2021 IMSA Petit Le Mans ends with a bang
words & pics by Dave Ferguson
Corvette’s storied history in IMSA’s GTLM class ended with a bang (actually two bangs) at the Motul Petit Le Mans.
The 2021 season closed out on Saturday November 13 witnessed by a sizable crowd on a sunny but blustery day ending 10 hours later in darkness at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Jordan Taylor in the # 3 C8.R Corvette was the victim of an unfortunate accident about 4 hours into the race. Going to green after a lengthy yellow, Taylor was flat on the gas coming over the crest down the hill into turn 10 and got caught out by a bunch of cars ahead that had checked up. Taylor slammed into the back of a car at 110 mph that took him and 4 others out of the race.
Witnessed in car: https://twitter.com/i/status/1459884963512344580
Recorded on broadcast TV: https://twitter.com/i/status/1459631597125308421
From a fan: https://youtu.be/FGURM4fTPcc
Nick Tandy in the # 4 C8.R Corvette got shoved off while dicing for a podium spot near the end. He was none too pleased to say the least.
Tandy became collateral damage as Harry Ticknell staved off Pipo Durani in the # 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPI; and held on to win the race in a final outing of the # 55 Mazda DPI.
Garcia and Taylor had already won enough points for the 2021 GTLM championship followed by Tommy Milner and Tandy. It was the 5th championship for Corvette drivers in the 8 years of the series, yet for all its successes the Corvette has never won at the Petit.
Two Porsche 911 RSR entries, two BMW M8 GTE entries and the two Corvettes were closely matched with Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet and Cooper MacNeil in the # 79 Porsche prevailing at the checkered flag.
Wayne Taylor Racing has always been a family affair. As the press conference was coming to a close, Jordan Taylor brought up the importance of family in his life and career. Despite (or perhaps because of) suffering his first big accident, he wanted to make sure his family knew that he was OK. After getting out of his wrecked car and before getting into the emergency vehicle he waited for his brother Ricky to drive past the accident site and gave him a thumbs up which he knew would be relayed to his dad Wayne. It was an honest and refreshing moment reminding us that racing is a high-risk sport and while not forefront in our minds, something bad can always happen.
Garcia and Taylor expressed disappointment with the result, but were pleased to win the championship and are looking forward to next year when they will race a C8 GT3R against a larger field in the newly formed GTD-Pro class.
