Garcia, Magnussen, Rockenfeller finish eighth in class with No. 63 Corvette C7.R
SEBRING, Fla. (March 15, 2019) – Corvette Racing gave a solid effort during the 1,000 Miles of Sebring on Friday as Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller finished eighth in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s GTE Pro category.
The trio, driving the No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, ran a solid race despite a couple minor setbacks that prevented Corvette Racing winning at Sebring International Raceway for the 12th time. It gets another shot Saturday in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Garcia, Magnussen and Rockenfeller each drove mistake-free stints throughout the eight hours. Starting fifth in class, the No. 63 Corvette ran as high as fourth in class and never fell off the lead lap despite going against regulars from the FIA WEC. A late shower created a bit of drama among the GTE Pro runners but Rockenfeller held steady in the final damp 20 minutes.
There isn’t much time to rest for Corvette Racing. Saturday’s 67th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Advance Auto Parts is the second race of the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season and begins at 10:40 a.m. It will air on live on CNBC starting at 10:30 a.m. ET with additional coverage across NBC Sports Network and the NBC Sports app. Live audio coverage from IMSA Radio is available on IMSA.com, Sirius 138 and XM 202.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:
“It’s a classic situation in the WEC. Once you get out of sequence on your pit stops, you’re on your back foot the rest of the way. Little things that keep putting you back a few seconds keep putting you back and back and back. It’s hard to get that on pure pace. We lack a little bit of experience that the regular WEC teams have. But I think we’ve shown that our pace is there with them.”
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:
“That was a long stint for me but I think we made up a lot of what we lost at the start with the tire problems Antonio had early. As far as I know we are pretty much back where we thought we would be. It was a good double stint to made up some of what we lost. The car was good and we could fight with people when we would catch up to them. I’m pretty pleased with how things were overall; it’s unfortunate we got off-sequence with the tire issue Antonio had. The racing here has been good like it will be IMSA tomorrow. So I’m happy. It was a lot of fun.”
MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:
“We unfortunately lost quite some time because we had to change the driver’s side door a couple times. Other than that, on track we tried something in my first stint with our tires; I was struggling quite a lot. The second stint was better. I tried to save some fuel to make an extra lap, and it worked out. Overall, our Corvette was good. This was not an easy race. It was very good to be in for two stints and be on two different tire compounds. Tomorrow is another day, and hopefully we can use a little bit of the experience for tomorrow in order to react to certain track conditions. If it rains tomorrow, it is a whole new story. But in dry conditions I think we have learned something.”
Source:
CorvetteRacing.com
Related:
Corvette Racing at Sebring: Fifth-Place Class Start for Sebring 1,000 Miles
Links and Info for the 2019 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring
Corvette Racing at Sebring: ‘Super’ Weekend on Tap for Corvette C7.Rs
IMSA Makes Changes in Balance of Performance (BoP) for GTLM Class Ahead of Sebring
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Are these cars seriously outdated or are they being “BoPed”?
They used to always be contenders. It’s not like the drivers aren’t familiar with the track. WASSUP?
Chevy seems to be haveing problems in all types of rateing. Don’t know what it is but they need to get their act together.
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