Corvette Racing at Long Beach: Podium Finish for Garcia and Magnussen

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Corvette Racing at Long Beach: Podium Finish for Garcia and Magnussen
Photo Credit: JanMagnussen.dk

LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 18, 2015) – It was a good day Saturday at Long Beach for Chevrolet and the Corvette Racing programs. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen raced their way to a third-place GT Le Mans (GTLM) finish in Corvette Racing’s No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. The 2014 Long Beach class winners added Saturday’s podium result to their victories at Daytona and Sebring to open the season.

Garcia and Magnussen maintained the GTLM championship lead with their showing Saturday. Magnussen held steady in fourth during his stint, and a quick stop plus driver change to Garcia at the 44-minute mark allowed the Corvette C7.R to leapfrog the third-place car. Garcia dropped back to fourth in the first part of his stint before taking advantage of a miscue by the second-place car to move into podium position.

Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner finished seventh in GTLM with the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. An opening-lap incident with a fellow GTLM competitor shuffled Gavin back from fifth to eighth at the start. An early stop for a punctured tire didn’t help matters for the 2012 Long Beach GT class winners.

No.4 Corvette C7.R at Long Beach
Photo Credit: Photo by Richard Prince for Chevy Racing

“The Corvette Corral at Long Beach was full. It’s great to see so many Corvette owners at the race track. We appreciate their support of Corvette Racing” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President – Truck Strategy, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports.

Corvette Racing moves on to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix. The fourth round of the TUDOR Championship is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 3.

The Tequila Patrón Sports Car Showcase at Long Beach will be televised on FOX Sports 1 on Sunday, April 19, beginning at 4 p.m. ET.

CORVETTE RACING QUOTES

ANTONIO GARCIA, CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – THIRD PLACE IN GTLM:

“We had a very clean run. The pace we showed is what we had. Jan had on to the lead cars in the initial 40 minutes. I could see at the end of his stint he was starting to struggle, and I knew I had to go 20 minutes longer in my stint. After a great pit stop by the Corvette Racing crew – the driver change and the service went really smooth – I found myself in third position and could challenge the second-place BMW. For about 10 laps I had the pace but I think I probably killed my tires trying to overtake him. I suffered with understeer and decided there was still a long way to go and I couldn’t really follow them. From that point on, we had to think about the championship, too. Coming out with third-place is good for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing in the championship. We just need to carry on and keep that momentum that we have.”

JAN MAGNUSSEN, CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – THIRD PLACE IN GTLM:

“For the pace we had today, a podium is absolutely a fantastic result. It’s good points. We didn’t really have enough to go for a win. To come through third today though is a great finish for Chevrolet and the team for the championship. I was quite happy with the car. It got pretty slippery in my stint. Maybe we were running a little higher tire pressures. It was pretty hard to hold off the Porsche. He took four new tires for the race… took a penalty for it but still caught me up and gave me a hard time. I didn’t really have the speed to stay with the BMWs and Ferrari.”

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – SEVENTH PLACE IN GTLM:

“I was on the inside and we all ran out of room. Our race was shaped by the contact with the Porsche and being turned around. It was very disappointing. Once again we had a good car and a very fast car. It’s just immensely frustrating again. But we will move on to Laguna Seca and try to gain some positive momentum.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – SEVENTH PLACE IN GTLM:

“This is one of those races where you need to race hard right from the start, and we did that although maybe a little too hard, unfortunately. That’s just racing at Long Beach. You have to race hard here. You don’t want to make contact. But the car had just superficial damage. We can change that, move on to Laguna Seca and get a better result there.”


Source:
Corvette Racing

Related:
Corvette Racing at Long Beach: C7.Rs to Start Fourth and Fifth in GTLM
Corvette Racing at Long Beach: Riding Momentum Out West
[VIDEO] Go Behind the Scenes of the Rolex 24 at Daytona with Corvette Racing’s Tommy Milner
[GALLERY] Corvette Racing at the 12 Hours of Sebring (30 Corvette photos)

 



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