# 3 C8.R Corvette is fifth in frantic finish at 12 hours at Sebring
Starting from pole position thanks to Antonio Garcia, the Corvette Racing Team was poised to win the IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring on Saturday March 18. And celebrate in the wake of their amateur counterparts who won the WEC 1,000-mile race on the day before.
See the WEC race report here: https://rcrc.squarespace.com/keeping-track/2023/3/19/wec-at-sebring
There was a total of 54 entries among five separate classes in the IMSA series that spans the US with a visit in July to Mosport Park in Canada.
Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner in the # 3 C8.R controlled the GTD PRO race for the first eight hours.
The car handled perfect, like a drive in the park, enabling them to re-take the lead from ill-timed caution periods and the like.
Then Milner felt something go amiss. The left rear damper had collapsed, forcing a pit stop to replace it that sent the Corvette a lap down with four hours to go.
Taylor got back on the lead lap but was still two minutes behind before Garcia jumped in with two hours to go.
Yellow flags bunched up the field allowing him to get within eleven seconds and fifth behind the leader with an hour to go.
The final pit stop was quick and another caution flag got him as high as third with a half-hour to go.
Absorbing contact from Franck Perera (FRA) in the # 63 Lambo GT3 EVO2 and then from Davide Rigon (ITA) in the # 62 Ferrari 296 GT3 set the # 3 Corvette back to fifth at the end.
Patrick Pilet (FRA) in the Pfaff Racing # 9 Porsche 911 GT3R emerged as the winner.
As with the WEC hyper-cars, the IMSA GTP prototypes are the big deal. Jack Aitken in the # 31 Cadillac won over Nick Yelloly in the # 25 BMW after Filipe Albuquerque in the # 10 Acura, gunning for the win in turn 3 crashed into Matieu Jaminet in the # 6 Porsche 963.
The # 4 fuelie Corvette piloted by Dick Thompson and Gaston Andre won the GT-1 class in 1957. Corvettes have appeared in 51 consecutive years that make Sebring “the crucible of Corvette racing”.
Garcia and Taylor head for Long Beach on April 14-15 where the IMSA WeatherTech series holds a support race for the INDY Car feature on the way to closing out the GTD PRO class.
Story thanks to Mike Waal, photos thanks to Richard Prince, Nigel Dobbie, Rick Dole
