Corvette Racing at Daytona: Six-Hour Report

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 27, 2024) – The new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R was firmly in contention in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO class after the first quarter of the Rolex 24 At Daytona – the opening race of this year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Earl Bamber in the No. 4 Oshkosh/Mobil 1 Corvette ran third to pace the Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ two-car effort. The trio of Bamber, Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg climbed their way from sixth in class – and 21st of all GTD category cars – at the start to eighth among all GTD runners.

The No. 3 Z06 GT3.R with Daniel Juncadella at the wheel ran fourth in class after six hours. His Corvette – which he shares with Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims – led in class early in the race before the sun went down and track conditions cooled.

In GTD, new Corvette customer team AWA was battling back from slow starts from the beginning. Thomas Merrill sat 19th of 23 GTD cars but was in striking distance of the top-15 in the No. 17 Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Matt Bell was at the wheel of the No. 13 Corvette, which lost a handful of laps early but ran trouble-free following a first-hour trip to the garage.

The next Corvette Racing report will come at the race’s halfway mark.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 OSHKOSH / MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R

HOW HAVE YOU GUYS MANAGED FOR THE FIRST BIT THERE? “It was difficult to stay out of trouble. People were going a bit crazy there, especially between classes. I don’t really know what happened. Everybody was very, very aggressive right away, so we tried to stay out of that. Our pace is decent. I believe Ferrari has a little bit more than us, but we just need to be there. No mistakes, and we’ll end up in the front. We just need to focus on ourselves, our race, and that’s it.”

ONE OF YOU CALLED IT CRAZY OUT THERE. IS THAT BECAUSE SOME DRIVERS AREN’T USING THEIR HEADS? “There’s definitely not very great communication between some drivers there. I had a few close calls, but you have to anticipate that. You can be aggressive tomorrow. That’s when it matters. To lose a position today because you could have stayed where you are doesn’t mean anything. So this is my goal for today and all the way until tomorrow. For sure I can blame many cars out there. Some weren’t at fault when they crashed. So I would say it’s crazy. We need to stay calm.”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 OSHKOSH / MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R

WELCOME BACK TO GT RACING IN IMSA… “That was quite good. Honestly everyone was pretty well behaved. It was nice, close racing. It was good fun to have people directly ahead and behind for most of my two stints. Right now it’s about getting a feeling for where the Z06 GT3.R is fast and where we could be a little stronger compared to other manufacturers and using that to our advantage in the racing scenarios. It was all good fun. Tire degradation was noticeable on the second stint, and I’m guessing everyone has the same. It was good to be out there fighting people and enjoying racing.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 OSHKOSH / MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R

TOMMY, TO START OFF, OBVIOUSLY VERY EARLY GOING HERE. WHAT WAS THE APPROACH TO THE BEGINNING OF THE RACE FOR YOU GUYS? “The car has been good. Starting the race here, it’s been hot. You’ve heard those (GTP) guys talk about it a little bit as well. It’s kind of the hottest it’s been all weekend. Understanding what the car is going to do in those conditions… obviously tires are a big part of the start this year. We’re managing the tires as best we can and seeing what we have balance-wise and making some adjustments throughout the race to improve it. But it’s a 24-hour race. Obviously, the first part of this race is just surviving, and there is a lot of surviving early on there with some accidents and people checking up and things like that. It’s a lot of racing, a lot of fun so far. I’m looking forward to getting into the nighttime here.”

IMSA REPORTS THAT THIS IS THE BIGGEST ATTENDANCE FOR THE ROLEX 24. ANY INSIGHT INTO THAT? “Looking at the stands at the start of the race, I’ve never seen so many people packing the stands all the way into Turn One and as far as they came down to start-finish. It’s super exciting. In some ways it’s not surprising. IMSA has been on upswing the last couple of years and building on a lot of momentum over the years. Last year the new GTP class was a big draw. And we have 30-plus GT cars this year that are all super-competitive. The show is amazing. The start of the race was probably a lot of fun to watch. It was a lot of fun to watch from where I was sitting. It’s great to be a part of this race. It’s the biggest sports car race in the United States, and I’m glad to see that the fans are coming out to watch it.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 OSHKOSH / MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R

WAS IT DIFFICULT OUT THERE IN TRAFFIC? “It’s the same as always here. That doesn’t change. But it’s tough to fight when others have more power than you. Out of the corners it’s tough to keep them behind. I feel like we have a pretty good Corvette. We struggled a bit on the (left side) double-stint. But it’s tough to fight. Unfortunately at Daytona you go straight a lot of the time. That’s difficult but we have had no issues so far. We’re very much in the game, so it’s all good.”

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THE FOR YOUR NEXT RUN? “Double-stinting the tires is very hard on the rears. So we need to work a little bit on traction. But I believe everyone has that issue.”

ALEX LYNN, NO. 13 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R

WHAT IS THE GOAL FOR THE REST OF THE RACE? “It’s a shame we lost some time at the start, but the Z06 GT3.R is really fast and felt great when I was out there. Now we just need to help the team learn for the rest of the season and see what we can do to the end of this race.”

Source:
Corvette Racing at Chevrolet

Related:
Corvette Racing at Daytona: The Rolex 24 Challenge
Corvette Racing at Daytona: Rolex 24 Qualifying Report
Corvette Racing at Daytona: It’s a New Era!

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