Fourth-place finish in team’s 25th race on Monterey Peninsula

MONTEREY, Calif. (May 14, 2023) – Corvette Racing’s 25th start at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca didn’t end the way the team had hoped as the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R finished fourth in GTD PRO in Sunday’s MOTUL Course de Monterey.

Both Jordan Taylor and Antonio García led in class during the fourth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, but a costly late-race penalty ended any chances of the team’s ninth class victory at Laguna Seca.

As it did a year ago when it led early, Corvette Racing played to its strength Sunday with a pit stop near the 30-minute mark under full-course yellow. Taylor had moved up to fourth in class at the start and brought the C8.R to the pit lane for four tires and fuel. A quick stop gained Taylor two spots to second, which became three to first when the then-leading No. 9 Porsche was penalized for leaving pitlane with pit exit closed.

Taylor continued to lead to the one-hour mark when Corvette Racing engineers brought him in again under another full-course yellow for fuel, tires and a driver change to García. Another quick stop got García out second in class – only because the No. 23 Aston Martin took less fuel and no tires to leave the pitlane first.

The order remained unchanged when the final scheduled GTD PRO stops began with 67 minutes to go. The No. 3 was the next-to-last car to pit for fuel and four more tires as García rejoined second and 3.8 seconds behind the Aston Martin.

Disaster struck during the race’s final full-course yellow inside the final hour when García inadvertently followed the GTD PRO leader around the safety car, which resulted in the penalty.

Corvette Racing’s next event in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on Sunday, June 25 from Watkins Glen International.

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTD PRO: “It’s a situation where when it’s green, you’re fighting all the GTDs. But when it comes to the safety car, we aren’t the same category. So we need to figure that out. The safety car split the GTD field. The GTD leader was the real GT leader, so that’s why everyone behind us moved to the right to get a pass-around, and the 23 moved to the right, as well. But because we were the GTD PRO leaders, we should have stayed where we were. But that’s the way the rules are. I just made a mistake and went to follow the 23 when they were wrong. I had a big queue of GTDs behind me, and all I could see behind me were GT cars moving to the right. So that’s what confused me. If I could have seen the Mercedes or Lexus GTD PRO cars behind me staying to the left, I would have figured it out. But there were a ton of cars between us. It’s a mistake that shouldn’t happen. On race pace, we had a car to win. We did everything right on strategy to be in the lead. As we showed at the end, I think we had a little more on tire degradation. We’ll review what happened, do a full analysis of the situation, and I know this won’t happen again.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTD PRO: “With how the weekend started, we were definitely behind the eight-ball with our issues in practice. It was a good bounce-back to be closer to the front in qualifying than a year ago, and our race pace today seemed pretty strong. We were able to get to the lead with a great pit stop after the second yellow. Once we were in clean air, the car was strong and we could kind of control the race. We definitely didn’t have the fastest car. But we had track position, and around here that’s so important. The guys did a good job. All our stops were smooth and clean. It’s one of those things where one little thing where can really impact a race. It’s one of those things that happen, and I can guarantee you it won’t happen again. This will be a big learning lesson.”

Garcia, Taylor battle to the front to second-place class finish in California street fight.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 15, 2023) – Some second-place finishes are better than others. That was the story for Corvette Racing on Saturday as Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R earned a runner-up GT Daytona (GTD) PRO result in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

On a day where nothing came easy and passing was limited, the Corvette team – drivers, crew and engineers – made the most of its opportunities to claw forward two spots from the start and earn valuable points in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GTD PRO standings.

Garcia started the race in fourth after Friday’s qualifying but ran the first 10 minutes of Saturday’s 100-minute sprint under full-course yellow due to a crash involving two GTP cars. Once the race went back green, he was able to stay within reach of the four lead GTD cars – three PRO entries and one regular GTD competitor – as the pack began to run up on lap traffic.

The first pit stops began near the 35-minute mark, and the No. 3 C8.R team brought in Garcia to swap over to Taylor after 40 minutes and running third in class. A quick service of a full fuel load and four fresh Michelin tires, plus a stellar out-lap by Taylor meant the Corvette didn’t just hold on to third place, it gained more than three seconds on Klaus Bachler in the second-place Porsche.

After some hard, side-to-side racing, Taylor stayed within one second of the No. 9 and made a strong, decisive move into Turn Six with a huge dive to the inside of the Porsche – straight out of his recent experience in the NASCAR Cup Series – with 40 minutes left to take the second-place spot.

GTD lap traffic and faster GTP cars going by meant that Taylor had to spend the rest of the race with Bachler right on the rear bumper of the Corvette. Taylor stayed tough and held the position as the race ended during another full-course caution.

Corvette Racing’s next event in the IMSA championship is May 12-14 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTD PRO: “Starting where we started, it was really difficult to do something super-crazy to gain positions. On pure speed, we had no real advantage to make a move. The only way was to do it by strategy as we did and then play the traffic like Jordan did to gain those spots. I think we had a fourth-place car and we finished second, so we can be happy for once at Long Beach! We didn’t have the pace to win or really fight for it like we have had in the past. It sounds strange, but I’m happy with second.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTD PRO: “We had a good Corvette – maybe a fourth-place car on pace. Antonio did a good job from fourth in his stint, which is where we were speed-wise. The guys made a good call in the pits to try and jump some guys. We came out even with the Porsche, and they were pretty aggressive on their out-lap and pushed me wide at the fountain. Once he pushed me once, I knew it was fair to push him back. Once I got close enough, he defended pretty aggressively and I wasn’t going to let up. I gave him a little tap from the NASCAR world and was able to get by. It was difficult to defend the rest of the race. I’m glad traffic worked out relatively well to keep him behind us, so a great day for us points-wise. We had a fourth-place car and to come away with second and beating two guys who probably should have been on the podium, we can be proud of that. At the end of the year when we look back on the championship, hopefully this is one we count for some good points.”

SEBRING, Fla. (March 18, 2023) – Corvette Racing showed itself strong early but was left wondering what might have been at the end of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Saturday.

The No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R – with Antonio García, Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner sharing the wheel – placed fifth in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO class after the second race of this year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. 

After fighting back first from an untimely full-course yellow early and then a mechanical problem with four hours remaining, Corvette Racing appeared to be in a great spot for a second straight Sebring class victory until late-race chaos that started with the GTP-class fight with 20 minutes to go undid all the team’s good work at the end.

The Corvette had the race going its way in the opening eight hours. García began from pole position and steadily increased his advantage through the first hour. The first bit of misfortune struck at the race’s second full-course yellow just past the hour mark as the Corvette couldn’t make its first stop before the pits closed. As a result, it had to enter the pitlane for five seconds of emergency fuel and pit again for full service when the GT pits opened.

García fell to eighth in class but carved his way back toward the front with a dynamic drive through traffic in the span of 25 minutes. He moved up to second by the time the race went yellow again at the two-hour mark.

Taylor got in the Corvette for almost three hours as the Corvette Racing crew got him out ahead of the No. 79 Mercedes for the GTD PRO lead. It was a spot that Taylor held for most of his triple-stint before he handed the C8.R to Milner, who rejoined with the lead.

The Corvette continued to lead out front despite the air and track temperatures climbing during the hottest part of the day. Still while leading, Milner radioed to the Corvette Racing pitbox for the crew to check something at the rear of the car. On his final pitstop with about four hours left, the crew found and replaced the C8.R’s left-rear damper. The fix cost Corvette Racing a lap but Taylor got in for his second run in the car still with good pace but needing a yellow.

Nearly 2.5 hours later, the yellow flags flew again to solidify the Corvette getting back on the lead lap. Taylor stayed in until the 10-hour mark when Garcia re-entered the race for the final stints to the end. A series of additional full-course yellows and some sharp strategy calls moved the Corvette as high as third and first among the GTD PRO cars that made their final scheduled stops under yellow with about 50 minutes to go.

On the subsequent restart, however, García was hit from behind and knocked off track. The contact sent the C8.R down to sixth place. The final blow came with 17 minutes to go when Garcia and the No. 62 Ferrari were involved in a crash instigated by the overall leaders. Despite the second spin, the Corvette did gain a spot to its final fifth-place finishing position.

Corvette Racing’s next event in the WeatherTech Championship is Saturday, April 15 in Long Beach, Calif.

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FIFTH IN GTD PRO:“I’m really disappointed with the finish, but it has nothing to do with the team. They did a great job all weekend with the car, our strategy and helping to keep us in the race when things weren’t looking so good. We kept waiting for a long time for a yellow to get back with the main GTD PRO group, and it finally came our way not long after I got in. I felt like we were in the best shape of all with about an hour to go before all the chaos broke out. I really don’t know what to say. All I know is that I was spun twice and it ruined our race and our car. I understand that this is an important race but there is no call for what happened late. It was careless and reckless driving by a lot of guys who should know better. I don’t know if we would have won, but I do know that we had that chance taken from us. I’m not happy.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FIFTH IN GTD PRO: «A disappointing finish. The guys did an amazing job. We were up front and in control for a majority of the day before our mechanical issue. I’d say driving standards for today were pretty sub-par from the whole field. There were so many yellows early on and the end of the race was embarrassing to be part of, to be honest. It’s disappointing to finish fifth after how strong we were, but we’ll move on to Long Beach.»

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FIFTH IN GTD PRO: «The start was great from Antonio. The first stint from Jordan was awesome. The car was very, very good. At some point in my stint, we had our issue and it looked a little grim for awhile. Then it looked like we would have an opportunity and a chance to race for a podium, which I think we certainly deserved as we had the car to beat. At the end, you had a lot of guys who were driving over their heads and there was a lot of that today. Unfortunately we got the worst of it. I feel for the rest of the guys in GTD PRO to have to deal with Antonio for the rest of the year. He’s going to be fired up.»

García, Taylor, Milner fight from behind to challenge for GTD PRO class win.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 29, 2023) – Corvette Racing started its 25th season of competition with a runner-up class finish Sunday in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner teamed up for the second-place GT Daytona (GTD) PRO result in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

After a drive back from two laps down in the middle of the night – due to a flat left-rear tire and a rear brake change – the No. 3 C8.R moved back to not just contention for the Rolex victory but to the lead just before sunrise Sunday morning.

The chaotic events of the middle eight hours looked like they would give way with a caution-free run of more than five hours into mid-morning. Taylor drove a double-stint for his final laps in the car and led the class multiple times. At that point and with a little more than three hours to go, Milner took over from Taylor and drove two stints of hard, intense racing that saw the Corvette and two other competitors swap the GTD PRO lead.

Milner gave way to Garcia for an even more chaotic final one hour, 45 minutes. The top three cars – the 3 Corvette, the 14 Lexus and 79 Mercedes – swapped back and forth through three full-course caution periods in the span of an hour and 20 minutes before a final 26-minute run to the flag with Garcia coming home second in class.

An up-and-down middle eight hours saw Corvette Racing re-emerge from two laps down and back into contention for a class victory as daylight arrived Sunday. The three Corvette Racing drivers  each drove triple-stints through the darkness as they rotated through the C8.R for the second time. 

Garcia, who started the race Saturday, worked with the Corvette Racing engineers to improve tire performance through his three stints. By the time he handed over to Taylor a little before the 10-hour mark, the C8.R was in a better state than when Garcia took over as Taylor left the pitlane in the class lead thanks to a solid stop by the Corvette pit crew.

Things began to look dire near the 10.5-hour mark when the No. 3 Corvette suffered a left-rear flat tire just before Taylor came on the Turn 1 speedway banking while running second in class. He nursed the car back to pitlane even as the tire came off the wheel before the Corvette made it back to pit entry.

The team quickly changed tires but had to stop a lap later to change the Corvette’s rear brakes due to damage from the flat tire. It dropped the No. 3 C8.R to two laps down.

Critically, Taylor was able to stay ahead of the GTD PRO leader and not lose another lap before a full-course yellow just before the halfway point of the race. The Corvette Racing crew got a lap back during a pass-around before stopping for fuel and tires, and then the crew changed the front brakes a lap later to return the Corvette to full strength – and the lead lap – with just over 11-and-a-half hours to go.

Taylor gave way to Milner from the sixth position in class about an hour later with the Corvette rejoining in fifth. Less than an hour into his opening stint, the race’s eighth full-course caution drew Milner closer to the front. He ran third in class and seven seconds from the lead as the race entered the final eight hours.

Corvette Racing’s next event in the WeatherTech Championship is the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Saturday, March 18.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTD PRO: “P2 at Daytona… it was a bit crazy out there. With the P3 cars ahead of us, it was a lottery especially in turns One and Three. Everybody was getting super crazy. When you have a car with ABS, you can just go for it and that’s what people are doing. But we did all we could. That was all we had. A lot of times, I was very surprised to be where we were. We seemed to be good on fuel, which seemed to be our only chance. We just didn’t have the outright pace.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTD PRO:“The Rolex 24 is always kind of a stand-alone race for us every year. If you look at our race as a whole, we had some adversity during the night but came from two laps down. Everyone executed well. We were in the hunt most of the way. We didn’t have the outright pace, but it was a true Corvette Racing race where we battled our way back to second. We started with a third-place car and finished second, so that’s a win in our book.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTD PRO:“Based on how everything was going in practice and in the Roar, I think P2 in the end is quite good. When you have a chance to fight for the win like that and for us to run up front for so much of the race, to miss it by that much at the end is tough. We knew going in that the Mercedes guys were quick, the Aston was quick, the Lexus was quick. It was a great job by the team to persevere and to keep pushing all throughout the race. My teammates did a great job. We were just missing a little bit of pace at the end. It was a good race for all three of us. We were racing super-hard and pushing super-hard. We just came up a little short.”

Garcia fourth-fastest in GTD PRO qualifying with No. 3 Corvette C8.R.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 22, 2023) – A new season – and Corvette Racing’s 25th – will see Antonio Garcia and the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R start fourth in class for next weekend’s Rolex 24 At Daytona.

During Sunday’s 15-minute qualifying session, Garcia posted a best lap of 1:48.077 (118.582 mph) around the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course to slot into the top-five in the GT Daytona (GTD PRO) class and 12th among all GTD entries for the opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The No. 3 Corvette – with Garcia teaming with Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia – completed 146 laps for nearly 520 miles across the three-day Roar Before the 24 test days. The focus now turns to adding a sixth class win at the Rolex 24, the last coming in 2021.

As is traditionally the case, exploring different mechanical setups and aero configurations were the most important items to cross off during the Roar. Aside from a steering issue in Friday’s opening session, the Corvette spent minimal time in the pitlane, which helped maximize the amount of data gathering for next week.

This is the second year for Corvette Racing in the GTD PRO class, which is comprised of GT3-level cars from multiple manufacturers. Corvette Racing won one race in 2022 and finished third in the GTD PRO championship.

Corvette Racing returns to the track for the first official Rolex 24 practice at 11:05 a.m. ET on Thursday.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED FOURTH IN GTD PRO: “It was a little bit messy. I didn’t know which cars had Pro drivers and which had Bronze drivers. I got caught out a few times but that’s just the way it is. Whatever I lost behind in traffic is what I gained on the draft so it was a trade-off. The track changed a little bit with the rain yesterday but it was pretty much the same in the end. The wind was pretty strong so the car felt a little slower. We will see what we can find in the data to try and be a little quicker next week.” 

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “From a pace perspective, it’s hard to tell where we’re going to stack up next week. For us, we’re focusing on what we can control. We’ve made a lot of headway, especially since 2022. When we hit the ground here last year, we were guessing on what was going to work and what wasn’t going to work. Coming in this year, I feel like we are so far ahead of where we were last year. This weekend went smoothly other than one incident we had. Now we’re fine-tuning the car and making small changes here and there to make all three drivers happy. It’s nice to have three guys who agree on what the car should feel like. We’re all heading in the same direction from a setup point of view. This weekend was about doing the little things – not just the driver side but also on the crew side and engineering side with things like pit stop practice and driver change practice. We’re very much prepared for next week.“

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Last year was very different with the required changes we had to make for the GTD spec. From a driver’s perspective, we need to be diligent with our preparation into next week. The car was really good yesterday in both the wet and dry conditions. We made some progress there and we’ll come up with a plan to get more speed out of it if we can. Having had a full year on this car and tire combination, the crew has the car already in a better place than last year. We have the knowledge and experience from last year, which is helpful. The goal obviously is to win this race, so we’ll take whatever we can from last year’s race and last year’s season to apply it to this year’s Rolex 24.”

Fifth-place GTD PRO finish for García, Taylor, Catsburg in No. 3 Corvette C8.R

BRASELTON, Ga. (Oct. 1, 2022) – Corvette Racing closed its season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Saturday with a fifth-place finish in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO class after the 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

Antonio García, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg entered Saturday hoping to replicate their victory from earlier this year at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Ultimately, two separate incidents of contact didn’t help the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R’s quest for its second victory of the season.

The result was enough for Garcia and Taylor to take third in the GTD Drivers Championship and Chevrolet to finish third in the final Manufacturers standings.

The day began strong with Garcia moving forward from the green flag. He picked up two positions to third on the opening two laps of the race and moved to the lead just past the hour mark. He drove the first 92 minutes before handing off to Taylor, who ran first or second for the first 90 minutes of his time in the Corvette.

The day’s first setback came near the three-hour mark when Taylor’s right-rear Michelin went down while leading on a restart following contact with the No. 9 Porsche. He was able to dive directly into the pits for four fresh tires but fell down to sixth.

The march back toward the front came over the next two hours as two more full-course yellows and penalties to some of its competitors allowed the Corvette to make up track position. By the time Catsburg took over near the four-and-a-half-hour mark, the No. 3 was back with the lead back in GTD PRO and ran as high as second before Garcia returned to the driver’s seat near the seven-hour mark.

Things came undone for the No. 3 Corvette with a little more than two hours to go as García spun at Turn 11 after contact with the 62 Ferrari. He dropped from third to fifth and then down to sixth as Corvette Racing engineers immediately went on an alternate pit strategy in hopes of a yellow to get the C8.R back into contention.

The race’s final yellow came with 52 minutes remaining and brought García to within five seconds of the lead inside the final 30 minutes but couldn’t draw closer at the end.

Corvette Racing closes its 2022 program with the Eight Hours of Bahrain and the final race of the FIA World Endurance Championship on Nov. 10-12.

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FIFTH IN GTD PRO: “It’s difficult when you have GTD cars fighting for the same thing as you and their performance is completely opposite of yours. It’s impossible to race when one car achieves a lap time in one way and the rest do it another. I must say it’s the story of the season. We showed at the beginning of the race that if we are up front and can do our own pace, we’re good and we can race. As soon as you have someone in front of you that you can’t pass and another car gets to you, they will go past because you have nothing to help you defend. That’s been the thing this year. Frustrating day, frustrating season… but the effort from everyone at Corvette Racing has been great all season. We couldn’t ask for more from the team. That’s 110 percent.”

On the start: “The start of the race was easy and relaxed in a way. We had good pace to the other cars in front of those and managed to jump most of those in the pits. Then the pace was really good. I had to catch the 79, which seemed doable and got into the lead. But one more year where I’ve won many stints at Petit Le Mans but never the whole race.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FIFTH IN GTD PRO: “I feel like we put ourselves in some good spots today. At the end of it, we just didn’t have the pace to battle guys. After that last restart we were kind of in a position to fight again but got motored by. That was pretty much our season in one race. Hopefully we can go into the offseason, figure out what all we learned and come back stronger next year.”

Opening stint: «Our car was decent. We had a little bit of contact, which was unfortunate. It kind of cycled us to the back but we were still in a good position. It’s really hard to pass around here with the traffic. I wasn’t going to give the position (to the 9 Porsche). I was trying to be aggressive and hold him off. We were racing for the Endurance Cup so I think that’s why we were racing that aggressively that early on.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FIFTH IN GTD PRO: “It was a tough race. We didn’t have the pace at the end. It seems like everyone else had something left and we didn’t. I had fun but unfortunately this was the maximum we could do.

«Honestly there wasn’t a lot of crazy action. It was quite fun. Unfortunately on both pit entries, I got held up by a couple of stints and lost some time. But that didn’t mean so much for our pace. It just means that all the effort you put in during the stint is then lost for no reason, which is very annoying.”

No. 3 Corvette C8.R nearly claims third straight overall VIR victory.

ALTON, Va. (Aug. 28, 2022) – Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor finished second in the Michelin GT Challenge 

at VIR on Sunday, their second consecutive podium finish this year in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Taylor made a last-lap charge to finish 0.823 seconds behind the race-winning Pfaff Motorsports entry. He and Garcia were going for their second overall win at Virginia International Raceway in three years and Corvette Racing’s third consecutive victory at the fast and flowing 3.27-mile, 17-turn circuit. The runner-up result was the second for the No. 3 Corvette on the season.

Garcia began second but ran third after the opening lap as fuel-savings began almost immediately for the top three cars. He ran anywhere between 0.3-0.6 seconds behind second-place Matt Campbell before the No. 3 Corvette team called in Garcia for the first time at 48 minutes running.

The No. 3 Corvette was the first GTD PRO car to stop and took fuel and four fresh Michelin tires as Garcia handed off to Taylor. The call and stop were perfect, as was Taylor’s outlap, as the C8.R went from third and nearly two seconds back to a nine-second advantage after the first pit cycle completed.

Taylor maintained that gap while saving fuel up to the race’s first full-course yellow near the 80-minute mark. It wasn’t what the team was hoping for as the Corvette needed more fuel than the rest of the GTD PRO field due to its early stop.

The race went back to green with 66 minutes to go and Taylor fourth in class – seventh overall. He picked up one spot in the overall standings at the start and diced his way through the regular GTD field to challenge for third in class 10 minutes later.

He moved to second overall with 55 minutes to go before stopping for a final splash of fuel to get to the end of the race. He trailed Mathieu Jaminet by as much as five seconds before running down the fuel-starved leader late. Slower GTD cars impeded Taylor in the closing laps but he charged back to finish within an eyelash of the No. 3 Corvette’s second victory of the season.

Corvette Racing closes its IMSA season with the 10-hour Petit Le Mans on Saturday, Oct. 1 from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND: «I think we had a good race. We didn’t get lucky with the yellow, for sure. We were the ones taking the gamble on the earliest first stop. From that point on, that 10-second lead we had didn’t last. Over the last few years, I don’t think we had a yellow here. It was the right choice to get up there with that strategy. It’s a shame in that respect. But we showed more pace and performance today. Great job by Jordan and the team. Let’s take this on to Petit Le Mans.»

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND: «I knew Antonio wanted an easy day today! He’s had a lot of long days this year! The Corvette was so good. The team did a great job with the strategy. That first call was the right one. At the time, we jumped ahead and had a nice lead. We were controlling it at the front but that yellow was really unfortunate; otherwise I think it would have been an easy day. Once that came out, we had to battle back past and passed some guys on track. After the last stop, I was trying to take care of the tires as long as possible, knowing it was going to be a long stint. Some of the Am cars lapping through there made it difficult to pass. That was frustrating or else I think we could have had a shot to win, especially seeing how close it was at the end. It was a tough day but it was nice to be back in a competitive spot. Hopefully we can go to Petit Le Mans with similar performance.»

Challenges with weather, pace work against Garcia and Taylor in GTD PRO.

ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. (Aug. 7, 2022) – Corvette Racing came home third in class Sunday at Road America in the IMSA Fastline SportsCar Weekend. Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor finished on the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO podium in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R for their second straight top-three finish at the circuit in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Garcia started third and drove the first 40 minutes in mostly dry conditions, although track conditions grew more treacherous on his slick Michelin tires toward the end of his stint.

The Corvette Racing crew got the No. 3 Corvette and Taylor out at the head of GTD PRO after the first stop. Unfortunately, Taylor had the worst of the conditions as he rejoined the race on wet-weather tires. Even more frustrating was the No. 3 Corvette’s lack of straight-line speed also started to rear its head as Taylor went from first to third on the restart in a matter of two corners.

He fell down to fourth behind the No. 23 Aston Martin, but more than once he took back the position into one of Road America’s brake zones only to fall back again on the long runs between corners. Meanwhile, the rain was somewhat consistent at the start of Taylor’s stint but moved to drying conditions as the second of three full-course yellows flew with 78 minutes remaining. Garcia got back in on slick tires and restarted fourth in class. 

He finally got the No. 3 Corvette back onto the podium with less than hour to go while a number of GTD cars were in a fuel-savings mode to try and make the end in case the race went green the rest of the way.

That didn’t happen as a third yellow came out with 54 minutes to go. Corvette Racing engineers elected to keep Garcia out to try and gain an advantage in track position, but a number of GTD cars had the same idea – including the eventual race-winning Lexus.

The race went green with 36 minutes to go but Garcia was swallowed up and passed by two more lapped GTD cars on the run from the final corner to the start-finish line. He was able to hold on to the third position in GTD PRO before a final yellow ended the race with eight minutes left.

Corvette Racing’s next event is the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR from Virginia International Raceway on August 26-28.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED THIRD IN GTD PRO:“The way to you get laptime in our car is completely different to everyone else. On every restart we lost at least one or two positions. So you feel helpless and frustrated. There’s nothing we can do to make our car faster. Hopefully the next race at VIR is better.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED THIRD IN GTD PRO: “It was a frustrating day as a whole. It seems our pace over a lap isn’t too horrible, but where our pace is made against everyone else makes it almost impossible to race anyone. It’s the same story on a different weekend from the last five or six races. It’s frustrating overall, so hopefully we can go to Virginia and be a little more competitive than this.”

Contact near halfway point stymies Corvette charge to GTD PRO podium

LAKEVILLE, Conn. (July 16, 2022) – Short-track racing bit Corvette Racing on Saturday as mid-race contact sidelined the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in the NorthEast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park.

Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor finished fourth in GTD PRO but 13th overall. Things were trending in a positive direction for the C8.R until side-to-side contact with another GTD car damaged the right-rear suspension of the Corvette, necessitating a long pit stop to repair the C8.R. In the end, Garcia and Taylor finished five laps down to the race-winning No. 9 Porsche.

Taylor began fourth on the grid, and Corvette Racing engineers immediately went to a three-stop strategy to manage tire degradation and tire performance. The No. 3 Corvette stopped just shy of the 30-minute mark and again just short of halfway with a change at that point to Garcia.

The goal was to get Garcia to around 40 minutes to go before making the car’s last stop. Unfortunately, the Corvette was involved in side-to-side contact with a Mercedes only a few laps into Garcia’s first stint. The incident bent a component of the Corvette’s rear suspension, which took the car out of contention.

The rest of the race during into a test session for the remaining races on the IMSA schedule. Corvette Racing returns to the track at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc., from August 5-7.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTD PRO:“It didn’t make any sense, what happened there. I don’t know… when you are on mixed strategy with everyone and everyone is defending from you, it didn’t make any sense there. Could I have been more patient? Maybe, but I wasn’t here to finish second again or third. It was time to go. That’s the way it is, especially because I think we had a strong car over the long run. Everyone was defending like it was the last 10 minutes. Even if I didn’t want to race them, that’s how it went. Now I wish I was a little more patient, but I’m here to win and at that point in time, we had to go.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTD PRO:“That was a frustrating one. The tough thing is that we’re in one race with different classes but the same cars. Guys on different strategies are racing you even though you aren’t part of their race. That part is frustrating. We got caught up in a bit of a mess there. We were in there with a shot for second. The 9 car was pretty much untouchable today. That’s been the story of the season so far. Hopefully we can go to Road America and fight them a little bit harder.”

García, Taylor take runner-up GTD PRO finish in return to Canada.

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario (July 3, 2022) – Corvette Racing’s Antonio García and Jordan Taylor made their way back onto the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO podium Sunday as the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R placed second at the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

It’s the first podium for the Corvette duo since April’s race at Long Beach for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The result boosted García and Taylor back into second place in the GTD PRO Drivers Championship, with Chevrolet moving to second in the Manufacturers Championship with four races left in the season.

The No. 3 Corvette finished 1.115 seconds behind the winning No. 9 Porsche, which led all but nine of 111 laps.

A couple of early-race caution periods Sunday forced Corvette Racing engineers to alter the team’s pre-race plan. Starting fourth, Taylor drove a double-stint and moved up a spot at the start when one of the front-row GTD cars went around at the first corner. The No. 3 Corvette was on the inside line and got through the incident unscathed.

For the next hour and 40 minutes, Taylor was part of a three-car train of GTD PRO leaders that rarely were separated by more than one second. Taylor expertly saved fuel and his Michelin tires while at the same time maximizing the performance of the C8.R to remain with the leaders.

His persistence paid off when he made a lunge on the far end of the circuit to take second with 75 minutes  to go. The No. 3 Corvette stopped for the second time with 64 minutes left as Garcia took over with full fuel and four fresh Michelin tires.

Two more yellows interrupted García’s charge, which hampered what Corvette Racing hoped was an advantage on long runs. But every time Garcia got close to the Porsche, it would pull away again to about a lead of one second to the end of the race. 

Corvette Racing’s next event in IMSA is the Northeast Grand Prix on July 15-16 from Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn. 

ANTONIO GARCÍA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTD PRO: «We gave it our all. It was a perfect race for us. We finished second, and that’s all we had. We pushed the winning car, but it wasn’t enough. Next race, we’ll try to go a little faster and do something different. This is what it also takes to win championships. So we need to stay in contact, and I’m sure the wins will come.»

Dealing with traffic: «It wasn’t easy. With the prototype traffic being so much faster than us, it was difficult to really get a chance to get close to the Porsche. Whenever the prototypes would pass, they would go and there would be another one pretty soon. Maybe with more LMP3s there would have been more of a chance to do something different. With the DPis being so much faster than us – especially with their cornering – it wasn’t ideal to try to work traffic in your favor. Now that we are in the slowest category instead of GTLM, you don’t have those opportunities to use traffic. All the traffic you’re in is going by. It’s difficult to use that in your favor.»

The last 20 minutes: «I think it felt like the Porsche was showing what they had to show. Whenever we would stop saving fuel or tires, it felt like they had some in reserve. We thought that without those two yellows and a more consistent stint, maybe we would have had a chance. Up until the last yellow I was saving the tires, but on the last yellow we knew it would be a race to the end. We both went 100 percent. They just had more. Every second I lost in traffic, it took five or six laps to get that back. It was difficult but in general we did a perfect race. We started fifth and finished second, so we gained a lot today.»

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTD PRO:«It was action-packed! The start was hectic. I got a bad start, actually, but there were some cars in front of me that saved my start. I thankfully was on the right line to cycle through up to third. Once we went to green and settled in, we were saving fuel. I could see the Aston Martin was struggling but it was going to be so hard to pass him without traffic. So I was saving as much as I could, and every time we go traffic I would try to stay close and make something happen. Once I got in clean air our car seemed to come alive a little bit. It had surprising pace, and I was quite happy with it. The Porsche was struggling a little bit toward the end of their stint. Hopefully it stays green. Tire degradation seems to be to our advantage so a long stint is what we are hoping for.»

Dealing with the traffic: «You just kind of hope and pray that they get the same bad luck every now and then. I think every P3 car that passed me was into Turn Eight; I had only one pass me into Turn One. I would see the other guys get held up every now and then. It comes and goes. We had a bunch of bad ones but we got some good ones, too.»

Overall thoughts: «It was a great day back at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and at the Chevrolet Grand Prix. We maximized what we could today. It’s not great for the overall points, but considering where we started the day we can be pretty happy with where we ended up. We’ll move on to Lime Rock and hopefully be a little more competitive there and move up in the championship as well.»