Jan Magnussen and Corvette Racing bring the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM class lead to one of their favorite venues this weekend – doing battle tomorrow at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Magnussen and teammate Antonio Garcia enter this weekend after a third place finish last weekend at Watkins Glen.
The result pushed out their championship lead by an extra point and they are hopeful of extending that further in tomorrow’s race.
Magnussen has six previous victories here in Canada—including his first ever sports car victory in 1999—and five wins with Corvette Racing. The most recent was 2014 when he triumphed with Garcia.
The duo was on pole here last year and had a strong race, finishing third.
In yesterday’s practice sessions, the No. 3 Corvette C7.R was sixth and fifth fastest in the two sessions. More importantly, the duo recorded a total of 61 laps as the team focused on race set up for tomorrow.
Sunday’s two hour, 40-minute race kicks off at 12:05pm
Q: How much do you enjoy coming here to Canada to race?
A: “I’ve had a lot of success here in the past and it is also the track when I scored my first ever sports car win with Johnny O’Connell. We actually went on to take another three wins together for Corvette as well.
“Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is one of those old school tracks which I really like. If you get things wrong, you can get in trouble. Get it right and it is so rewarding.
“This place has the fastest average speed of any track we go to and there is little time to rest before the straights here, which really aren’t even straight.”
Q: How important was your fightback at Watkins Glen?
A: “Last weekend was all down to teamwork. We really didn’t have the overall pace of the leaders but we just kept pushing as hard as we could.
“Park of the secret to success at Corvette Racing is the guys in the pits. Antonio and I get to stand on the podium but our guys play a critical role. They have been our secret weapon so many times and they just keep raising the bar.
“Consistency is going to be the key to hanging onto this championship lead.”
Q: How big a challenge is the competition in the GTLM class?
A: “It just keeps getting tougher. We’re leading the championship, Ford took the pole last weekend, BMW won the race and then Porsche came up and went fastest here yesterday.
“Each car is so different that you never know who is going to shine on any particular weekend.
“Nobody is going to be able to run away with this championship. It is going to be a huge fight all the way down the final laps at Petit Le Mans.”
Q: You must be thrilled with Kevin’s progress so far this weekend?
A: “He was really strong yesterday and seventh fastest again this morning. Haas seems to be really strong this weekend and hopefully that can carry that into the race.
“Qualifying didn’t go plan with a rear suspension failure but he is fired up to push hard tomorrow.
“It is going to be a busy morning for me tomorrow – keeping an eye on Kevin but also focusing on our race for Corvette Racing.”
Source. Paul Ryan Media
Comments
