CORVETTE WINS GTLM at Daytona
Antonio Garcia took the pole - winning # 3 car to victory the GTLM class holding off a hard charging BMW Z4 that had closed in after a caution flag nearing the end of the 24 hr race! Jan Magnussen and Ryan Briscoe shared the winning car under the redoubtable crew chief Dan Binks. The # 4 Corvette might have contended as well had Tommy Milner not hit a slower moving P Class car with 4 hours to go. The team still managed a respectable 3rd in GTLM after going down 5 laps for repairs. The 12 Hours of Sebring is next.
In the Daytona Prototype class, the Wayne Taylor team's # 10 DP quest for the overall win faded in the final hour, outraced by Ganassi's # 02 Ford turbo 6 eco-boost. To make matters worse, the team missed a driver change, breaking a rule and had to pit, dropping them to 3rd. Action Express # 5 moved up to 2nd at the end.
Corvette Race Results compiled by Wayne Ellwood - link
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I_EOtE-Cnc8WJU4UHJVLeiBHofmcmTJNbd2nai6XYNg/edit?usp=sharing
Let's also celebrate the Corvette Racing Team's first win at Daytona in 2001 with now legendary drivers Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell supported by Chris Kneifel and Franck Freon.
Preview
All the Corvette DP teams are racing new re-styled C7 cars. The Action Express (AXR) # 5 team is gunning for a repeat championship. The Whelen # 31 team moved from CT to NC, replacing the # 9 AXR, making this group stronger by running the full season. They also bring money and know-how. AXR Principals Elton Sawyer & Gary Nelson are ex NASCAR circle-track guys. Maybe that contributed to the reliability that led to 2014 USCR DP Champions for the regular schedule and the 4 endurance races.
DP Corvette driver lineups
# 5 Action Express – Joao Barboza, Christian Fittapaldi, Sebastian Bourdais
# 10 Wayne Taylor Racing – Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor, Max Angelelli
# 31 Whelen – Eric Curran, Dane Cameron, Max Papis
# 90 Spirit of Daytona – Richard Westbrook, Michael Valiente, Mike Rockenfeller
The Pratt & Miller Corvette Racing Team wants to avenge losing out to SRT Viper after a number of rules changes during the season that left many fans guessing up to the finale at Road Atlanta where a pit stop incident cost Antonio Garcia a shot to win.
GTLM Corvette driver lineups
# 3 Corvette Racing Team – Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia, Ryan Briscoe
# 4 Corvette Racing Team – Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, Simon Pagenaud
Final Results USCR Corvette 2014
Robin Miller interviews IMSA's Scott Atherton for 2015 seasonhttp://www.imsa.com/video/racer-imsa-president-scott-atherton-robin-miller-pri-2014