Not already registered?
Register here.

2018 Long Beach: Results
2018 Long Beach: Results
April 19 2018 01:50:12 PM ESTJan Magnussen PR
My Corvette Life: Long Beach Grand Prix - Day 1 (Friday)
My Corvette Life: Long Beach Grand Prix - Day 2 (Saturday)


Returning after the bizarre finish of 2017, Corvette Racing looked to build on the dynasty of success at the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Qualifying was close. The top 6 cars were covered by 0.6 seconds, with Ford and Porsche at the front of the field. The only balance of performance adjustments were made to the BMW, which proved to slow them down considerably from their pace at Sebring.

Race day proved once again why Corvette Racing are the best in the business. The GTLM class was nose to tail like a 150mph convoy nearly the entire race. One of the BMW made an early pit stop in hopes of a caution would put them to the front. That strategy paid off. As the rest of the field pt under caution, the Corvettes made up several positions with a quicker pit stop, putting the #3 in 2nd place and the #4 in 4th. At the restart however, the #3 driven by Antonio Garcia had an issue getting the car into gear coming out of the hairpin, pushing them back to 8th in class.

The leading BMW, struggling to keep pace with the trailing freight train of GTLM contenders ended up running wide and into a concrete barrier, giving way to everyone else.

It was a battle of Porsche vs Corvette for the final 30 minutes. Near the end, the Porsche had a catastrophic suspension failure, allowing the #4 Corvette to take the lead and ultimately the race victory. The #3 Corvette fought back to a strong 4th place finish just a few seconds behind.

This marks Oliver Gavin's 50th victory with Corvette Racing, and the team's 107th win.

VIDEO: 2018 Long Beach Qualifying
VIDEO: 2018 Long Beach Race

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:
LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 14, 2018) – Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner raced their way to back-to-back victories in southern California by claiming the Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix of Long Beach for the second year in a row. The duo won by 2.157 seconds in their No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.

It was the 107th class victory all-time for Corvette Racing and the first of its 20th season of competition. The team also won for the 16th time in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) class.

“This team just does not give up,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. ” While we didn’t have the ideal starting position, Olly and Tommy took advantage of every opportunity on track and the crew executed in the pits. Congratulations to the No. 4 Corvette team for back-to-back wins at Long Beach.”

Gavin also won for the 50th time with Corvette Racing – the most of any driver in program history. He now has five victories at Long Beach…three of them with Milner.

Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen finished fourth in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R in what ended up being a comeback drive for Garcia. A mechanical issue dropped him from second to eighth on a restart with 52 minutes left.

Gavin started the race fifth and drove the first 40 minutes before handing off to Milner during a full-course caution period. The No. 4 Corvette crew leap-frogged the No. 66 Ford in the pitlane, and Milner joined third among GTLM cars that stopped during the yellow.

The first car in class out of the pitlane was the No. 3 Corvette, which gained two spots on the stop. Magnussen started fourth and moved to third on the opening lap. Things looked to be going the way of the No. 3 Corvette until it didn’t go in gear on the restart. Once Garcia got under way, he went from eighth to fourth in the span of 36 minutes. He ended less than two seconds from a podium position.

Meanwhile, Milner went from third to second with 37 minutes left and took the lead for good 15 minutes later. It was a much more conventional victory than a year ago when he and Gavin won after the track became blocked in the final corner, and he got around the stuck No. 3 Corvette.

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – GTLM RACE-WINNER: “Amazing the way that all came around. Yes we had a little bit of luck, but Tommy had to drive brilliantly at the end there and stay out of trouble. There were a number of incidents there. Man, we could have gotten taken out. We could have gotten in the wall. Tommy just navigated. We had a great pit stop. The guys did an amazing job at the stop. We jumped a number of people and put us in position there we we could challenge for that victory. And we got it! That is our first win in season No. 20 for Corvette Racing. And it is my 50th victory with the team. That is pretty amazing. I am just thrilled.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – GTLM RACE-WINNER: “There is something about Long Beach. Something about having magic here. I don’t know what it is. We had it today. We had it last year. Whatever it is, I want to keep it. Really tough race today. The track was really, really tough with the marbles off-line. Super difficult. I almost threw it away on the last corner, last lap. Really, really tough conditions. But, Corvette was great. Michelins were great. They were super strong right to the end. Just had that little bit of magic, little bit of luck and that’s all we needed today!”

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – FOURTH IN GTLM: “Another year and it happened again at the Hairpin. It’s a shame. We were having a little bit of a difficult week because we weren’t as strong as we have been in the past. But you never know here. Jan did a great job in qualifying and in his stint. The pit stop was incredible to get us out first. The only car in front of us didn’t pit so I thought the race was done. But things happen. I happened to Jan on the recon lap, and for no reason it happened again when I went back to power on the restart. You feel very helpless…I hit every button inside the car, and it took forever to get back in gear. From that point, I knew the race was gone but I had to carry on. Things were super slippery with a lot of marbles and pickup. I tried to pressure people and they kept making mistakes. We made up some good positions. It was shame I couldn’t get on the podium because I thought I had more pace than the Fords. At the end of the day, Corvette Racing won this race. It’s good for the Manufacturer’s title. Olly and Tommy deserve this win. It’s just a shame we couldn’t make it a 1-2 but that’s Long Beach.”