Across the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule, no track may be as revered as Road America. That is especially true for everyone at Corvette Racing, which will attempt for another victory this weekend at “America’s National Park of Speed”.
Sunday’s IMSA Road Race Showcase will mark Corvette Racing’s 13th appearance at Road America with seven wins and a like number of pole positions since 2002. The team will look to improve – albeit slightly – on last year’s double-podium finish in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class.
The biggest item for Corvette Racing is the return of Tommy Milner to the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R alongside Oliver Gavin. Milner suffered an injury to his left hand during an opening-lap crash at Watkins Glen, forcing him to miss the two most recent rounds at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Lime Rock Park as Marcel Fässler subbed in the No. 4 Corvette.
With the full-season lineup restored, Corvette Racing can press on for a second-straight, double-podium finish and a chase for its fourth consecutive GTLM Drivers Championship. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen, in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette, stand third in GTLM points heading to Road America in their attempt for a championship three-peat.
They were third last year at Road America to their No. 4 teammates. A victory Sunday would not only help their championship cause, but it would be their first Road America win together since becoming teammates in 2012.
Besides placing second in class a year ago, Gavin and Milner scored Corvette Racing’s most recent Road America triumph in 2016. It was an epic finish that saw Milner go from fifth to first in the final 15 minutes and winning on the final lap.
A solid points haul Sunday would be one of many highlights for the program. Garcia and Milner are set to make their 100th career starts with Corvette Racing this weekend, a month following Magnussen’s 150th career team start at Watkins Glen.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “I love Road America, and I think every driver does. It has every single kind of corner you can find. What I like most is the old-school style – super-fast but no place to make a mistake. Car setup and tire degradation will be keys there. If you can make your car work there from the start, you have most of the race in your favor. You not only need to be fast there but consistent. If the car is working well, you really enjoy it. If it doesn’t then it can be a nightmare! Last year we came really close to victory, so let’s hope we can be there again.”
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “I think every driver enjoys Road America. If not then I question their career choice! In all seriousness, Road America is a super-fun experience, especially when you have a good car like we usually do with Corvette Racing. There’s a lot of speed, a lot of hard braking and great flow around the track. If we raced multiple times each year in Elkhart Lake, I wouldn’t complain. We tested for Le Mans here in May and all of us have looked forward to coming back. Both Corvettes were on the podium last year in GTLM. Our goal is to have one on the top step. It would be great if it were me and Antonio to make up ground in the championship.”
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “I genuinely think Road America is one of the great tracks in the world at which we can race. Everyone at Corvette Racing gets a thrill of being there as it’s not too far from our shop. Our Corvette is fast and good, so we hopefully will be in a good spot to go there. There are so many things that can happen in a race at Road America. It can turn on a knife edge there, as it did for us in 2016. It should be another good race.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R: “I get really excited to go to Road America each year. It’s one of those classic, old-school circuits on our schedule. We’re super-lucky in IMSA to have such cool tracks to go to. These circuits are what every driver wants in a race track. The long straights, the big brake zones and the challenge of the circuit… it promotes great competition especially in multi-class sports car racing. I hesitate to say we’re spoiled or we take them for granted but the Europeans who come over always talk when they come over about how super these tracks are, and they are that good.”
Source. Corvette Racing
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