Team looking to extend southern California success after bizarre 2022 race
DETROIT (April 11, 2023) – With its two longest races of the season in the rear-view mirror, Corvette Racing now faces its shortest contest of the season as it heads west to southern California for its only street race of the season.
The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is an intense 100-minute dash for the Corvette Racing program and the rest of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It’s an event that the team has won more than another team in series history – four times since 2014 – to go along with four more victories in the American Le Mans Series era from 2007-2013.
The familiar pairing of Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor will pilot the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO class. The two finished third in last year’s Long Beach race – the first street race for the GTD-spec C8.R – despite a bizarre pitlane incident that took the Corvette out of contention for the victory.
Taylor was the class pole-winner after a last-lap flyer and led the entirety of his first stint. A loose wheel nut during the pit stop escaped the Corvette pit, hit a stone and flew into the radiator of another car – a one-in-a-million occurrence that unfortunately netted the Corvette a drive-through penalty.
Aside from that round of bad luck, there is reason to be confident again. Corvette Racing has a full year of data on the GTD-spec configuration, most notably the customer Michelin tire that all GTD teams must run in IMSA competition. Simulation tools aided the team’s preparation last year, and expectations are that 12 more months of work in the virtual world – plus sessions in the Chevrolet Driver in the Loop simulator – will put the C8.R in contention again.
The results through the first two races are encouraging for this weekend. Garcia and Taylor – along with Tommy Milner – finished second in class to open the season in the Rolex 24 and ran out front most of the Sebring 12 Hours before late-race contact and on-track chaos meant a fifth-place result.
The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. ET / 2:05 p.m. PT on Saturday, April 15. The race will air live on USA Network from 5-7 p.m. ET with full streaming coverage on Peacock. IMSA Radio will air qualifying and the race at IMSA.com along with Sirius 217, XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:
“It’s always nice to go back to Long Beach. It’s the first sprint race of the year. We’ve settled in with Daytona and Sebring with endurance races, and the end of those races gets pretty intense. But Long Beach, the whole event is intense, right from the start with practice. Last year we had a great car. We were on the pole and led for the whole first stint and then had a that crazy fluke incident on pitlane which kind of put us out of contention for the win. It would be nice to go back there and be as competitive as we were and execute as well as we did last year. Having a year under our belt with this car and this class, we learned a lot throughout last season that already has been beneficial this year.”
2023 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTD PRO
(After two of 11 events)
Driver Standings
1. Daniel Juncadella/Jules Gounon/Maro Engel – 708
2. Ben Barnicoat/Jack Hawksworth – 682
3. Klaus Bachler/Laurens Vanthoor/Patrick Pilet – 659
4. Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Tommy Milner – 643
5. Jordan Pepper/Romain Grosjean – 612
Team Standings
1. No. 79 WeatherTech Racing – 708
2. No. 14 Vasser Sullivan – 682
3. No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports – 659
4. No. 3 Corvette Racing – 643
5. No. 63 Iron Lynx – 612
Manufacturer Standings
1. Mercedes-AMG – 708
2. Lexus – 682
3. Porsche – 659
4. Chevrolet – 643
5. Lamborghini – 612
Source:
Corvette Racing at Chevrolet
Related:
Corvette Racing at Sebring: Fifth in Late-Race Carnage
Corvette Racing at Sebring: Garcia Takes GTD PRO Pole
Corvette Racing at Daytona: Close… but Second in Rolex 24
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