Sixth for Magnussen, seventh for Gavin in close session in Monterey
MONTEREY, Calif. (Sept. 14, 2019) – Corvette Racing will look to race its way through the field Sunday following qualifying for the Monterey Sports Car Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Jan Magnussen and Oliver Gavin were sixth and seventh Saturday in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) category of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It was another classic example of the closeness of GTLM with eight cars within 0.738 seconds.
Sunday’s race will air live at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
Magnussen, teaming with Antonio Garcia, will start in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R after a best lap of 1:22.026 (98.22 mph) in the 15-minute session. He was only 0.135 seconds ahead of Gavin in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C7.R that he shares with Tommy Milner.
Gavin and Magnussen got the most work in Saturday morning’s final practice and set the fastest lap for their respective cars in the session.
The qualifying position could prove important in the GTLM Drivers and Team title races. Magnussen and Antonio Garcia stand third in points in their push for a third straight championship, and victory Sunday would keep hope alive heading into next month’s finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for the 10-hour Petit Le Mans.
Gavin was the GTLM pole winner a year ago, and he and Magnussen both have four career IMSA victories at Laguna Seca. All four Corvette Racing drivers have won races at the circuit.
Of note, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is one of three tracks where Corvette Racing has competed in each season of its existence since 1999 – Sebring and Road Atlanta are the others. In 20 races in Monterey, Corvette Racing has accumulated nearly 12,000 racing miles and more than 5,300 racing laps.
The Monterey SportsCar Championship powered by McLaren at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is set for 3 p.m. ET on Sunday with live network coverage on NBC. Live audio coverage will be available on IMSA Radio, Sirius 113, XM 202 and SiriusXM Online 972.
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – QUALIFIED SIXTH:
“Another close qualifying session. That’s how it continues to be in GTLM. When things are this close, every little thing makes a difference. We found a few things from the practices that didn’t quite work out in qualifying. But I think we have a pretty good Corvette for the race. We have decent pace but it’s hard to predict how things will go. So sixth isn’t the best position for the start but it’s tight. We can try things on strategy so we’ll see what happens. It should be an interesting race tomorrow.”
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – QUALIFIED SEVENTH:
“It was a challenging session for us, which it always is here. We’d been working steadily on the car and felt like we were making good process. We were trying to fix one particular issue across the center of the with steady gains. It didn’t all come together in that qualifying and everyone else took some pretty big steps forward. That’s always how our class seems to go. You try to look and see where people are, and they had a little more to give than we did. A lot can happen in the race. There will be a large amount of tire degradation. This place can be pretty mysterious with how it gives you grip or takes it away. It’s frustrating but we’ll keep digging for the race and work the strategy to deliver the best possible result for Corvette Racing.”
Source:
CorvetteRacing.com
Related:
Corvette Racing at Laguna Seca: Twenty-First Trip to Monterey
GTLM Untouched After IMSA Makes Balance of Performance Changes to the DPi and GTD Classes
Corvette Racing at VIR: Back on the Podium for No. 3 Corvette
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Go corvette. Lots of luck.hope u win.
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