Mordeth

Yea, bonehead move. Aggravating.

sdurg24

Mordeth

That's not what he is talking about. Gavin (the #4 car) ran into the number 3 as they pitted in. Caused damage and put the number #3 car a few laps behind as they had to repair it. Are you watching the race?

sdurg24

sunsalem

Dear Corvette Racing,

Next time you want a photo op of the #3 and #4 cars in the pits at the same time...DON'T*
Not until the #4 has at least a similar quality of drivers as in the #3.

* See Roger Penske

sdurg24

ChumpVette

LOL, dead on track for #3.

cor123

Press Release:

Halfway through the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Corvette Racing’s No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs remained in the thick of the Rolex 24


IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP
ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA
CORVETTE RACING DRIVER QUOTES – Halfway Update
JANUARY 27, 2019


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.(Jan. 27, 2019) – Halfway through the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Corvette Racing’s No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs remained in the thick of a back-and-forth battle for the lead in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) category of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.


Oliver Gavin ran in the top-five in class in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette as the opening round of the 2019 season moved into its second half. It put Corvette Racing in solid position to challenge for a fourth Rolex 24 victory and third since 2015.


The No. 4 Corvette C7.R of Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler found itself in contention from the get-go after starting ninth in class. Gavin moved up to fourth before handing over to Milner near the two-hour mark, and the No. 4 Corvette raced its way to the lead a little more than an hour later. All three drivers spent time in the lead of the class.


The trio of Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller also led multiple times in the opening half of the race. It was a remarkable achievement for the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R following a pit-lane collision with the sister car near the two-hour mark. Timely caution periods and solid strategy not only made up laps, but they also helped Garcia move back into the lead less than 10 hours later.


Unfortunately, the No. 3 Corvette suffered an electrical issue that impacted the digital dash around the track. As a result, the car-to-pits telemetry was compromised including fuel monitoring. That issue reared its head just before halfway as Garcia ran out of fuel on the backstretch of the 3.56-mile circuit.


Once back in the pitlane Garcia handed over to Rockenfeller, who re-entered eighth in class.

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “The first set of tires I had in that last stint didn’t perform just as I wanted to. But Chuck (Houghton, engineer) worked on the car and on the tire, and our C7.R was significantly better that second stint. I was battling hard with the BMW and the Ford, which was nice. I think we are on par with the Ferrari, but the Porsche is very quick. I have to say they will mostly likely be our biggest rivals the rest of the way. A lot can happen and there’s a long way to go. Let’s see how things turn out. Tommy is back in right now and is doing a great job, as did Marcel before me.”
(Seeing the No. 3 Corvette back on the lead lap) “I was beating myself up pretty bad about what happened at that early pitstop on the first driver change. I’m very, very happy that they’ve managed to get back up and are on parity with us. Now we can race hard and fair. I’m sure they are chomping at the bit to get by us and back to the front. We’ll be racing our Corvettes clean and fair.”


JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “It’s great our Corvette is back on the lead lap. We do have a lot of issues, though. I don’t know where they are coming from and I don’t know what it is. We have a dash that isn’t working correctly and isn’t giving correct information. We don’t always have the rear-view camera and radar. It’s very tricky. Once I get into pace mode, I couldn’t get out of it; I had to power down the car and restart it twice. I’m happy we’re back in it and hopefully we can sort out these little bugs. We are good and we are fast. So we’re in it with a shot.”


ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “We’ve been fighting the whole race. There were some issues with the electronics where we lost some telemetry. We couldn’t even get information to the engineers… things like fuel. Nothing seemed to be working. That made things a lot more complicated. Even with all that, we made it back to the lead. That was a great feeling to be back up there and fighting for it. But we got to a point where we were guessing where we were on fuel. Maybe we could have gone a lap or two shorter but we come here to win and go 100 percent. It’s a shame. We’re several laps down so we are hoping for rain and a lot of yellows.”

F4Gary

" Unfortunately, the No. 3 Corvette suffered an electrical issue that impacted the digital dash around the track. As a result, the car-to-pits telemetry was compromised including fuel monitoring. That issue reared its head just before halfway as Garcia ran out of fuel on the backstretch of the 3.56-mile circuit."

How about not leaving him out there 3 more laps than the #4 car. Then he wouldn't have run out of gas. Good grief. Now down 7 and 9 laps respectively.

Subfixer

Not one of Corvette Racing's better days.....

dcbingaman

sunsalem

Will this turn out to be a harbinger of things to come this season?
I don't know...the team certainly didn't look like the cream of the crop at Daytona.

Going into the race I was concerned the C7Rs might not have pace, but that turned out not to be the case.
They looked very strong early on.
So much so, I really thought we would be in the hunt for a victory.

Unfortunately, the unforced errors by drivers (Gavin in particular) and crew threw all chances out the window.
This HAS to be the last year for Gavin/Milner.

IIRC, Ford ends their program at Petit Le Mans.
When that happens there will be some good drivers coming up on the market who need seats.
Let's see how smart CR really is...

dcbingaman

z28lt1

Ford is very likely not ending their IMSA program. They will either be running DPI (which is their preference) or will probably extend the GTLM program another year. Ford would prefer to be at DPI, but with only 2 years left on the platform, they want to understand if the new 2022 platform will be an evolution or something new. I would expect them to be racing something next year. I think its a possibility that if they take a year off they might keep the drivers under contract as well.

I do think Ford has some great drivers, but take a step back as someone who doesn't focus solely on the Corvettes.
Since the Fords' debut in IMSA in 2016:

#3 Corvette 4 Wins, 2 Driver Championships, 2 Manufacturer Championships
#4 Corvette 6 Wins, 1 Driver Championship, 2 Manufacture Championships
#66 Ford 4 Wins, 0 Driver Championships, 1 Manufacturer Championship
#67 Ford 6 Wins 0 Driver Championships, 1 Manufacturer Championships

Also note, the 66 Ford drivers won Le Mans in 2016 which is not included above.

Again, I'm not saying the Ford drivers aren't really good, and I'm not making a case that they might not be better than some Corvette drivers. I'm just saying, it's not cut and dry. People on this forum, for obvious reasons pay close attention to ever error the Corvette team makes, but do not see the same in the other teams, as they aren't the focus.

'Shifter

I'll share one thing that's not CR-related.....Fernando Alonzo is a beast! He's a whole 'nuther level of driver....

z28lt1

Normally these "guest" drivers are a little slower because they don't know the car as well (and in many cases, the track, and the traffic, etc...). Alonso was very quick in the rain. Also notable, the fastest lap in that car was by Kobayashi and both Kobayashi and Joradan Taylor turned in some really quick laps in the dry, better than Alonso in the dry whose fastest lap in the car was slower than the other 3 drivers -- but that comparison isn't really that meaningful because obviously weather and traffic have a ton of impact on "fastest" lap times. The eyes don't lie and what he did at the end of the race was something.

sunsalem

FA is one of the all time great F1 drivers.
I have been following his career from the beginning and have seen him do some amazing things on track.
He is also a VERY smart driver and often out-thinks the opposition.
He is extremely competitive too and never gives up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Alonso
The most important statistic in the race was in all 3 of his stints he drove to the front of the pack.

Unlike Indycar and NASCAR, F1 runs in the rain.
F1 drivers must learn how to deal with low-grip tracks.
Rain equalizes the differences in equipment and shows who really is the best driver.

raff

Excellent points.

VetteDrmr

It's worth noting that NO ONE runs oval races in the rain. Even the Daytona roval road course breaks up the oval track sections to keep speeds down.

Indycar can run all their road course, and maybe street courses (those are REALLY tight!) in the rain, and NASCAR's Xfinity series has run several road courses in the rain. NASCAR's Cup series hasn't to date, but they've tested in the past, and the main problem has been keeping the rain tires from shredding. 2019's new engine rules may help in that area (reducing hp at many tracks), we'll see.

BTW, reminds me that Daytona speedweeks start in 2 weeks, woo hoo!

Have a good one,
Mike

z28lt1

Corvette has entered a single car for the WEC 1000 at Sebring. Will be the #3 drivers (including Rockenfeller) who will have a lot going on that week pulling double duty in both events, as will the crew maintaining a 3rd car. Should be a fun weekend for the rest of us who get to watch...