Corvette C8.R notches ALMS/IMSA GTLM win number 100
Jordan Taylor/Antonio Garcia and the # 3 car team won on the 4th of July 2020 in the newly added IMSA 240 at Daytona.
IMSA recently boosted the Balance of Performance (BOP) for the C8.R Corvette.
The entire 6 car GTLM field qualified within a half-second and each lead the caution-free 2 hour and 40-minute race at one time or another.
The Pratt & Miller boys opted for 2 (vs 3) pit-stops in a bid to win by saving fuel.
The cars rolled off 50 minutes late at 6:50 pm because of lightning in the area.
Rain was tapering off so both Corvettes started on slicks hoping to go all out on the longer oval section as the wet infield portion dried out.
Front-row qualifiers Oliver Gavin in # 4 & Jordan Taylor in the # 3 quickly gave up their lead.
As the race progressed, Garcia now in the yellow # 3 twice squeezed in an extra lap before re-fueling to hold off Earl Bamber’s # 912 Porsche RSR in the run for the checkered flag.
While Tommy Milner in the silver # 4 car had to conserve fuel dropping from 3rd to 5th at the end.
The IMSA 240 began in daylight and ended in the dark, giving 5,000 Florida residents cordoned in the grandstand overlooking turn 1 a taste of the Daytona Rolex 24 in January before the 150 day shut-down.
This win was a long time coming after Gavin and Milner prevailed at Long Beach in April 2018.
Pratt & Miller’s re-shuffled crew consists of Grant Weaver (ex-Ganassi) as crew chief for car # 3 and head of operations replacing the retired Dan Binks, while John Lankes takes over the role of race engineer Kyle Millay promoted to chief engineer.
Next up is the newly added Sebring 240 on July 11 with the postponed traditional 12 hours of Sebring closing out the season on Dec 4.
Results collated by Wayne Ellwood
Photo credit Richard Prince courtesy of GM
As the race progressed, Garcia now in the yellow # 3 twice squeezed in an extra lap before re-fueling to hold off Earl Bamber’s # 912 Porsche RSR in the run for the checkered flag.