ve made up some points by attrition.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SIXTH IN GTD PRO: “This was nice to continue and get more experience on this tire. I think it was the right decision to keep on going and never giving up. It was a learning experience. I enjoyed it. Hopefully we will get more pace at Sebring and we can be competitive.” 

Corvette C8.Rs eighth, ninth in new GTD PRO category in qualifying race for IMSA opener.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 23, 2022) – Corvette Racing finished up its first three days of official testing and competition in the new GTD (GT Daytona) PRO class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Sunday with work to do ahead of the upcoming Rolex 24 At Daytona.

The team finished eighth and ninth in class and 14th and 18th among GTD cars following a 100-minute qualifying race to set the grid for the Rolex 24 on Jan. 29-30. Sunday’s race was the first for the evolved Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, which ran for all three days in GTD spec for the first time in a full-field setting. The results show the uphill battle facing last year’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) race-winning program. Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor – last year’s GTLM champions and Rolex 24 winners with Nicky Catsburg – in the mid-engine No. 3 Corvette C8.R led the team’s efforts but finished a lap behind the class-winning Lamborghini.

The C8.R has undergone a number of changes from its two-year GTLM campaign to bring it in line with the existing GTD cars. Corvette Racing is running with more weight, less power, a higher level of drag, customer Michelin tires and an ABS system for 2022 compared to 2021. Even with a mid-week Balance of Performance adjustment by the sanctioning body in an attempt for more evenly balanced competition, the Corvettes still faced a significant performance deficit in Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race.

Sunday’s race ran green for the full 100 minutes. Garcia ran the first half of the race and gained three spots in class in the opening 10 minutes. He remained there before the GTD pit stop cycle began and handed off to Taylor, who rejoined in the same position after Sorensen made the class’ final stop with 45 minutes remaining.

Tommy Milner and Marco Sorensen teamed in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette in their first race together. Sorensen turned his first laps in competition as a member of Corvette Racing as the pair will drive with Nick Tandy. Milner opened with the longest stint of any GTD PRO drivers at 55 minutes but the top-speed deficit hurt his progress before the pit cycle began. 

Corvette Racing returns to the Daytona track Thursday for the opening practices for the 60tth Rolex 24 At Daytona. The race begins at 1:40 p.m. ET on Saturday, Jan. 29. Television coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC before transitioning between the USA Network and the Peacock streaming service before the final two hours of NBC coverage Sunday afternoon. The full race will stream on Peacock while live IMSA Radio coverage will air on XM 202, SiriusXM Online 992 and IMSA.com, which also will host live timing and scoring.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – EIGHTH IN GTD PRO: “Knowing how little testing we did before the Roar, we used this race as a big test for tires. There are a lot of different things with the tire regulations where you have to run a certain pressure, and we learned a lot about that. It’s the first experience we’ve had with this. I was driving and learning how to maximize the tire performance. Even if we didn’t have the overall pace to be farther up, I think we can a lot from here for the race. Even if it’s only learning how to run a double-stint, it’s better than nothing. Almost all the other GTD teams have been running this tire on their car for a long time so there is a lot of catching up we need to do on this little thing. Let’s see if we can come back stronger in a few days so we can be where we need to be.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – EIGHTH IN GTD PRO: “The race was a qualifying race so you can’t really win too much in that event. It’s pretty much just about setting us up for the Rolex. For us, we know the car we have now. Throughout the Roar, we made some developments and gathered more data to hopefully set us up well for next week. That’s the one that counts. We still have some more work to do in order to understand the ABS, the new tire and everything. The guys will have a busy week ahead but I know we’ll come back strong next week. Understanding the racecraft of this category was important. We’re now mixed into a new class with GTD and Am drivers as well. Understanding how they race and how we will interact is useful. It’s a lot harder to get by them now that we have the same BoP, so it will make for a long and interesting 24 hours. It will make staying out of trouble that much more important than years past.”

· 14th Manufacturers Championship for Chevrolet in IMSA competition

· García, Taylor go back-to-back as GTLM Drivers champions

· Milner, Tandy secure second place in GTLM points

· Corvette Racing closes GTLM era with 15th Team Championship

BRASELTON, Ga. (Nov. 13, 2021) – For the second straight season, Chevrolet and Corvette Racing captured all three full-season GT Le Mans (GTLM) titles of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Corvette Racing program completed a repeat sweep of the GTLM Manufacturers, Drivers and Team championships with the start of Saturday’s 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

Chevrolet claimed its 14th Manufacturers title in GT racing, Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor went back-to-back as Drivers champions while the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R repeated as Team title-winners.

“Chevrolet is proud to win the 2021 Manufacturers Championship and the final for the GT Le Mans category,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S Vice President, Performance and Motorsports. “The mid-engine Corvette C8.R is building a strong legacy thanks to the ‘One Team’ approach of the Corvette race team, our powertrain engineers, and Corvette production engineers and designers. We are excited to continue the development of the C8.R onward in 2022.

“Congratulations also to Antonio García, Jordan Taylor and everyone on the No. 3 Corvette C8.R team,” Campbell added. “This was a challenging season in many aspects but the competitive spirit within the two Corvette C8.R teams has never been stronger.”

Chevrolet and Corvette Racing won seven times in IMSA entering Petit Le Mans including 1-2 finishes in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the three most recent rounds of the championship. Corvette Racing also claimed pole position in each GTLM race heading into Petit Le Mans.

After winning five times during their 2020 championship run, García and Taylor backed that up with four wins to date including the Rolex 24. 

García won his fifth IMSA title, tying Oliver Gavin for the most among all Corvette Racing drivers. The rapid Spaniard took pole positions at Sebring and the Watkins Glen Six Hours and was the fastest GTLM driver at Sebring.

Taylor is now a four-time IMSA champion with two in GTLM to go along with a pair of Prototype titles. The American has five pole positions to his credit this season – all consecutively from the Watkins Glen Six Hours to Long Beach.

No. 4 Corvette C8.R teammates Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy wrapped up second in GTLM points with the start of today’s race. They also were contributors in the Manufacturers Championship with three victories and two pole positions.

BRASELTON, Ga. (Nov. 13, 2021) – Corvette Racing had hopes of going out of the GT Le Mans (GTLM) era in winning style, but fortune had other ideas at the 10-hour Petit Le Mans. Despite setbacks to both Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs in the final race of this year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the program still celebrated a second straight sweep of the full-season GTLM titles.

Antonio García and Jordan Taylor wrapped up their second straight class Drivers Championship as the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R took the green flag for the race start. It also locked up consecutive Manufacturers championships for Chevrolet and the Team title for the No. 3 Corvette squad.

A mid-race accident, however, forced the No. 3 C8.R’s retirement just before the halfway point. Taylor was part of a long train of cars coming to a restart over a blind crest and crashed heavily into another GT car that had spun and stopped only seconds before. He was evaluated and released from the infield care center.

Corvette Racing still had hopes of a ninth Petit Le Mans victory with the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R of Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy and Alexander Sims.

The trio led a race-high 313 laps with all three drivers taking turns at the front of the field. While lacking overall performance, clever strategy and pit work kept the No. 4 C8.R at or near the lead for the first three-quarters of the race. Fuel savings by the Corvette drivers meant shorter fuel fill times, and the No. 4 pit crew helped capitalize by gaining 11 spots during the first six pit stops in the race.

In a fight for track position late and running second in class, Tandy was hit and pushed off-track by the eventual race-winning prototype. The impact broke the left-front suspension of the Corvette with 10 minutes left.

Corvette Racing will return to IMSA in January for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona in the new GTD PRO category. That effort will go along with a single-car entry in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – 2021 GTLM CHAMPIONTALK ABOUT WINNING YOUR FIFTH CHAMPIONSHIP TODAY.“A good first lap for sure knowing that we had clinched the championship You forget about that right away because you are in race mode. Everything was running super smooth for the first full stint or half-stint then I was able to save fuel and jump first and second place on the first pit stop. Then it felt the car came back to me and was really pretty good. I saw Nick (Tandy) behind me and we pulled a good gap over the other cars. So I settled in and everything seemed to be going to plan. Actually it caught me by surprise because yesterday the car didn’t feel very good. Somehow we had pace today. It’s just a shame about what happened to Jordan. I could  anticipate something happening after the three or four restarts I did because traffic was very severe not only on the restarts but with all the class splits out there. There was a lot of tension you could see out there. As Jordan said, the good thing is he is okay that’s the best thing so what I’m very  grateful for.”

ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON: «This year was a really good year. We started by winning the Rolex 24. It felt like a really long time since my last one. It was starting to be a little bit like last year. Corvette was super strong and probably even stronger this year. We just kept doing what we did last year, Jordan and I. We seem to be really good together. Everything was working really good. We just kept doing what we did. We didn’t think about the championship but somehow everything came back to us. Other than this year, my only downside was Sebring. I thought we had a really good race going until six minutes to go. Now for sure I’ll remember this championship. Not winning Petit does hurt, though.»

MOVING TO GTD PRO IN 2022: «We’re definitely looking forward to that. That opens up the opportunity to win this race, for one! This championship has really, really good racing. Getting back to race again at Daytona, Sebring, here and the other good tracks we go to, I’m really happy for that. As you can see today, GTD looks like good fun. I’m looking forward to that, too.»

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – 2021 GTLM CHAMPIONJORDAN, HOW ARE  YOU FEELING? “Just a little sore, thanks. It’s just really tight, a muscle spasm. I’ll be fine in a couple of days.  Thankfully, Corvette, Chevrolet and Pratt Miller built a very strong car that kept me safe. It’s definitely a scary moment when you come over the crest in fifth gear and everyone stops on the other side. It’s something  we can learn from in the future on restart procedures. But thankfully I got out of the car and am okay, and we still had another Corvette in the fight.»

TALK ABOUT THE RACING OUT THERE AND SECURING THE CHAMPIONSHIP.“Like Antonio said, as soon as you start the race, you kind of forget about the championship and go for the win because it is Petit Le Mans. When you come into these events, such high-profile events, it’s unfortunate you have such a mix of drivers and classes that don’t mix well and makes the traffic and the racing so difficult.  My first stint was kind of messy with traffic in and out. Then the way it worked we were starting in the back for that restart. The stack-up effect is always there and 10A and 10B, which was way more extreme today. It was unfortunate to catch us out, but definitely amazing to get a championship for Antonio and I and two in a row. Amazing to finish up the GTLM era with two championships like that and I think Antonio is the winningest driver in the class over its existence, so I am proud to have been his teammate for nine of those wins and looking forward to fighting for a third one next year.”

JORDAN, IN YOUR OPINON, WHAT HAPPENED?“When we were restarting, I don’t know where we were in line, maybe 30th or 35th. The leaders were coming out of 10B and they start accelerating out of the chicane. So they start going and then when you get back to 15th or 20th, they are still braking in the chicane and it starts the accordion effect. We were so far back, we were pretty much flat-out all the way down the back stretch trying to kind of keep up with everyone. By the time we got to the crest, I was behind the 79 or 97 and at that point I’m in fifth gear. I’m just basically following him and trusting him that he knows where he is going and he could see where we were going. As soon as we crested, he went left and I went right. Basically where he had gone turned out to be the only safe place and when I popped up next to him, there were two cars stopped in the middle of the racetrack. I had nowhere to go so I slid into them about 110 miles an hour. Thankfully everyone was fine. The first thing I thought was I thought I broke my back, that is how hard it was and probably hurt the guy in front of me with how hard I hit him directly in the back. Thankfully he was fine.“I already saw someone already and it is muscle spasms in my lower back. Thankfully nothing right now is too serious. When I got to the medical center, I was the worst one.”

PERSPECTIVE: «This was the first time I’ve had a big crash in an event… we’re a family of racers – my dad and my brother. It’s the first time one of us has had a big accident. It’s always a fear for a family member to get injured. Antonio’s family probably watches at home and they don’t get answers as fast as this if something happens. I knew Ricky was in the 10 car and when I walked over the wall, my first thought was that he was going to drive by this mashed car and he’d be looking for a thumbs up. I knew he’d be freaked out, so it was an emotional moment to be honest. It brings a lot of things back into reality. You’re on track racing these guys and wanting to beat everyone. But as soon as an accident happens, it becomes a lot more human and brings out that back into the big picture. So I want to say thank you to everyone on the team for the safety and the IMSA safety team, as well.»

SEEING YOUR DAD AFTER THE ACCIDENT: «Ricky was one of the first ones I saw on the track. I was on the wall and he was looking for a thumbs up, so I gave him a thumbs up just to put him at ease considering his position for the championship. Then I was carted off to the medical center, where I knew my mom and my girlfriend were outside. I called my mom from someone’s cell phone and told her I was OK and hopefully relay that message to my dad. I saw him about an hour-and-a-half later. He was still crying, which I can imagine. I hated watching him race for the same reasons, and I can’t imagine what it’s like for him to watch his kids every day. Thankfully to this point, it was smooth sailing but in this sport anything can happen. Today was a bit of a reality check for everyone. I’m sure everyone we’ll all be really happy once we get home safely.»

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SIXTH IN GTLM: “The season started amazing with winning Daytona. I think at Sebring we were in a very good position to win the race as well until we  were taken out in the last little part of the race. Le Mans wasn’t too bad. So yes I can look back on a good season. And the boys can look back on an even better season because they won the championship. Today was very unfortunate. We are all happy that Jordan is feeling well and got away with just some muscle pain. Of course  I would have loved to drive and not sit on the sideline for the whole race, but other than that it was super nice this season and we get to celebrate a championship.“It is only one-and-a-half months and we are back in Daytona GTD PRO. New challenge and I think the competition is bigger. The field is bigger. That is going to be interesting. I can’t wait to be honest.”

ALTON, Va. (Oct. 9, 2021) – Corvette Racing’s Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner took their third straight victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship by winning the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR on Saturday as the late-season roll continues for the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

Tandy went from third to first in the span of a contact-filled, half-lap with 50 minutes to go for the winning move. Saturday’s victory goes along with the triumphs at Laguna Seca and Long Beach for the No. 4 Corvette C8.R.

Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor, leaders in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) Drivers Championship, finished second in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette. They only need to start the 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta to wrap up their second straight title and another Manufacturers Championship for Chevorlet.

Saturday’s race was full of momentum changes and strategies – all on NBC’s national television audience. Taylor led from the start, overtaking pole-sitter Milner into the first corner. The two Corvettes stretched out their lead over third-place Cooper MacNeil to around 35 seconds before Milner made the first Corvette pit stop 28 minutes into the race for fuel, Michelin tires and a driver change to Tandy. That came in response to a full-service stop for the No. 79 10 minutes earlier, and the combo of the No. 4 Corvette’s pace and a quick stop meant Tandy was clear in second place by 40 seconds.

The No. 4 Corvette inherited the lead on a slow stop for the No. 3 C8.R team 53 minutes into the race. Taylor led by more than a minute, but the pit stop misstep relegated Garcia to second but still clear of Kevin Estre in the No. 79.

The race’s lone full-course caution came near the halfway point and shifted the strategy fortunes. Tandy stopped for fuel and tires, the earlier stop allowing the No. 4 team to perform a tire change while refueling the Corvette. Garcia got tires only after barely 20 minutes of green flag running.

The restart with 66 minutes left saw the three GTLM contenders in a line. Estre shoved Tandy out of the way for second place with about 50 minutes left and did the same to Garcia – still on older tires – shortly thereafter. The battle between the No. 3 Corvette and the 79 allowed Tandy to catch back up to the lead pair. He got by Garcia during the 3 vs. 79 fight and stuffed the No. 4 Corvette to the inside at Turn 12 leading on to the backstretch to take the lead.

Corvette Racing will close the 2021 season at Petit Le Mans from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Saturday, November 13.

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTLM: «It was an up-and-down race that ended in another Corvette 1-2. It looked good for us on the 3 car side for much of the race until the yellow came out. That really gave the tire advantage back to Nick as well the 79 since they both were on a three-stop strategy. It made it difficult to defend from the Porsche, and to be honest it wasn’t a clean overtake. In the end, we ended with a 1-2 team finish. Sure we would have liked to be back on the top step but it didn’t work out. We’ll try to get back there at Atlanta.»

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTLM: «It’s not the way we wanted to end the day after being in control of it  from the green flag through the first half of the race on the two-stop strategy. Once the yellow came out, it kind of mixed things up. It was a tough fight all the way to the end. It was a good job by the 4 Corvette and a tough fight with the 79 there in the middle. Good job today for Corvette Racing with another 1-2. We can go to Petit Le Mans now and race as hard as we want to for a win there.»

LONG BEACH, Calif. (Sept. 25, 2021) – Corvette Racing’s Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy won their second straight race in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Saturday – a GT Le Mans (GTLM) victory in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach with the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

Milner passed No. 3 Corvette Racing teammate Jordan Taylor near the 50-minute mark, and Tandy drove a traffic-filled final stint as the Corvette Racing program won for the eighth time at the southern California street event. It’s the second street circuit win of the year for the Milner/Tandy duo, which also won a non-points race in June at Detroit’s Belle Isle circuit.

Milner won for the fourth time his career at Long Beach while Tandy took his second victory there.
Tandy took a 0.75-second victory over Antonio Garcia, Taylor’s teammate in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R. The runner-up result did move Garcia and Taylor closer to their second straight GTLM Drivers Championship and a repeat Manufacturers crowd for Chevrolet.

As is typically the case at Long Beach, traffic played a huge role throughout the 100-minute sprint. Taylor began on pole position with Milner never more than two seconds behind. The ebb and flow of being passed by faster prototypes but passing slower GT Daytona (GTD) cars caused the gap between the two C8.Rs to fluctuate throughout.

The winning move came at the race’s halfway point as Taylor was balked by a GTD car, which allowed Milner to find some extra momentum and get alongside his teammate just before the short backstretch. The two Corvettes ran in that order before Taylor made the No. 3 Corvette’s only stop of the race with 41 minutes to go. Milner came in a lap later for the switch-over to Tandy, who rejoined the race in the lead and clear of Garcia by about two seconds.

As was the case in the first part of the race, traffic made Tandy’s lead grow and shrink over the course of a lap. But neither Corvette driver put a foot wrong for the final stint.

Corvette Racing’s next event is the Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway on Oct. 8-9.

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTLM: «Obviously you always want to win. The pit cycle didn’t go our way and we lost track position right before the stop. From that point on, we didn’t have the advantage of over-cutting so we had to pit early. The car was really good. Even if I had a two- or three-second deficit initially, I was able to catch back up again to Nick. As we saw, it’s almost impossible to pass unless you hit traffic the right way. That’s the main thing. I stayed where I was and wait for a mistake and a little traffic. On a street circuit, you can’t risk it like if we were fighting another manufacturer. You want to win but you always know that is your teammate, too. It was fun to go flat-out around this track, and I could tell Nick was trying hard, too.» 

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTLM: «It wasn’t a bad race and to finish second. It definitely was tricky with traffic. Some guys did not want to lift or let anyone go, which was frustrating but it’s part of the race. Everyone has to deal with it. So another good day for Corvette Racing with a 1-2 finish. For us in the 3 car, I think we’re pretty close to the championship. It opens things up to take more risks the next races, which will be fun.»

MONTEREY, Calif. (Sept. 12, 2021) – Corvette Racing’s Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy took a hard-earned victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) category Sunday with their second win of the season in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

The duo scored a one-lap victory – their first full-points win of the year – at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for Corvette Racing’s first triumph there since 2014. It came as the program marked 23 consecutive years of racing on the Monterey Peninsula.

GTLM Drivers Championship leaders Antonio García and Jordan Taylor placed second in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette as the pair of mid-engine C8.Rs combined to lead every lap Sunday.

Milner and Tandy won a non-points race earlier this year at Detroit, and the No. 4 Corvette also won a 100-minute qualifying race ahead of the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January. Sunday was a break-through for the pairing in scoring maximum race points.

Milner started second in class and drove the first 58 minutes of the two-hour, 40-minute race before handing over to Tandy, who drove a double-stint to the end. He finished a lap clear of the sister Corvette as each car in the category made two stops due to a two-hour, 26-minute, green-flag run to the finish.

Taylor led for the entirety of his stint to open things in the No. 3 Corvette, which was the first of the C8.Rs to stop at the 51-minute mark. He handed off to García, equipped with a full tank of fuel and fresh Michelin tires. Milner followed suit a couple of laps later, and Tandy set off in hot pursuit of the No. 3 C8.R.

He and Garcia engaged in a spirited battle with the two exchanging fastest GTLM race laps multiple times. Tandy, who set a GTLM track record at 1:21.827 (98.461 mph), got alongside his teammate at one point and inherited the lead for good when García made his final stop with 49 minutes left.

The No. 4 Corvette came in a lap later and came out just ahead of García, despite a trip through the gravel along Laguna Seca’s winding pitlane exit. Undeterred, Tandy slowly but steadily built a gap over García to the end of the race.

Corvette Racing returns to action at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, Sept. 25.

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTLM: «It was good for a 1-2 finish for Corvette and that we could cover the Porsche on any possible strategy. Having such a clean race with just one yellow made things a tiny bit easier. Today it went our way. Another Corvette 1-2 even if it was another super-tight battle with our teammates. Those are always fun to have. As I’ve said many times, there is no worse adversary than your teammates because they have the same tools. Whatever advantage you have they have it too, and whatever weakness you have they have the same. This time the win went to Tommy and Nick. They were just a tiny bit better than us, but I’m happy we showed well and had a nice, clean race between the two Corvettes. I gave everything I had, for sure. I didn’t have anything else.»

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTLM: “It’s a little disappointing not to get the win. At the same time it was a good day for Corvette Racing with another 1-2 finish. It was nice for the 4 car guys to get the monkey off their backs. We had a good Corvette. From the pole, leading most of the race and with the pit stop cycle and strategy, we just missed it a little bit. In these races, you can’t make any little mistakes. Once the yellow came out at the beginning, it kind of put everyone on a three-stop strategy. There were some options for a three-stop but you needed it to be green the whole race for that to work. Once the yellow came out at the beginning, everyone was locked in to the same strategy. But it wasn’t a bad day for the championship, so we can look forward to Long Beach and focus on that one.”