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2017 Watkins Glen 6hr: Results
2017 Watkins Glen 6hr: Results
July 07 2017 11:03:58 AM ESTTeam Chevy
This was the perfect example of Corvette Racing. They were never the fastest cars, but they ran their own race with good strategy and no mistakes and found themselves on the podium at the end.

The only BoP change going into WGI was the Ford's refueling restrictor, due to a supplier change.

The the cars were fast, but team struggled with setup all weekend, and could never quite keep up with the front of the GTLM field. In endurance racing, the term "survival of the fittest" always applies. The fastest car is rarely victorious.

BMW seemed to have their act together and took pole and the first race win for the M6 in it's final year. Following a pair of tire punctures, they got a lucky break with a safety car allowing them to get back to the front as everyone else made their pit stops. That's how it goes sometimes.

VIDEO: 2017 WGI Qualifying
VIDEO: 2017 WGI Race Broadcast

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:
WATKINS GLEN, New York (July 2, 2017) – Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen placed third in the GT Le Mans class at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on Sunday – a nice boost in their run for the GTLM Driver’s Championship. The duo in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R extended their points lead, and Chevrolet maintained its lead in GTLM Manufacturer’s points.

Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner, driving the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, finished fifth in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s annual trip to Watkins Glen International. The team had hopes of scoring a second victory in four tries at the historic New York road course.

Garcia, Magnussen and the rest of the No. 3 Corvette squad clawed back from an early spin to contend for Corvette Racing’s fourth consecutive win in GTLM competition. Garcia and Magnussen steadily worked their way back up the class order and took the lead for the first time with less than two hours to go. The No. 3 Corvette led twice despite lacking the outright pace of the other GTLM runners.

Nevertheless, Garcia and Magnussen were in position to sneak away with another victory before the last of five full-course caution periods with 35 minutes remaining.

Gavin and Milner led in the No. 4 Corvette at the midway point and gave Corvette Racing a pair of top-five finishes. More importantly, the No. 4 team led at the three-hour mark to claim maximum points in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup – a competition in the WeatherTech Championship’s four long-distance races.

There is little time to rest as the Corvette Racing squad now heads to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park to finish off a back-to-back run following last month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. The Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix at CTMP is set for 12:05 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 9. FOX Sports 1 will air the race live starting at noon with live audio coverage from IMSA Radio and a Corvette Racing In-Car feed available on IMSA.com.

ANTONIO GARCIA:
"This was another classic Corvette race. We were kind of struggling the whole race… a little bit like qualifying – very close on pace but very far in position. At the end, things paid off. I had a big mistake in the beginning which put us all the way in the back but that let us try a few things toward the end that paid off. We got a few things out of our mind so we could focus on the last four hours to get ready for that.

“The strategy was good. Tire changes… everything was perfect. I think the strategy was pretty decent – running super-deep into the fuel windows… we had a little bit better tires at the end than our competitors but at the end I could barely match everybody’s pace. Last year we struggled here, so hopefully that was a one-off and we are in better shape for Canadian Tire Motorsport Park next weekend."

JAN MAGNUSSEN:
“After qualifying and after the start of the race, for sure, to come away with third place…it is fantastic for the championship. It was a great job by the whole team and a fantastic drive by Antonio. After a day like this, we have to look at the minimum damage to the championship, and I think we gained a little bit, so not bad!”

"We weren’t quite fast enough. We’re not that far off but we are lacking just that little bit. The Corvette was nice and consistent. My stint was very tough and long. The goal was to stay out of trouble and see if anything happened at the end where we could take advantage."

OLIVER GAVIN:
"We struggled for pace all day. The car never really wanted to turn very well with a lot of understeer. We’ve been battling that all day. We made a change to see if we could fix it; it helped some but still had to fight with it. We seem to kill the front tire very quickly. The longer the race went, it seemed like the more the understeer built. It’s just very frustrating. We haven’t had great balance today unfortunately."

TOMMY MILNER:
"It was just a long six hours. We were lacking a little bit of pace really all weekend. We had a pretty clean race although I had trouble with an amateur in a PC car that didn’t know how to enter the pits properly. That might have cost us a little bit, but it wasn’t that bad ultimately. A lot of our competitors were super quick and we were lacking just a bit. I don’t think we are massively far off, but when the race goes green as much as it did – and this class being so competitive – a tenth of a second a lap makes a difference. It wasn’t our day today for sure.”

DOUG FEHAN:
"Today’s race was not unlike our other races in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. We didn’t have the pace but we found a way to score a good result. We’ve never been the fastest car – most times we have had one of the slowest cars – but were it not for a late-race yellow we had victory in our grasp. That’s due to great pit stops, tremendous engineering strategy and the drivers continuing to deliver premium performances. That’s what Corvette Racing is about, and that’s why we continue to lead the GTLM championship."