| August 20, 2020 By Jeff Olson IMSA Wire Service |
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Corvette Racing is off to an outstanding start in the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. Since the season resumed in July, its two entries have won the GTLM class in all three races, pushing them to first and third in the standings. The trick now is to keep the momentum going. The team’s No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R driven by Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor comes into this weekend’s Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway leading the standings, with the team’s No. 4 entry shared by Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in third. Corvettes have a successful history at VIR, but this will be the first run for the new C8.R at the 17-turn, 3.27-mile circuit. “It’s a track that if the car is good, it’s very fun to drive,” Garcia said. “We’ve done a few runs in the simulator, and everyone seems to be happy with it. The main thing is how we compare to our competition. Our confidence is as high as it can get after three wins in a row for Corvette Racing. We will try to make it four. Everyone will want to beat us and will push us very hard, but that is racing.”
The team has a solid track record at VIR, winning its class three times, including overall victories in 2016 and 2017 in the event that has featured a GT-only format since 2014. Taylor will be racing at VIR for the first time since 2017.
“It’s been a few years, but I really enjoy it,” he said. “It’s where I got my first pole in GT in 2010 and my first win in 2011 in a Camaro. I think Olly (Gavin) was on the podium that race, too. So, there is some good history there.”
Gavin and Milner teamed for Corvette’s first victory at VIR in 2012, the team’s first race at the Alton, Virginia, road course. Their No. 4 car won at Sebring In July, then finished second behind the No. 3 on Aug. 2 at Road America.
“We’re going race-by-race,” Gavin said. “It’s been an excellent restart for everyone at Corvette Racing. We’ve won each race and have two one-two finishes. The C8.R has really come out the gate very fast after the lockdown period. We’re very positive and hopeful, and our confidence can’t get much higher.”
VIR’s elevation changes, long straightaways and high-speed corners place numerous demands on the team’s four drivers.
“It’s a big challenge to get it all right with the Uphill Esses being a huge challenge in our GTLM cars,” Milner said. “Then you add in 25 more cars and it becomes that much more difficult to go racing and making passes happen. If you make a mistake, there’s typically big punishment.”
After a disappointing start to the season with fourth- and seventh-place finishes in class, the subsequent delay in the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic gave Corvette Racing engineers and drivers a chance to fine-tune the new car.
“The downtime gave us the opportunity to address things we had seen from Daytona and the WEC race at Austin to bring a more developed car back down to Daytona for the restart of the season,” said Ben Johnson, Corvette Racing’s team manager. “We had high confidence but at the same time we have very tough competition. To have the success we have had to date is really motivational for the team and justifies a lot of the effort that has gone into it.”
