CORVETTE RACING AT ROAD AMERICA: Drive for Nine in Elkhart Lake
Garcia, Taylor looking to build on team’s eight previous Road America wins
DETROIT (Aug. 3, 2022) – Corvette Racing is going from the shortest track on the IMSA schedule to the longest when the team and the rest of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship return to spacious Road America for the IMSA Fastlane SportsCar Weekend.
The 4.048-mile, 14-turn road course is one of the most revered on the IMSA calendar with high speeds, big braking zones and heavy g-loads under cornering. It also is one of Corvette Racing’s most successful venues with eight victories for the program and 14 IMSA wins for Chevrolet as a manufacturer.
In the two-hour, 40-minute race, Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor will continue their push for their third straight IMSA Drivers Championship in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.
After seven races, the pairing have one win on the season – at Sebring – and sit second in the Drivers Championship in the new GT Daytona (GTD) PRO category.
Garcia and Taylor were GT Le Mans (GTLM) winners at the circuit in 2020 – the first year of the C8.R. With the class discontinued for 2022, this is the first time for Corvette Racing in GTD PRO at Road America. There are a number of differences – more weight and less power, for example – but the biggest change will be the GTD-spec tire from Michelin on the Corvette instead of the “confidential” Michelins that were designed specifically for the C8.R over the course of two-plus years.
Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia
Road America is usually notorious for eating up tires with high levels of degradation. Despite a lack of overall pace throughout the season, the No. 3 Corvette has remained in championship contention due in large part to its tire management, engineering strategy and crew execution.
Road America and the Corvette brand have a lengthy history dating back nearly 60 years. Chevrolet routinely used the track to test and validate the performance of early-generation Corvettes with that tradition continuing into the present day. Road America was the site of the first on-track running of the Corvette C8.R in 2018, and the mid-engine Corvette continues to write new chapters each weekend.
Chevrolet Motorsports Display On-Site at Road America
In addition to the many series and events on the racetrack at Road America, fans will have plenty to see and experience from Chevrolet. The Chevrolet Motorsports Display will be full of Chevy vehicles that spectators can learn more about throughout the weekend.
The Chevrolet Motorsports Display opens at 8 a.m. Friday and Saturday plus 7:30 a.m. Sunday and is located in the Fan Midway in the Road America main paddock. Numerous Chevrolet vehicles and other highlights include:
• Additional Chevrolet products such as Blazer RS, Silverado ZR2, TrailBlazer Activ, Camaro 2SS and Colorado ZR2
• A Corvette Racing C8.R showcar
• An opportunity to receive a 2022 Corvette Racing t-shirt
The IMSA Fastlane SportsCar Weekend from Road America is scheduled for 10:40 a.m. CT on Sunday, August 7. The race will stream live on Peacock and air same-day beginning at noon 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: “This will be a little different Road America than we’re used to with the GTD Corvette and the cars are racing now – both GTD and GTD PRO. You have to think about attacking the track in different ways given weight, power and other differences that are part of the GTD configuration versus GTLM. We also don’t know about tire degradation, which was quite severe there in past years. We don’t know how it will be this year on this tire but it can open up several different strategies for the race and can play a big role in the outcome. So we’ll see. One thing that hasn’t changed is how enjoyable it is to drive around Road America and in the area. It’s a highlight visit every year, but hopefully this year that includes a good result or win for us.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Road America will be an interesting one for us. Knowing where our car’s strengths and weaknesses are, this could be a tricky one for us from a pace point of view. From a tire degradation point of view, that has been our strength this season. Hopefully that will suit us. We have some ideas in the works for car development for that race, so I think we’ll go there with a little bit of a stronger package and hopefully be contending up front. We’ve been to simulator since Lime Rock, so we’ve done some running with some big swings of changes to see what comes alive. That’s been the tough thing this season with just one car on track each weekend. You don’t have the opportunities to take big risks on setups. That’s where the simulator has brought big value to us.”
2022 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTD PRO (After seven of 11 Events)
Driver Standings
1. Mathieu Jaminet/Matt Campbell – 2,441
2. Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2,226
3. Ben Barnicoat – 2,181
4. Alex Riberas/Ross Gunn – 2,170
5. Connor De Phillippi/John Edwards – 1,946
Team Standings
1. No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports – 2.441
2. No. 3 Corvette Racing – 2,226
3. No. 14 VasserSullivan – 2,181
4. No. 23 Heart of Racing Team – 2,170
5. No. 25 BMW Team RLL – 1,946
Manufacturer Standings
1. Porsche – 2,441
2. Aston Martin – 2,240
3. Chevrolet – 2,236
4. Lexus – 2,211
5. BMW – 2,031
CORVETTE RACING AT ROAD AMERICA: 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.
• 4: Generations of Corvette Racing entries at Road America since 2002 – Corvette C5-R (2002-2004), Corvette C6.R (2005-13), Corvette C7.R (2016-19) and Corvette C8.R (2020-21). This year’s race is the first at the track for the GTD-spec, mid-engine racing Corvette.
• 4: Number of cars Tommy Milner passed in the final 15 minutes of the 2016 Road America race. He and Oliver Gavin went on to win in class and capture the GTLM Drivers Championship.
• 8: Number of victories at Road America for Corvette Racing, the most of any entrant in IMSA.
• 8: Pole positions at Road America for Corvette Racing by four different drivers.
• 10: Number of drivers who have won races at Road America for Corvette Racing – Gavin (four); Olivier Beretta (three); Johnny O’Connell (two); and Kelly Collins, Ron Fellows, Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen, Milner, Andy Pilgrim and Jordan Taylor (one each).
• 12: Fastest race laps for Corvette Racing drivers at Road America. That includes the last three seasons: Tommy Milner (2019 and 2021) and Antonio Garcia (2020)
• 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001
• 14: Number of IMSA victories at Road America for Chevrolet, the second-most of any manufacturer in IMSA
• 21: Number of Road America events for Corvette Racing counting this year’s IMSA race.
• 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
• 122: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 113 in North America, eight at Le Mans and one in the FIA WEC
• 261: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999
• 12,148.10: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 20 previous trips to Road America. That represents 2,993 laps or more than 102 trips across Lake Michigan.
• 345,914.02: 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 Road America (wins in bold)
2002
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GTS (Fellows pole; Gavin fastest race lap)
No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins – 1st in GTS
2003
No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GTS
No. 4 Corvette C5-R: Oliver Gavin/Kelly Collins – 5th in GTS (Gavin pole, fastest race lap)
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 (Gavin pole, Beretta fastest race lap)
2006
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell – 1st in GT1
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GT1 (Gavin fastest race lap)
2007
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GT1 (Magnussen pole, 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 – 3rd in GT1 (Gavin pole, fastest race lap)
2009
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 3rd in GT2
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 6th in GT2
2010
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Johnny O’Connell – 4th in GT2
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 3rd in GT2 (Gavin pole, fastest race lap)
2011
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner – 14th in GT
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 5th in GT
2012
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 6th in GT
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GT
2013
No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GT
No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 3rd in GT
2014
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 6th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 7th in GTLM
2015
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 7th in GTLM
2016
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 6th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GTLM (5th to 1st in final 15 minutes)
2017
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM
2018
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GTLM (Garcia fastest race lap)
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 2nd in GTLM
2019
No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLM
No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GTLM (Gavin pole, Milner fastest race lap)
2020
No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 1st in GTLM (Garcia fastest race lap)
No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 2nd in GTLM
2021
No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GTLM (Taylor pole)
No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 3rd in GTLM (Milner fastest race lap)
Source: Corvette Racing