Disaster Strikes Corvette Racing Team at Rolex 24 at Daytona

ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA CORVETTE RACING HALFWAY REPORT

Jan 30 2022

IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA
CORVETTE RACING HALFWAY REPORT

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 30, 2022) – Disaster struck Corvette Racing in the seventh and eighth hours of the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Saturday. Despite lengthy visits to the garage, both Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs were still circulating around Daytona International Speedway at the halfway point of the opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

The No. 3 Corvette ran ninth in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO class in the program’s debut in the category. Jordan Taylor was at the wheel but 13 laps down to the class leader after the car lost time with an electrical issue that required a change of the alternator near eight-and-a-half-hour mark. Antonio Garcia was in the Corvette when the team noticed a voltage issue on the No. 3 C8.R.

Things weren’t any better for the12th-place No. 4 Corvette, which lost nearly 2.5 hours replacing the diffuser, exhaust pipes and starter. Marco Sorensen was hit from behind while trying to avoid a spinning prototype following the race’s fifth full-course caution.

Sorensen had followed double-stints by Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner. He had to brake hard to keep from hitting the wayward LMP3 car, which also just missed collecting Nicky Catsburg in the No. 3 Corvette. Sorensen was nailed from behind, which resulted in the damaged components and sent the No. 4 C8.R back to the garage.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “It was unfortunate. We were up there, probably not in the best place overall but we were staying out of trouble. That wasn’t the easiest thing to do with the conditions and all the mixing of the categories. We were P4 when the team realized we had an alternator issue. Everything was going smooth and all we needed to do was make it through the night. We’re back out there but down some number of laps. We’ll carry on and be as close to the lead lap if the yellows permit that. We knew it would be a crazy race.”

MARCO SORENSEN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “We got hit from behind and that caused some big damage. There wasn’t really anywhere for me to go. There was a spinning LMP3 car ahead of us and I had to brake hard because there wasn’t anywhere I could go. Then I got the contact from behind. I don’t know who it was. The car was fine after that. I could still keep doing good laps and we were still in the game. Everything was good. Then just before I came into the pits, the car fully shut off on me. When Nick jumped in, we couldn’t start it and that started a big snowball that kept on rolling with issues. It’s tough. It was a long fix.”

Source: Corvette Racing