Corvette Racing returned to victory lane at Laguna Seca with a well worked win in the American Le Mans Series for Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia. The victory marked the first ALMS win for the duo since 2011.
Garcia qualified the #3 Corvette in 6th place for the race, while team-mate Oliver Gavin took the #4 machine to fourth on the grid. The race was not as successful for the crew of the #4 car, however, as they made contact with another car on the opening lap, although suffered no damage.
The race was all but over for the #4 team after the first round of pit stops, as a gearbox issue meant Gavin was stuck in sixth gear, while the #3 machine powered its way to the top of the field. The repair time on the gearbox cost the team five laps, falling to the rear of the GT field before coming home to finish in the top ten.
As the race progressed, lightning pit work from the Corvette Racing team meant they spent four seconds less on pit road than their closest rivals, something which proved to be a decisive factor in an intensely close battle for the GT podium.
“I have to say, today was one of the most perfect races we’ve had with Corvette Racing,” said Magnussen. “We were under pressure the whole way. We never had a big lead, we really had to work through traffic and not get stopped by the slower cars and lose too much time. It was a matter of being precise the whole race. The pit crew made perfect stops. We didn’t have any issues in the pits. We did the driver change during only a short fuel, so there wasn’t a lot of time to make it. I am so happy we finally get a win over a year and a half. With this one, if you can’t win driving like this, you can’t win. It is a lot of pressure, but we have a great crew behind us the whole time.
“I knew right away we had a good car, but immediately in my mind I didn’t think we would win it because we have been in that situation many times last year where we had a good car, and a good situation going, but didn’t get the win. So this race was just a really tough race because we were under pressure the entire time and there was no room for any mistakes in the pits or on track and the whole team just performed fantastic.”