CORVETTE RACING AT LONG BEACH: Expect the Unexpected

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.

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: “It’s been a long time since I’ve won at Long Beach. I feel like I’ve been through more ways of losing this race than winning it! There was a crash in the Hairpin that blocked the track one year, I had a shifting issue on the restart another and then last year with the wheel nut coming off in pitlane and going into another car… I’m ready for one normal year! But this is a fun event that is very unique. The fans are great and there are so many that come to watch us race. I hope we can give them a good show and finally another win for the 3 Corvette. We are due for it.”

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

CORVETTE RACING AT LONG BEACH: By the Numbers

• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 16 years at Long Beach: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette.
• 3: Generations of Corvette Racing entries at Long Beach since 2007 – Corvette C6.R (2007-13) and Corvette C7.R (2014-2019) and Corvette C8.R (2021-current). All three generations have won at least once at Long Beach.
• 4: Number of Long Beach race victories for Corvette Racing’s duo of Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor.
• 8: Number of drivers who have competed at Long Beach for Corvette Racing – Olivier Beretta, Antonio Garcia, Oliver Gavin, Jan Magnussen, Tommy Milner, Johnny O’Connell, Nick Tandy and Jordan Taylor. Each driver won at least once at Long Beach.
• 8: Number of Long Beach victories in 15 appearances for Corvette Racing – more than any other IMSA entrant at the circuit.
• 10: Number of Long Beach sports car victories for Chevrolet. Throw in 12 IndyCar wins, and Chevrolet has claimed 22 victories in the event’s two premier races.
• 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001.
• 19: Number of street circuit victories for Corvette Racing – more than any other IMSA entrant at the circuit.
• 26: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Monza, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen
• 30: Number of wins in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Corvette Racing since the start of 2014.
• 34: Number of drivers for Corvette Racing since 1999. Ben Keating and Nico Varrone joined that list with their participation – and victory – in the 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the World Endurance Championship.
• 123: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 113 in North America and eight at Le Mans.
• 269: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999.
• 4,081.61: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 15 previous trips to Long Beach. That represents 2,074 laps around the 1.968-mile street circuit.
• 353,311.01: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon… and then some!

Corvette Racing at Long Beach (wins in bold)

2007

No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GT1 (Magnussen fastest race lap)

No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Gavin pole)

2008

No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Johnny O’Connell/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1 (Magnussen pole)

No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Gavin fastest race lap)

2009

No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GT1

No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Beretta pole, fastest race lap)

2010

No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GT2

No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 9th in GT2 (Gavin fastest race lap)

2011

No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner – 5th in GT

No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT (Magnussen fastest race lap)

2012

No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GT

No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GT (Gavin fastest race lap)

2013

No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 5th in GT

No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GT (Gavin fastest race lap)

2014

No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTLM (Magnussen pole)

No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 3rd in GTLM (Milner fastest race lap)

2015

No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GTLM

No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 7th in GTLM

2016

No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 9th in GTLM

No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 2nd in GTLM

2017

No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 5th in GTLM (Magnussen pole)

No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GTLM

2018

No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLM

No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GTLM

2019

No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTLM

No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 3rd in GTLM

2021

No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GTLM (Taylor pole)

No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 1st in GTLM (Tandy fastest race lap)

2022

No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 3rd in GTD PRO (Taylor pole)

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in nearly 80 countries with nearly 2.7 million cars and trucks sold in 2021. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.