CORVETTE RACING AT ROAD ATLANTA: No. 3 Corvette Qualifies on GTLM Front Row

Garcia to start points-leading car second in class; Milner eighth in tight GTLM fight

BRASELTON, Ga. (Oct. 12, 2018) – Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen will start their race toward a second straight IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship title from the front row of their category following qualifying for Saturday’s 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

Garcia qualified second in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class with a lap of 1:17.030 (18.706 mph in his No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R on Friday afternoon – missing out on pole position by just 0.024 seconds. He and Magnussen, who will drive with Marcel Fässler, can repeat as champions with a fourth-place finish or better. But make no mistake: the goal is “better.”

A victory Saturday would be the first for the Garcia/Magnussen pairing this season. However, the No. 3 Corvette has finished on the GTLM podium in seven consecutive races and eight of 10 events.

Tommy Milner qualified eight in class with the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R that he will share with Oliver Gavin and Fässler, who is pulling double duty Saturday. Milner, who qualified with a lap of 1:17.451 (118.061 mph), had been fastest in class during Thursday’s night practice and Friday’s final practice session. The closeness of the GTLM class was evident as he was just 0.445 seconds off pole position.

Corvette Racing hasn’t missed a Petit Le Mans since the program began in 1999. It has eight class victories – the most of any team in race history – and two additional Road Atlanta wins that came in American Le Mans Series sprint events.

The green flag for the Petit Le Mans is set for 11:05 a.m. ET on Saturday with live television coverage on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2. Streaming in-car footage along with live audio coverage of practice, qualifying and the race from IMSA Radio is available on IMSA.com.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SIRIUS XM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R — QUALIFIED SECOND IN GTLM: “It’s not bad. Coming into this race, the first thing you want to be is competitive, so we are. That’s a good starting point to defend and go for the championship. If you don’t have the pace is when everybody panics. The way it is now, we feel like we could have had pole but we are up there. It’s a 10-hour race and anything can happen as we proved and we saw the previous years. We don’t need to get crazy about winning the race; we need to win this championship. We need to be smart.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – QUALIFIED EIGHTH IN GTLM: “That was frustrating after having a fast car in practice. But we just missed it a little bit in qualifying. We are tweaking on it in each session and trying to find a little bit of performance. For the track temperature and the conditions, we had a window to try and get a good lap time but we were just off on balance during those crucial laps. I went for it again toward the end, and had lost enough of the newness of the tire that that was basically it. It’s unfortunate. It would have been fun to go for pole; we have a car that is capable of running up front like that. But it’s a 10-hour race, as a lot of people say who qualify at the back! But I’m really excited for this race. We’ve had a great Corvette so far. I’m not worried about missing it for two laps during qualifying.”

2018 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTLM Standings (After 10 of 11 Events)

Driver Standings Team Standings Manufacturer Standings
1. Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen – 299

2. Richard Westbrook/Ryan Briscoe – 290

3. Dirk Mueller/Joey Hand – 284

4. Earl Bamber/Laurens Vanthoor – 283

5. Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 278

1. No. 3 Corvette Racing – 299

2. No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing – 290

3. No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing – 284

4. No. 912 Porsche GT Team – 283

5. No. 4 Corvette Racing – 278

1. Ford – 323

2. Chevrolet – 313

3. Porsche – 306

4. BMW – 302

5. Ferrari – 58

 

Corvette Racing at Road Atlanta

Year Class Drivers Result Car Notes
1999 GTS Fellows/Kneifel/Paul Jr. 5th Corvette C5-R
GTS Pilgrim/Collins/Sharp 4th Corvette C5-R
2000 GTS Fellows/Kneifel/Bell 3rd Corvette C5-R Fellows pole
GTS Pilgrim/Collins/Freon 1st Corvette C5-R
2001 GTS Fellows/O’Connell 9th Corvette C5-R
GTS Collins/Pilgrim/Freon 1st Corvette C5-R Pilgrim pole
2002 GTS Fellows/O’Connell/Gavin 1st Corvette C5-R
GTS Collins/Pilgrim/Freon 3rd Corvette C5-R Pilgrim fastest race lap
2003* GTS Fellows/O’Connell 3rd Corvette C5-R
GTS Collins/Gavin 1st Corvette C5-R
2003 GTS Fellows/O’Connell/Freon 5th Corvette C5-R
GTS Collins/Gavin/Pilgrim 3rd Corvette C5-R
2004 GTS Fellows/O’Connell/Papis 2nd Corvette C5-R
GTS Beretta/Gavin/Magnussen 1st Corvette C5-R Gavin pole, fastest race lap
2005* GT1 Fellows/O’Connell 1st Corvette C6.R O’Connell pole, fastest race lap
GT1 Beretta/Gavin 2nd Corvette C6.R
2005 GT1 Fellows/O’Connell/Papis 6th Corvette C6.R
GT1 Beretta/Gavin/Magnussen 1st Corvette C6.R Beretta pole, Gavin fastest race lap
2006 GT1 Fellows/O’Connell/Papis 4th Corvette C6.R O’Connell pole
GT1 Beretta/Gavin/Magnussen 3rd Corvette C6.R Gavin fastest race lap
2007 GT1 Magnussen/O’Connell/Fellows 3rd Corvette C6.R
GT1 Beretta/Gavin/Papis 1st Corvette C6.R Gavin fastest race lap
2008 GT1 Magnussen/O’Connell/Fellows 1st Corvette C6.R O’Connell pole, Magnussen fastest lap
GT1 Beretta/Gavin/Papis 2nd Corvette C6.R
2009 GT2 Magnussen/O’Connell/Garcia 6th Corvette C6.R
GT2 Beretta/Gavin/Fassler 4th Corvette C6.R
2010 GT Beretta/O’Connell/Garcia 6th Corvette C6.R
GT Gavin/Magnussen/Collard 1st Corvette C6.R Magnussen fastest race lap
2011 GT Beretta/Milner/Garcia 17th Corvette C6.R
GT Gavin/Magnussen/Westbrook 4th Corvette C6.R
2012 GT Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor 2nd Corvette C6.R
GT Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 12th Corvette C6.R
2013 GT Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor 6th Corvette C6.R Garcia/Magnussen clinch ALMS GT title
GT Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 10th Corvette C6.R
2014 GTLM Garcia/Magnussen/Briscoe 8th Corvette C7.R
GTLM Gavin/Milner/Briscoe 4th Corvette C7.R
2015 GTLM Garcia/Magnussen/Briscoe 6th Corvette C7.R
GTLM Gavin/Milner/Briscoe 3rd Corvette C7.R
2016 GTLM Garcia/Magnussen/Rockenfeller 4th Corvette C7.R
GTLM Gavin/Milner/Fässler 3rd Corvette C7.R Gavin/Milner clinch GTLM title
2017 GTLM Garcia/Magnussen/Rockenfeller 2nd Corvette C7.R Garcia/Magnussen clinch GTLM title
GTLM Gavin/Milner/Fässler 4th Corvette C7.R

 

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About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with 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.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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