Milner, Gavin place fourth in GTLM on strength of strategy, pit stop and driving
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (July 3, 2016) – There was good reason to celebrate on Independence Day weekend for the Corvette Racing.
Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner – on the strength of a great late-race strategy call and perfect final pit stop – managed a fourth-place result with their No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R in the GT Le Mans class of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on Sunday. What made the result so meaningful is that the pairing retained their lead in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GTLM Driver’s standings and increased Chevrolet’s lead in the class’s Manufacturer points rankings.
In GTLM, the No. 4 Corvette went from seventh in class with an hour left to fourth by the end. Gavin and Milner drove strong, consistent stints up to that point, and a late-race strategy call saw Milner make the car’s final pit one lap later than a majority of the GTLM competitors. The extra lap meant a shorter fueling period, and the four-tire change was perfectly executed by the No. 4 crew to send Milner back out in the midst of a tense four-car battle.
Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C7.R showed a similarly consistent pace to the sister car throughout the event. The pairing ran as high as fourth inside the final hour had hoped to duplicate its 2014 victory at Watkins Glen but came up short. Garcia and Magnussen did have to recover from a couple of small issues early in the race that set the No. 3 Corvette back in the order. As the race wound down, heavy traffic and battles for position in all the classes put an even bigger premium on track position as the pair battled for a strong finish.
The next event for Corvette Racing and Corvette Daytona Prototypes is the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix presented by Hawk Performance from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The only Canadian race for the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is scheduled for 11:05 a.m. ET on Sunday, July 10. It will air live on FOX Sports 1 starting at 11 a.m. ET with IMSA Radio coverage and Chevrolet on-board cameras available on IMSA.com.
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SIRIUS-XM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM:
“I’m smiling. I feel like we just won the race. We had the perfect race… absolutely perfect race. Great pit stops, no mistakes anywhere at all. At the end I drove as hard as I possibly could. I could tell that the Ferrari in front of me was slow to start the stints. I just got lucky in traffic and got a big run on him in the Bus Stop. I also got a nice draft from a PC car that was passing him and was able to sneak by him in the Bus Stop. I’m just so proud of the effort that this team gives. It doesn’t matter if we are the fastest car or the slowest car. We try. We try hard all the time. It was a great job by Olly. It was a great job by the crew guys. It’s a great result for Corvette Racing.”
ON THE LAST PIT STOP: “We gambled a little bit with staying out a little bit longer. That is always a risk. The later you make that last stop, or even you back-track a little bit, you risk getting caught out with a full-course yellow. However, if it goes green you have a shorter fill at the very end. That is really where we gained all that time and track position; our fill at the end was shorter than anybody else because we were the last car to stop. It takes some luck in racing for sure, but I’m really, really happy with the result today.”
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SIRIUS-XM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTLM:
“Today’s finish boiled down to that last pit stop. We had to take less fuel than the No. 3 car but the pressure was on the guys to execute on that final stop and they did an amazing job. The tires were done just as the fuel coming out as well. The car was down and Tommy just blasted it out of the pitlane. He then executed in that final stint and got past the Ferrari and just did a fantastic job. Fourth place for us today is like a win. If someone had offered us that at the start of the day with our starting position and the pace compared to our competitors… yes, it is like a win. We are still leading in the Driver’s Championship. We’ve extended in the Manufacturer’s Championship for Chevrolet, which is great. I really don’t think we could have asked for any more. A great job by everyone here at Corvette Racing – a real team effort.”
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SIRIUS-XM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED SEVENTH IN GTLM:
“It was a pretty uneventful couple of stints for me and was about keeping our position. We were trying to stay ahead of the Porsches. It seemed like at certain points during the stint we could fight a little bit with the Ferrari but most of the time they can drive away like some of the other cars.”
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SIRIUS-XM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED SEVENTH IN GTLM:
“It was a disappointing day for our team in a lot of ways. Seventh place is not a result we are happy with. We will move ahead to Canada next weekend and try to improve on today.”
DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER:
“Today was a perfect example of why Corvette Racing never gives up. It was a combination of great strategy, great execution in the pits and great driving to come home with a fourth-place finish. We were able to maximize our results on a very challenging day, which every member of Corvette Racing and the Corvette community should be proud of.”
Source:
Corvette Racing
Related:
Corvette Racing at Watkins Glen: Full Focus on Sunday’s Six Hour
[VIDEO] Oliver Gavin’s Massive Corvette C7.R Burnout at the Goodwood Festival of Speed
Corvette Racing at Watkins Glen: Back to Racing in the U.S.
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