Corvette Racing Wins at VIR!

Garcia and Taylor Earn Third Win for Corvette Racing at the Virginia International Raceway!

On Saturday, August 22, 2020, Corvette Racing earned their third win at the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor piloted the No. 3 Mobil 1/Sirium XM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to victory in the Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway (VIR). This victory follows their earlier win at Road America just three weeks ago, making this their second win in a row, their third win of the season and the fourth consecutive win for Corvette Racing – the first time the team has accomplished this level of successive wins since 2014!  The win at VIR extends Garcia and Taylor’s points lead in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) Driver’s Championship to 19 – 165-146 – over the defending GTLM champions Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor of the No. 912 Porsche 911.  It also increased Chevrolet’s points lead in the Manufacturer’s standings.

Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner placed fourth in their No. 4 Mobil1/SiriusXM Chevrolet C8.R.  Despite missing a podium finish this round, their results were good enough to keep the No. 4 team third in GTLM points as they head to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in two weeks.

Although Garcia and Taylor are now on one of the hottest winning streaks that the team has experienced in years, their win at VIR was anything but assured.  Much like the race at Road America, the duo gained track position as a result of late-race misfortune for the race leader.  This time, however, the team also had to overcome their own obstacles in the final 20 minutes of the race.

Jordan Taylor started the race in fifth place but was able to work his way up to second within the first 30 minutes of the race before making his first pit stop at the 30-minute mark.  An unfortunate error in pitlane sent the No. 3 Corvette back to fifth position.  However, Jordan’s determination and strong driving (along with some bad luck for his fellow competitors) allowed Taylor to push the No. 3 Corvette to take the lead in GTLM class in short order.  One of those “unfortunate competitors” was the No. 4 Corvette, which went off-track shortly after a race restart when Gavin picked up debris on his tires prior to the race’s third (and final) restart after a full-course caution just one hour into the race.  Despite his efforts to clear the front of the car from the collected debris, Gavin lost control of the Corvette at the final corner before the pits, sending the car onto the grass across from the pitlane entry.