Corvette Racing
CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: A GT-Only Challenge
· Corvette program seeking fourth win – and third overall – at VIR
· Milner, Tandy coming off back-to-back GTLM victories in California
· Garcia, Taylor hope to repeat 2020 overall win
· All four Corvette Racing drivers with multiple VIR victories
DETROIT (Oct. 5, 2021) – Following back-to-back victories in California, Corvette Racing has headed back eastward for the next-to-last event on its schedule – the Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway.
The race – only for GT entries in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – is one at which Corvette Racing has been immensely successful. The program has three overall victories plus an additional class win since it began visiting VIR in 2012. Corvette Racing will go for another VIR win live on NBC at noon ET on Saturday.
Tommy Milner, a Virginia native, and Nick Tandy arrive at Virginia on the heels of consecutive GT Le Mans (GTLM) wins in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R – at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the Long Beach street circuit.
The late-season run by the No. 4 Corvette duo has given Milner and Tandy significant momentum heading into the final two races of the year – VIR and the 10-hour Petit Le Mans in November at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. As has been the case throughout the year, their strongest competition may come from inside their own team.
Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor, teammates in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R, are defending winners at VIR after having won last year in the C8.R’s maiden VIR race. It was one of five victories on the year for the No. 3 Corvette, and the pairing again lead this year’s GTLM Drivers Championship on the strength of four wins and seven consecutive pole positions.
All four Corvette drivers have tasted success at VIR. Garcia’s three VIR wins – all with Corvette Racing – ranks him second among all IMSA drivers entered for Saturday’s race. leads all active IMSA drivers with three VIR wins. Milner, Taylor and Tandy each have two victories to their credit.
In addition, Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with eight IMSA VIR wins with four coming from Corvette Racing.
The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR is scheduled for noon ET on Saturday with live coverage on NBC, NBC Sports Gold and Trackpass. Live IMSA Radio coverage will air on XM 202, SiriusXM Online 992 and IMSA.com, which also will host live timing and scoring.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “It’s easy to say that a track where you have a lot of success is a favorite. But even without any wins, VIR would still be one of my favorites. It is that kind of classic American track where you can either be rewarded for risk or punished for a mistake. The layout of the track and the elevation of the land makes it memorable. I’ve had many good races and wins there with Corvette Racing including last year with Jordan. It was a big race to set us up for the championship. We can do the same this weekend with another win for the C8.R. It will be tough fight against our competition – including our teammates – so let’s see how the race goes.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “I love going back to VIR. We won the race there last year, of course. It’s obviously a much different feel and style of race than what we had at Long Beach and even Laguna Seca. There are a lot of different corners with different speeds for each – high and low speeds. How the track rises and falls away across the layout is a big challenge for us as drivers and engineers. Plus it will be GT-only. So this will be a flat-out and intense race with no prototypes going by. It’s always nice to be racing for an overall win, so I can’t wait to get there.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “I’m really excited to get another IMSA race since we are two for our last two. Nick and I are heading into VIR with some momentum but we’ll have to work as hard as ever to continue that trend. VIR is an awesome, awesome racetrack… one that is a lot different than what we are coming off of at Long Beach and even Laguna Seca. There is a ton of grip at VIR so it will be a fun challenge. This C8.R was a lot of fun to drive there last year. It’s improved from last year so I’m looking forward to seeing how good it is around VIR this time around.”
NICK TANDY, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “I love VIR… absolutely love it. I have since the first time I went there. It reminds me of racing at a lot of tracks where I grew up in the UK. There is greenery everywhere. It feels different and is one of my favorite tracks on the calendar. Past that, the track layout is awesome. It has everything… super-fast with long straights, elevation changes, slow technical sections and super-high speed technical sections. It definitely is one of my favorite places to race on the IMSA calendar. Having seen how good our rival car was there last year, I know it’s a circuit that will suit them. From the Corvette side, we’ll have to be on the top of our game. But I think I know how to get a car to go well around there so I’m really looking forward to this one.”
2021 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTLM (After Eight of 10 Events)
Driver Standings
1. Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2,917
2. Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 2,757
3. Cooper MacNeil – 2,644
4. Matt Campbell – 1,702
5. Mathieu Jaminet – 1,324
Team Standings
1. No. 3 Corvette Racing – 2,917
2. No. 4 Corvette Racing – 2,757
3. No. 79 WeatherTech Racing – 2,644
4. No. 24 BMW Team RLL – 1,001
5. No. 25 BMW Team RLL – 966
Manufacturer Standings
1. Chevrolet – 3,000
2. Porsche – 2,812
3. BMW – 1,052
4. Ferrari – 330
CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: By the Numbers
• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 23 years: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette.
• 3: Overall VIR race wins for Corvette Racing – 2016, 2017 and 2020. Antonio Garcia has been part of all three.
• 3: Generations of Corvette Racing entries at VIR since 2012 – Corvette C6.R (2012-2013) and Corvette C7.R (2014-2019) and the mid-engine Corvette C8.R, which won its debut makes its VIR debut this weekend.
• 4: Class wins at VIR for Corvette Racing, tied for the most among IMSA entrants. Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin won in ALMS GT competition in 2012, Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen won overall in 2016 and 2017, and Garcia and Jordan Taylor won in 2020.
• 8: Number of VIR victories for Chevrolet since 2002 covering both ALMS and the Rolex Series.
• 13: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001.
• 25: 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, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen.
• 31: Number of drivers for Corvette Racing since 1999.
• 25: 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, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen.
• 27: Number of GT Le Mans wins in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Corvette Racing since the start of 2014.
• 118: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 110 in North America and eight at Le Mans.
• 248: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999.
• 5,339.91: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its seven previous trips to Virginia International Raceway. That represents 1,636 laps or more than 21 trips from Tommy Milner’s home near Ashburn, Virginia to the track.
• 331,261.64: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history – covered “just” 248,655 miles when it went it orbited the moon. Simply put, the program has raced to the moon… and then some.
Corvette Racing at Virginia International Raceway (wins in bold)
2012
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 8th in GT (Garcia fastest race lap)
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GT (Clinched ALMS GT title)
2013
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GT (Clinch GT team, manufacturer titles)
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GT
2014
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 7th in GTLM (Taylor replaced Magnussen – injury)
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 9th in GTLM
2015
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 6th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 8th in GTLM
2016
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTLM (Magnussen pole)
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 9th in GTLM (Gavin fastest race lap)
2017
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GTLM
2018
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GTLM
2019
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GTLM
2020
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 1st in GTLM (Taylor pole)
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GTLM
Source: Corvette Racing
