Garcia, Taylor looking for back-to-back wins at sports car racing’s bullring
DETROIT (July 12, 2022) – After racing at the wide-open spaces of places like Daytona and Le Mans, Corvette Racing this weekend travels to sports car racing’s version of a bullring: Lime Rock Park for Saturday’s Northeast Grand Prix.
Saturday’s two-hour, 40-minute race is one of two GT-only events for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor, teammates in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, are the defending winners from a year ago and aim to replicate that success in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO category around the 1.474-mile, seven-turn road course in northwestern Connecticut.
Close-quarters racing is usually the name of the game at Lime Rock. It’s a circuit that features one left-hand turn and laps of around 50 seconds. Heat and humidity also typically play a role, and higher track temperatures place a higher importance on tire management for all GTD cars.
That’s been the biggest adjustment for the Corvette Racing team in 2022. In GTD PRO – and the regular GTD class as well – all cars must use the same Michelin customer tire instead of tires specifically designed for each racecar… as was the case in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) categories in recent years.
That tire management is what helped Garcia and Taylor finish as runners-up two weeks ago at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and move back into second place in the GTD PRO Drivers, Manufacturers and Team championships.
Corvette Racing’s history at Lime Rock dates back to 2004 with the fifth-generation racing Corvette, and the C8.R is the fourth different version of Corvette Racing entry to compete at the venue. The team has six previous victories to its credit to lead all IMSA entrants, and Chevrolet ranks second among manufacturers with 13 race victories.
The FCP Euro Grand Prix from Lime Rock Park is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 16. The race will stream live on Peacock and air same-day at 5 p.m. ET on USA. IMSA Radio will broadcast all on-track sessions beginning with Friday afternoon’s practice at IMSA.com. The race call Saturday also will be available on XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Lime Rock always gives us a unique challenge, especially in this part of the schedule. It’s always a big difference between there and places like Le Mans and Watkins Glen. This year will be a tough fight with six cars in our class going for an overall win. We’ve had to fight for every position in the last two races to get back to second in the championship. We need to start winning races to make gains in the points. That will be everyone’s goal this weekend.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “After our strong run at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, I’m excited to get back to fighting at the front at Lime Rock. We had a great weekend there last year with the pole and win, so hopefully we can replicate that this year. Lime Rock is always tough on tires and tire degradation, and that seemed to be our strength at CTMP. Hopefully that will work to our favor this weekend.”
2022 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTD PRO (After six of 11 Events)
Driver Standings
- Mathieu Jaminet/Matt Campbell – 2,056
- Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 1,918
- Ben Barnicoat – 1,849
- Alex Riberas/Ross Gunn – 1,820
- Cooper MacNeil – 1,701
Team Standings
- No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports – 2.056
- No. 3 Corvette Racing – 1,918
- No. 14 VasserSullivan – 1,849
- No. 23 Heart of Racing Team – 1,820
- No. 79 WeatherTech Racing – 1,701
Manufacturer Standings
- Porsche – 2,056
- Chevrolet – 1,928
- Aston Martin – 1,890
- Lexus – 1,879
- Mercedes-AMG – 1,809
CORVETTE RACING AT LIME ROCK PARK: By the Numbers
• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 24 years: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette
• 4: Generations of Corvette Racing entries at Lime Rock Park since 2004 – Corvette C5-R (2004), Corvette C6.R (2005-13), Corvette C7.R (2016-2019) and Corvette C8.R, which made its Lime Rock debut last year
• 7: Pole positions at Lime Rock for Corvette Racing, the most of any entrant in IMSA. Jordan Taylor (2021) is the most recent
• 6: Number of victories at Lime Rock for Corvette Racing, the most of any entrant in IMSA
• 7: Number of drivers who have won races at Lime Rock for Corvette Racing – Oliver Gavin (four), Olivier Beretta (three), Jan Magnussen (two), and Johnny O’Connell and Tommy Milner (one each). Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor joined the list with last year’s victory
• 7: Fastest race laps for Corvette Racing drivers at Lime Rock. Antonio Garcia (2017) was the most recent
• 13: Victories for Chevrolet at Lime Rock – second among all manufacturers
• 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001
• 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
• 32: Number of drivers for Corvette Racing since 1999
• 100: As in Corvette Racing’s 100th program victory at Lime Rock Park in 2016
• 122: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 113 in North America, eight at Le Mans and one in the FIA WEC
• 260: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999
• 6,451.76: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 14 previous trips to Lime Rock Park. That represents 4,312 laps or 61 trips from the Empire State Building in New York City to the track
• 345,664.91: 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 more than halfway back!
Corvette Racing at Lime Rock Park (wins in bold)
2004
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GTS
No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GTS (Beretta pole, fastest race lap)
2005
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GT1
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Beretta pole, fastest race lap)
2006
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GT1
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 4th in GT1 (Beretta fastest race lap)
2007
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GT1 (O’Connell fastest race lap)
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1
2008
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Johnny O’Connell/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GT1 (Gavin pole, Beretta fastest race lap)
2010
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Johnny O’Connell – 12th in GT2
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 5th in GT2
2011
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner – 9th in GT
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 10th in GT
2012
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GT
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 3rd in GT
2013
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GT
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GT
2016
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GTLM (100tth Corvette Racing win; Gavin fastest lap)
2017
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 8th in GTLM
2018
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTLM (Garcia pole)
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GTLM
2019
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 5th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Marcel Fässler – 6th in GTLM
2021
No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 1st in GTLM (Taylor pole)
No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 2nd in GTLM
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 80 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. 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.
