Final day of Roar weekend features qualifying shootout to set Rolex 24 grid
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 17, 2024) – The four first-year Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs will roll into Sunday’s qualifying session for the Rolex 24 At Daytona following three test sessions Saturday as part of the Roar Before the 24 weekend on Daytona International Speedway’s road course.
Through two days and five sessions, Corvette Racing factory driver Tommy Milner has the best time in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO class for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports in the No. 4 Oshkosh/Mobil 1 Corvette Z06 GT3.R. The 2016 Rolex 24 GTLM class-winner and lead development driver for the Z06 GT3.R set a best lap of 1:45.844 (121.084 mph) in a tight and crowded field; 11 GTD PRO cars were within a second after Saturday.
Milner set his best lap in Saturday morning’s session. On the opposite end of the spectrum, new factory teammate Daniel Juncadella was the quickest driver in the No. 3 Z06 GT3.R with a 1:46.387 (120.466 mph) effort in night practice that was good enough to put the No. 3 sixth in class. Both GTD PRO entries spent time in the garage during the day to address an intermittent electrical issue. The pair of Corvettes returned to record laps in Saturday’s night session.
In GTD, customer team AWA steadily continued its progress during its first event weekend with the Corvette brand.
The No. 13 Z06 GT3.R, in the hands of Alex Lynn, was the 12th fastest car in class after five sessions with a lap of 1:46.314 (120.548 mph) during the night-time running.
First-year factory driver Charlie Eastwood was 17th in GTD after two days of Roar testing in the No. 17 Corvette. Eastwood’s best time was a 1:46.383 (120.470 mph) during Saturday morning’s session. Despite the running order, Eastwood was still within 0.644 seconds of the class leader – a testament to the depth of the 23-car field, which is the largest of the four WeatherTech Championship classes.
The Roar Before the 24 concludes with Sunday’s GTD PRO and GTD qualifying for the Rolex 24 scheduled for 1:55 p.m. ET. The session will stream live around the world on IMSA.com.
CORVETTE RACING MEDIA INFORMATION
Corvette Racing media information is updated and available ahead of the Roar Before the 24 as well as next week’s Rolex 24 At Daytona for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Materials include Corvette Racing event advance and quotes, Corvette Racing stats and figures, Corvette Z06 GT3.R racecar comparisons, Corvette Racing Fast Facts, driver biographies and Corvette Racing photography, among other items.
CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS SATURDAY DRIVER QUOTES
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 OSHKOSH / MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Overall I’m pretty happy with how the Corvette Z06 GT3.R has been in both days of practice so far. Every time I’ve been in, it has felt very good and I’m happy with the balance. Realistically at this point we’re still trying some things to find some speed in a couple of the high-speed sections like the Bus Stop, so there is still work to do. All things considered, from where we were during testing in December to what things feel like now, we’re very happy.”
DANIEL JUNCADELLA, NO. 3 OSHKOSH / MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m loving it so far. It’s great to be in a new environment. Everything that I have seen so far is very exciting. On the car side, the Corvette feels very good. There are still some miles to go and things we need to go through, but the first feeling is very good. We seem to be competitive as well. On the team side and with our personnel, it feels great. This is a great environment. I feel very much at home so far. I don’t want to get my expectations too high because it’s a long race, it’s still a long way away and many things need to go in your direction to have a chance. But so far so good.”
AWA SATURDAY DRIVER QUOTES
ALEX LYNN, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “So far, so good to be honest. I think we’ve had a really productive first couple of days at AWA. It’s the first time we’ve really run the Corvette hard in anger. We’ve had a lot of help from Corvette Racing and Pratt Miller, which has been great. The team is finding its feet really well with this car. We’re ticking boxes. We feel like we have a really great car under us and are just working through our stuff. It’s going to be a big fight next weekend. You can feel the intensity ramping up. There are a lot of great cars and a lot of great teams that are up for this one. I’m excited to get going.”
CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 17 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Yesterday was a steep learning curve for everybody. We did a test in December, but once you go into the pressure of a race weekend it all ramps up. I think we were all just finding our feet early. The transformation from yesterday afternoon to this morning – in terms of car feel, performance and everything the team was putting together – was incredible. To be fair, in both the sessions today we looked quite strong. It’s looking very positive but we are continuing to go through all the normal procedures… for example the guys have never changed a set of brakes, we’ve never done an oil dump. Getting all these contingencies and what-ifs are things we continue to try to get through. That list of stuff that we needed to run through felt like it was endless, but we’ve gone through so much and I feel like within in the team we are confident in our own ability. To go through that in basically two race event days is pretty promising.”
CORVETTE RACING BY THE NUMBERS AT DAYTONA
- 0.034: As in seconds – the winning margin of victory in Corvette Racing’s 1-2 finish at the 2016 Rolex 24. Up until last year’s LMP2 finish, it was the closest finish in race history
- 1: Rolex 24 class win for AWA; the team won in LMP3 in 2023. Current team drivers Nico Varrone, Anthony Mantella and Thomas Merrill were part of that lineup
- 2: Number of the overall winning Corvette C5-R in the 2001 Rolex 24. Ron Fellows, Johnny O’Connell, Chris Kneifel and Franck Freon completed 656 laps for 2335.36 miles in the winning effort
- 4: Number of Corvette Z06 GT3.R entries for the 2024 Rolex 24 – two from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports (GTD PRO) and two from AWA (GTD)
- 4: Rolex 24 wins for Corvette Racing as an entrant: 2001 overall, 2015 GTLM (Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen/Ryan Briscoe), 2016 GTLM (Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler) and 2021 GTLM (Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg)
- 9: Corvette/General Motors factory drivers piloting the Corvette Z06 GT3.R in this year’s race: Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims, Dani Juncadella, Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg, Earl Bamber (Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller) plus Charlie Eastwood, Nico Varrone and Alex Lynn (AWA). Bamber and Lynn also are Cadillac Racing factory drivers in FIA WEC
- 14: IMSA Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001
- 24: Drivers who have driven for Corvette Racing at Daytona – Justin Bell, Ryan Briscoe, Nicky Catsburg, Kelly Collins, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Marcel Fässler, Ron Fellows, Franck Freon, Antonio Garcia, Oliver Gavin, John Heinricy, Chris Kneifel, Robin Liddell, Jan Magnussen, Tommy Milner, Simon Pagenaud, John Paul Jr., Andy Pilgrim, Mike Rockenfeller, Scott Sharp, Alexander Sims, Marco Sorensen, Nick Tandy and Jordan Taylor
- 27: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Fuji Speedway, 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
- 32: Number of drivers for Corvette Racing since 1999
- 71: Years since Corvette was introduced to the world on Jan. 17, 1953 in New York City. A total of 300 cars were produced that year
- 127: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 115 in North America, nine at Le Mans and three in the FIA WEC
- 284: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999
- 99,600: Total number of racing laps completed by Corvette Racing entries since 1999. Barring any issues, the program will go over the 100,00-lap mark at the Rolex 24 of Daytona
- 361,990.52: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing entries since 1999. 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
Corvette Racing at Daytona (wins in bold)
1999
No. 2 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel/John Paul Jr. – 3rd in GTS
No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Scott Sharp/John Heinricy – 12th in GTS
2000
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel/Justin Bell – 2nd in GTS
No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 10th in GTS
2001
No. 2 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Chris Kneifel/Franck Freon – 1st in GTS (overall win)
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Dale Earnhardt/Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 2nd in GTS
2014
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ryan Briscoe – 10th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Robin Liddell – 5th in GTLM
2015
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ryan Briscoe – 1st in GTLM (Magnussen fastest race lap)
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Simon Pagenaud – 3rd in GTLM (Gavin pole)
2016
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 2nd in GTLM (Garcia fastest race lap)
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 1st in GTLM (Winner by 0.034 second)
2017
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 4th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 9th in GTLM
2018
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 3rd in GTLM (Magnussen pole)
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 4th in GTLM
2019
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 6th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 8th in GTLM
2020 (Rolex 24 – January)
No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 4th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 7th in GTLM
2020 (WeatherTech 240 – July)
No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 1st in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM
2021
No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 1st in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy/Alexander Sims – 2nd in GTLM
2022
No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 6th in GTD PRO
No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy/Marco Sorensen – 10th in GTD PRO
2023
No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Tommy Milner – 2nd in GTD PRO
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