When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
P6 and P9 in Roar Practice 4. I believe Fassler and Rockenfeller drove the whole session. This session was a bit quicker than the previous sessions, think we are seeing most of the speed now. .9 seconds from covers the field. Fords and Porsches make up the top 4.
Roar night practice was lined up neatly (but badly if you cheer for the yellow cars)
1-9:
Porsche, Porsche, Ford, Ford, BMW, BMW, Ferrari, Corvette, Corvette
EDIT: I missed that the #4 left the session early. Had a stray part from another car come up through the floor and take the oil pump with it. Engine change tonight for the #4.
This morning's practice saw the #4 back on track. Still lagging though, P2 and P9.
"Qualifying" - which is for garage and pit lane assignments for the race saw times really come down across the board, so we may be getting close to real pace. P1 and P8 for the Corvettes. Less than 0.7 seconds separates the entire filed 1-9.
Qualifying results, 1-9:
Corvette, Ford, Ford, Porsche, Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, Corvette, BMW
CORVETTE RACING AT DAYTONA: Consistency Key in Corvette Racing 2019 Driver Lineup
A new season for Corvette Racing will bring a familiar look and feel to race fans across North America in 2019.
Consistency Key in Corvette Racing 2019 Driver Lineup
Same pairings in pair of Corvette C7.Rs for IMSA’s 50th season
Corvette Racing going for fourth straight championship season
Garcia, Magnussen enter as two-time and defending GTLM Driver champions
Gavin, Milner together again for full season
Start of Corvette Racing’s third decade of competition
DETROIT (Jan. 2, 2019) – A new season for Corvette Racing will bring a familiar look and feel to race fans across North America in 2019 as the program confirmed its lineup today for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It’s a roster that remains intact for the fourth consecutive year.
Corvette Racing’s four full-season drivers – Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen, Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner – are back together for the eighth consecutive season.
These four drivers have combined for 113 victories and 13 Driver Championships with Corvette Racing. No other driver roster in modern North American sports car racing can match that level of race- and championship-winning consistency.
For the fourth consecutive year, they will be joined by Mike Rockenfeller and Marcel Fässler in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring to start the 2019 season.
Garcia and Magnussen will return in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R as two-time and defending GTLM Driver Champions. Since joining forces in 2012, Garcia and Magnussen have won 13 races including the Rolex 24 in 2015 and twice at Sebring – the latter two with Rockenfeller.
Meanwhile in the No. 4 Corvette C7.R, Gavin and Milner also will go for their third Driver Championship as a pairing. Like their teammates in the No. 3 Corvette, Gavin and Milner have won 13 times together. Among those are the Rolex 24 in 2016 (with Fässler), Sebring two times and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015.
Both of the Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs will officially begin the 2019 IMSA season at the annual Roar Before the 24 at Daytona International Speedway from Friday through Sunday. It is the prelude for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona – an event Corvette Racing has won three times.
The records of each Corvette Racing driver rank among the best in endurance sports car racing:
Antonio Garcia: 16 victories; three IMSA Driver Championships; winner at Le Mans (2009, 2011), Daytona (2015), Sebring (2009, 2015, 2017)
Oliver Gavin: 50 victories; five IMSA Driver Championships; winner at Le Mans (five times), Daytona (2016), Sebring (five times)
Jan Magnussen: 35 victories; four IMSA Driver Championships; winner at Le Mans (four times), Daytona (2015), Sebring (five times)
Tommy Milner: 14 victories; two IMSA Driver Championships; winner at Le Mans (2011, 2015), Daytona (2016), Sebring (two times)
Mike Rockenfeller: one victory; winner at Sebring (2017), Daytona (2010), Le Mans (2005 and 2010)
Marcel Fässler: two victories; winner at Daytona (2016), Sebring (2013, 2016), Le Mans (2011, 2012, 2014)
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “It’s hard to believe this will be my 11th season with Corvette Racing and eighth as a full-time driver. We have been able to win a lot of races and championships during that time. Obviously Jan and I work very well together with our crew and engineers. That’s a large reason why we have won consecutive Driver Championships. The work begins again next week at Daytona. As a team, there have been important updates and progress to our Corvettes ahead of 2019. I think we can all feel confident in our ability to challenge for more race wins and championships.”
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “I can’t think of a better program to be part of than Corvette Racing. It’s like my second family, and it’s great that we’ve been able to achieve a high level of success. I can’t think of a better teammate than Antonio. We’re both highly competitive and push each other constantly. That’s the type of person you want sharing your car. With our collective group at Corvette Racing, we know that we can contend for another championship and more race wins, starting at Daytona.”
MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “It’s been far too long since I was with Corvette Racing. The is a fun program and it’s very well-run and organized. Any professional driver would want to be part of any team like this. Having said that, Marcel and I are very determined to do our part to place Corvette Racing in the best possible position to start the GTLM Championship with a win at the Rolex. It all starts with the Roar and three very important days of testing. I’m ready to get back!”
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “Being back with Corvette Racing and with Tommy is the best way to start 2019. It’s an amazing feat that we remain at the forefront of the GTLM championship each season. The people, the tools and resources we have within our program make all this possible. This may be the toughest season we will face with our Corvette C7.R. All of our competitors have had another year to fully develop their cars. But we know that this is only a single element in what makes a championship-winning team. We’ve displayed that many times and the Roar and the Rolex give us another chance to do so again.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “It’s been a short offseason for several of us but I know everyone is ready to get back to Daytona and start a new season. Winning the Rolex and the GTLM Championship are goals for Corvette Racing each season. I’m confident that our test program since Petit Le Mans is going to put us in a great position to do that. We’ll be off and running immediately with the Roar and then ahead to the Rolex. The 2016 win with Oliver and Marcel is one I’m eager to repeat… although maybe not as tense this time!”
MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “Starting 2019 with Corvette Racing at Daytona is the perfect way to get back into the groove of competition. I’m obviously very glad to return to a team that I have gotten to know so well the last few years. Tommy, Olly and I had a great end of 2018 at Road Atlanta so our goal is improve on that for the Rolex 24. Winning the race three years ago is a highlight in my career that I always will remember. It would be nice to add more with Corvette Racing this season.”
Press Release:
CORVETTE RACING AT DAYTONA: Wrapping Up The Roar
Magnussen, No. 3 Corvette draft way to weekend’s quickest GTLM time
· Team completes more than 1,200 miles of testing ahead of Rolex 24
· 21st season on tap for Corvette Racing
· Goal is fourth victory on high banks of Daytona
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.(Jan. 6, 2019) – Corvette Racing completed its final test ahead of the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with three days of testing at Daytona International Speedway, site of the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Sunday marked the third and final day of running at the annual Roar Before the 24 around the 3.56-mile Daytona road course. Corvette Racing’s pair of Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs completed 341 laps and more than 1,200 miles from Friday through Sunday.
The highlight of the weekend was Jan Magnussen’s fastest GT Le Mans (GTLM) lap during qualifying for garage and pit positions for the Rolex 24. With drafting help from teammate Oliver Gavin, Magnussen posted a lap of 1:42.651 (124.844 mph) in the No. 3 Corvette.
As they did a year ago during time trials for the Roar and Rolex 24, the two yellow C7.Rs worked in tandem to take full advantage of the tow that cars generate on the super-speedway portion of Daytona. Magnussen, driving with Antonio Garcia and Mike Rockenfeller, used that to his advantage to take the GTLM pole in last year’s Rolex 24 qualifying.
Gavin, who will team with Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler, set the No. 4 Corvette’s best lap during the qualifying session at 1:43.193 (124.188 mph). It was more indicative of the single-car pace of the Corvette around Daytona.
Apart from qualifying, Corvette Racing spent Friday through Sunday working through a variety of setup and Michelin tire options for the Rolex 24. Practice time will be limited during the week of the race, which heightens the importance of data-gathering for Corvette Racing engineers.
The best-possible result in the Rolex 24 will springboard Corvette Racing’s challenge for a fourth consecutive GTLM Driver’s Championship and 13th IMSA Manufacturer’s Championship in the class.
Corvette Racing will be back at Daytona International Speedway for the 57tth Rolex 24 At Daytona on January 24-27.
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – QUICKEST IN GTLM QUALIFYING
HOW WOULD YOU GAUGE HOW THE WEEKEND HAS GONE?“We didn’t have a lot of new stuff to try out this year. We have a new tire from Michelin that we needed to get our heads around; we had some experience with it beforehand but here is where it matters. We did a good job developing the setup of our Corvette to suit the tire.”
TALK ABOUT THE LAP IN QUALIFYING.“We did exactly the same as we did last year where we agreed who was going to tow who. It was me again like in race qualifying last year. That gave us a good top-speed advantage in that session. Olly (Gavin) did a fantastic job placing himself at the right distance out of Turn Six so I could take full advantage of the tow down to the Bus Stop and then go by him at start/finish to get the fastest lap. We did the exact same thing at the Roar and the race last year, so I don’t really know why everyone else is doing the exact same thing. But it seems we’re the only one doing it at the moment, and it’s working out really well for us.”
WHAT DOES THIS DO FOR YOUR CONFIDENCE GOING INTO THE ROLEX 24?“The time today was a little artificial because of the towing we did, but we did want to try and win the session. We had one car at the front and one at the back. The difference between our cars is the difference the tow makes. We have some work to do in order to be competitive over the full race. I’m confident the guys at Corvette Racing and Michelin will give us the best chance to win the race.”
WHAT ARE YOUR CHANCES OF GOING FOR FOUR DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIPS IN A ROW FOR CORVETTE RACING?“What did for us last year was that we do work as a team. All the drivers here are to make Corvette Racing win races. That means we do work together. Very often the focus is put on one car. It’s not always the same car. If we work as a team like we did last year, then I’m sure we’ll have a great shot at getting another championship for Corvette Racing.”
WHAT CAN YOU DO BETWEEN NOW THE RACE TO MAKE SURE THE CAR IS AS FAST OR FASTER THAN TODAY?“We’ll do another session in the Chevrolet simulator, and I believe we’ll work through the program we ran here to make sure everything we do in the simulator is relevant. There’s a ton of data for the engineers to go through and fine-tune our setup. All of the drivers will hand in reports on their experiences with the different setups and the changes we think need to be done. Then it’ll be up to the engineers to come up with a good plan. We’ll have a little bit of testing at the race so we can try some different things. But we need to arrive back here with a car that’s ready for qualifying and for the race.”
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:“In the last couple of sessions, we were able to dial in and find something that we should be relatively comfortable with in our Corvette. We set up qualifying to get the best possible outcome for one car. Jan and I talked beforehand how we were going to do it, and we executed it really well. We knew at what lap the tire was going to be at its best. I was really mindful of where I was in positioning so Jan could come off the Bus Stop and get a really good run. It all works and came together from a good plan. It’s nice having the team work together and carrying on in the same vein as last year. It’s a great result for all of Corvette Racing.”
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:“It’s very difficult to gauge after this weekend where everyone will be come Saturday of the race. We’ve done all we needed to do and ran through our testing plans. There’s not a ton on our Corvettes that we can try that is different. Everyone got good time in the car, which is great. The one area we needed to focus on most are the new Michelin tires, and know we have an idea of what to expect. We’ll analyze all we’ve done during these three days to come back as fast and as reliable as possible. If that’s enough then great. If not then we’ve done our best to perform at 100 percent.”
MIKE ROCKENFELLER, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R:“Overall we had a solid time at the Roar. We didn’t change a lot of things because we know the car inside and out, plus we know the track very well, too. We ran through a couple of small adjustments and tried to get me some seat time for me. I hadn’t driven the car since Le Mans last June. I really enjoyed my time back with Corvette Racing. The weather and conditions were great except for Friday night’s rain. Hopefully it stays like this for the race.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “Coming here for the Roar gives us an opportunity to try a lot of things we won’t have time to try come race week. So it’s a good thing to run through all those setup options. It’s still tough to get a lot of running here even though it’s three days; we’ve had a lot of red flags and relatively short sessions. It was good to get some final laps in the afternoon session. We’ve been here many years now with the C7.R and we have a handle on what it takes to go fast here. There are always things to try and to learn. We’ll put all that information to make our best effort come the Rolex 24.”
MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “It’s been important for me to get back in the Corvette to get some rhythm and get back in a racing mindset for the race. It was important to do as many laps as possible, and it was really quality time spent in the car. So I’m happy on the performance side. We’ve tested a few things this weekend looking ahead to the race. I’m happy from the weekend. We’re all looking forward with some positive thoughts and are all motivated for the race.”
A couple of interesting notes to come out of the weekend.
1 - It seems to be getting more concrete that this is the last year for the Ford factory effort in GTLM. In the past they discussed they might be open to customer cars after the factory, just not sure any private team wants to run in GTM. Its hard to go play against the factory backed efforts with the current budgets. Hopefully they get a private team, or another manufacturer, because dropping to 3 makes/6 cars definitely takes some of the fun out of it. (Come on down Aston Martin)
2 - As many predicted, the GTD times have picked up quite a bit on the Michelins. They are going to be difficult to pass (they have been previously as they have ABS and are hard to out brake, but its worse now). So there are some discussions on how to separate the classes a bit. According to an Sportscar 365 article, they can't speed up GTLM . An IMSA official stated " “We have physical limitations for performance windows on speeding up the GTLM [cars] as some of them can’t go any lighter [in weight] and some of them can’t take any more power. " I'm not totally surprised we are stuck at weight for a few cars (not sure which, but Corvette and BMW immediately come to mind) as they are built to be safe at the series spec weight, so going lighter might' not always be easy, but the power thing surprises me. Unless Ferrari, Ford or BMW have reliability concerns, it seems like they should be able to get a boost increase and not worry about it. The BMW has had a bunch of boost increases, so it is possible it isgetting closer to not handling more, but i doubt that. We know the Ford and Ferrari can take at least a little more boost as they had more previously. That leaves the NA cars of Corvette and Porsche. We know Corvette can take a little more power due to running a more favorable restrictor last year. Not sure if that was getting close to tapped out, and we can finally see the real "Aging" of the race car people have talked about. I'm guessing it might be more likely Porsche with its 4.0 liter NA six with its recent restrictor increase is maxed out in power.
A couple of interesting notes to come out of the weekend.
1 - It seems to be getting more concrete that this is the last year for the Ford factory effort in GTLM. In the past they discussed they might be open to customer cars after the factory, just not sure any private team wants to run in GTM. Its hard to go play against the factory backed efforts with the current budgets. Hopefully they get a private team, or another manufacturer, because dropping to 3 makes/6 cars definitely takes some of the fun out of it. (Come on down Aston Martin)
2 - As many predicted, the GTD times have picked up quite a bit on the Michelins. They are going to be difficult to pass (they have been previously as they have ABS and are hard to out brake, but its worse now). So there are some discussions on how to separate the classes a bit. According to an Sportscar 365 article, they can't speed up GTLM . An IMSA official stated " “We have physical limitations for performance windows on speeding up the GTLM [cars] as some of them can’t go any lighter [in weight] and some of them can’t take any more power. " I'm not totally surprised we are stuck at weight for a few cars (not sure which, but Corvette and BMW immediately come to mind) as they are built to be safe at the series spec weight, so going lighter might' not always be easy, but the power thing surprises me. Unless Ferrari, Ford or BMW have reliability concerns, it seems like they should be able to get a boost increase and not worry about it. The BMW has had a bunch of boost increases, so it is possible it isgetting closer to not handling more, but i doubt that. We know the Ford and Ferrari can take at least a little more boost as they had more previously. That leaves the NA cars of Corvette and Porsche. We know Corvette can take a little more power due to running a more favorable restrictor last year. Not sure if that was getting close to tapped out, and we can finally see the real "Aging" of the race car people have talked about. I'm guessing it might be more likely Porsche with its 4.0 liter NA six with its recent restrictor increase is maxed out in power.
I have also gathered/been feeling like this might really be Ford's last year with the GT from the factory. Would be great is Aston would come and play!
I would guess it is BMW that can't go any lighter. I thought I remember hearing through the grapevine that BMW was having trouble getting down to the current 1220 kg they are at now. After the roar last year they got a big BOP break and also again after the 24 for Sebring. I don't remember which one they got a big weight break from but it was at that time I think I remember hearing chatter about BMW having to work to get to the weight.
I would also guess it is Porsche that is at the limit for HP. I am sure like you said the boost can jus be turned up on the turbo cars, and the Ferrari and Ford have had more boost than the current 24 BOP. Corvette has ran with a bigger restrictor before and my contact on the team said it was about a 12-15 hp bump when they had the bigger restrictor. I will check with my guy and see what he has to say.
01-05-2019, 04:23 PM
