Corvette Racing at Watkins Glen: Runner-Up Finish for No. 3 Corvette

Garcia, Magnussen score fourth straight GT Le Mans podium; No. 4 Corvette out early

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (June 30, 2019) – Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen finished on the podium for the fourth consecutive race in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) class Sunday with a runner-up finish in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

The No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R finished just 0.452 seconds behind the class-winning Porsche, and the Garcia/Magnussen duo claimed their third straight podium at Watkins Glen International. The day included an added bonus: Garcia and Magnussen are a single point of the GTLM Drivers’ Championship as they seek their third consecutive title.

The news on the other side of the Corvette Racing garage wasn’t as good. Tommy Milner suffered contact and crashed on the opening lap in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C7.R, ending the day for him and teammate Oliver Gavin.

The damage to the Corvette was extensive but the team will have the No. 4 entry repaired for this week’s Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The Corvette Racing crew faced a similar rush job after a heavy crash at the 24 Hours of Le Mans forced the team to switch chassis for the No. 4 Corvette ahead of Watkins Glen.

Down to one entry, the Corvette Racing team soldiered on and very nearly pulled off a storybook ending. Garcia and Magnussen led Sunday’s race four times but a call to pit ahead of a full-course yellow that never came seemingly put the No. 3 Corvette on the back foot to the end.

Magnussen, making his 150th start for Corvette Racing, drove the middle three stints and gave the Corvette back to Garcia for the final two hours and 40 minutes. A final full-course yellow set the stage for the late-race charge from seventh to very nearly a long-awaited victory.

There is little time to rest. Corvette Racing’s next event is the Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix on Sunday, July 7 from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTLM:

“I can’t be super, super happy about the result. I think we had this race. We have such a strong field. We took one part of the strategy away thinking there would be a yellow when one didn’t come. The race was split then between half of the field and us. We could gain back some spots but when we restarted after the last yellow, we didn’t have track position. To be sixth or seventh in this field and try to win with an hour to go is tough. At the end of the day, we didn’t make it. It was a good call to top off the car on the last yellow to give me a chance to jump both Porsches at the end, but the big thing is that the winning Porsche was too far up the road. I don’t know what’s worse… ending up six or seven seconds off or three-tenths off. I think it hurts more to finish so close. But it’s good points and we’ll take that.”

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTLM:

“We had a shot at it today, but we are just missing that last little bit. I am happy for the team and happy for the points. But it’s been awhile since our last win. We keep getting so close but it is getting hard to come up with excuses. We just need to go out there and do it… get that win. I am very happy with how the whole team performed. We could not have done much better. So we will just go on to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, another fantastic track, and see if we can get a win there.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:

“It’s not a cliché, it’s how I feel… it’s disappointing and unnecessary. It was the first lap of the race and going side-by-side which should have been and is possible. Hindsight is 20-20. Knowing the Porsche didn’t check up enough to allow us to go two-wide… he said he gave some consideration but it wasn’t enough. I’d love to say we could rewind it, I’d give up the position and we’re still racing. And if he had given me a little more room than we’re also still racing, too. It’s these split-second decisions we have to make. Unfortunately I got penalized for someone’s small mistake – and that’s what it was: a small mistake that ended up a big problem for us. A big thanks again to Corvette for building such a strong car. But I feel bad for our Corvette Racing guys. We were here and ready to go racing, but we’ve had some really bad luck the last couple months. I feel bad they have to put in more hard work and a lot of hours to get the car ready for Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. But that’s our focus.”

Source:
CorvetteRacing.com

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[VIDEO] The No. 4 Corvette C7.R Is Knocked Out of Watkins Glen 6-Hour Race on the First Lap
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