Contact near halfway point stymies Corvette charge to GTD PRO podium
LAKEVILLE, Conn. (July 16, 2022) – Short-track racing bit Corvette Racing on Saturday as mid-race contact sidelined the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in the NorthEast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park.
Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor finished fourth in GTD PRO but 13th overall. Things were trending in a positive direction for the C8.R until side-to-side contact with another GTD car damaged the right-rear suspension of the Corvette, necessitating a long pit stop to repair the C8.R. In the end, Garcia and Taylor finished five laps down to the race-winning No. 9 Porsche.
Taylor began fourth on the grid, and Corvette Racing engineers immediately went to a three-stop strategy to manage tire degradation and tire performance. The No. 3 Corvette stopped just shy of the 30-minute mark and again just short of halfway with a change at that point to Garcia.
The goal was to get Garcia to around 40 minutes to go before making the car’s last stop. Unfortunately, the Corvette was involved in side-to-side contact with a Mercedes only a few laps into Garcia’s first stint. The incident bent a component of the Corvette’s rear suspension, which took the car out of contention.
The rest of the race during into a test session for the remaining races on the IMSA schedule. Corvette Racing returns to the track at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc., from August 5-7.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTD PRO:“It didn’t make any sense, what happened there. I don’t know… when you are on mixed strategy with everyone and everyone is defending from you, it didn’t make any sense there. Could I have been more patient? Maybe, but I wasn’t here to finish second again or third. It was time to go. That’s the way it is, especially because I think we had a strong car over the long run. Everyone was defending like it was the last 10 minutes. Even if I didn’t want to race them, that’s how it went. Now I wish I was a little more patient, but I’m here to win and at that point in time, we had to go.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTD PRO:“That was a frustrating one. The tough thing is that we’re in one race with different classes but the same cars. Guys on different strategies are racing you even though you aren’t part of their race. That part is frustrating. We got caught up in a bit of a mess there. We were in there with a shot for second. The 9 car was pretty much untouchable today. That’s been the story of the season so far. Hopefully we can go to Road America and fight them a little bit harder.”
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