This year, Chevrolet’s Corvette Racing team will race with two C8.Rs. One will be in the FIA World Endurance Championship series, and the other will be in the IMSA series based in the United States. The No. 3 Corvette C8.R raced in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January and the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring race in March, the two largest IMSA races in 2023. The No. 3 Corvette C8.R’s shortest race was in Long Beach, California, on April 15. Corvette only raced in the 100-minute Grand Prix of Long Beach this year. From South Florida to Southern California After the C8R did well in the first two races of 2023, at Daytona and Sebring, the team was confident going into Long Beach. The No. 3 Corvette was driven by Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor, and Tommy Milner, who put it in second place at Daytona. They were in first place for the whole race at Sebring until other cars crashed into them late and took them out. So, they ended up in fifth place. From 2007 to 2013, Corvette won four races in the American Le Mans Series. Since 2014, Corvette has won four races in the IMSA Weathertight Series at the famous Long Beach street track. Holdups in Traffic During Qualification During Friday’s two practice sessions, the team worked on preparing the car for qualifying and the race. During the 15-minute qualifying practice, Garcia had trouble reaching his top speed because two other drivers spun out before him. This put him in fourth place in the GTD Pro class. This was especially bad because passing is intricate on the 1.968-mile track with 11 turns because it is tight and windy. In the Pits, There’s Hope Due to a crash between two prototypes on the first lap, the yellow flag was out of the race’s first 10 minutes. Once the action started, Garcia could make up ground and move into third. The always-fast Spaniard was in third place until 40 minutes in when he pulled into pit lane. The pit stop for the No. 9 Pfaff Porsche was in second place and took almost three seconds longer than the Corvette team’s stop, which was perfect. Thanks to the lightning-fast finish, Jordan Taylor could catch up to the Porsche and pass it in less than a second. After some nerve-wracking racing side by side on the tight and dangerous track, Taylor made a brave move going into turn six to take second place. Yellow is the last color. Taylor pushed his C8.R to the limit to keep up with the Porsche. This was hard to do because slower GTD traffic and faster prototype traffic were all around them. The race ended with a full-course caution, which made it hard for Porsche to get back into second place before the race finished. Given how short the race was and how hard it was to pass on the winding streets of Long Beach, the team was pleased that Corvette came in second and earned important title points.
