Corvette C6.R #4 was driven to 5th in GT class by Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen - Photo Credit: Richard Prince/Corvette Racing Photo
Corvette Racing have qualifed eighth and ninth in class for the Petit Le Mans this weekend, despite an improvement of over a second from last year.
The two C6.R’s also set times that were under that of last years pole time, but both found themselves stuck in eighth and ninth places.
Jan Magnussen qualified the No.4 C6.R eighth with a fastest lap of 1.19.586, while Tommy Miller in the No.3 car set a time of 1.19.619.
“That was the absolute maximum, the fastest we’ve gone since we arrived, and it was good enough for eighth,” said Magnussen. “That’s not satisfying at all, but that’s what we’ve got. We gave it our best. The competition is very strong, and it’s going to be a long, hard race. I think we have a good race car, and in the areas where we need to race people, we’re strong.”
Magnussen turned his quickest time on his fourth flying lap around the 2.54-mile, 12-turn circuit. Milner completed three laps, then pitted for a suspension adjustment. He then posted his best time on his seventh lap.
“We’ve been really good all week long, just trying to make the car incrementally better,” Milner said. “We had some understeer that we wanted to dial out of the car, but in qualifying we went a little too far. I came in for a quick change, went back out, and set a decent time.
“The car felt really good, I could have improved a little, but this track is just so tough to get everything right,” Milner noted. “I’m not unhappy. We’re only a tenth of a second away from P5. We’ve had great race cars all year long, and I’m looking forward to a great race tomorrow.”
There will be 53 cars at the start of the Petit Le Mans and this is a worry for Magnussen.
“It’s going to be crowded,” he observed. “Up front there’s a vicious battle between the leading prototypes, and in our category there is a battle for second in the championship. There are many European teams that want to do well in the ILMC. It’s going to be wild.”
Engineering Director Doug Louthwas no satisfied with the performance of his cars, but proud of the team effort.
“We’re not happy with the Corvettes’ qualifying positions today, but we’re very proud of the team,” he said. “We left nothing on the table – both drivers said the cars were very good, the best they’ve had all week. The drivers and engineers have made great progress through the week. Today’s qualifying was all that we have right now with the regulations as they are.”
