Corvette Racing’s No. 63 entry remained among the lead six cars in a hotly contested GTE Pro category as the 24 Hours of Le Mans entered its second half.
Antonio Garcia had just gotten back in the No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R prior to the 12-hour mark as the team’s highest-running entry continued to press its attack on the Circuit de la Sarthe and the rest of the 17-car GTE Pro field.
Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller were on the cusp of the led lap into Hour 13 as Le Mans began to claim a handful of contenders in the dark of night. The Corvette was on the brink of the top-five and less than a minute for fourth place in what has been the toughest GTE Pro fight the team has faced.
Adversity didn’t lessen the fight for the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler. The trio had worked their way back up to 15th position from last in the class after an early-race suspension issue. Aside from losing four laps to that malady and another extended stop to replace the engine floor, the No. 64 Corvette had an otherwise smooth run into the race’s second half.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “There was no mystery or anything that went wrong this time. We don’t run this tire except here at Le Mans, so we’re learning. Jan and Rocky did a good job of managing the tires on their stints. Things are working really good. My last two stints were brilliant. The car is behaving really good. It looks like the cooler it gets, maybe our car is really, really good. I was able to pass both the Fords and the lead Ferrari. It’s a tight race and none of the front-runners have made mistakes. But as you know, there is a long way to go.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “The good thing is that the car is fast enough and has good pace. I was quicker than the 69 Ford and just as quick as the 52 Ferrari. So the pace is there. We’re just a bit too far behind. For sure it makes it a little more fun to drive the car when you’re competitive, but it is disappointing when we are so far back.”
MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “On my outlap in the first stint I got pushed wide by an LMP car and was forced to run through the marbles, which meant the tIres took forever to get to the right pressure. Then when the sun went down the pressures dropped again. But other than that the car works well. After the safety car period I ran with the group of cars Mike (Rockenfeller) was in and could follow them quite easily. Of course, being lapped means you can’t really fight with them (because of being shown the blue flags), but the pace is there. If only we hadn’t had these issues in the beginning of the race…”
Source. Corvette Racing
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