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| 2014 Road America: Results | |
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|  | | August 12 2014 10:21:44 AM EST | |
| Round 8 for the Tudor Championship brought us to Elkheart Lake, Wisconsin - Road America.This was the site of the very first C7.R test nearly a year ago.
Porsche was given some BoP favors before Indianapolis but were unable to make the changes in time for the Indy race. After Indy a revised bulletin was issued. Apparently their was a typo on the original and the Porsche was actually allowed an even bigger front splitter then previously posted. All 3 GTLM Porsches had all of the updates at Road America.
The pre-Indy BoP adjustments have obviously hindered Corvette Racing. This is the 2nd race in a row both cars have qualified on the bottom half of the GTLM field. This time, the #4 (driven by Oliver Gavin) out qualified the #4 (driven by Jan Magnussen), but the team could only manage P6 & P8.
QUALIFYING QUOTES:
Magnussen - "Qualifying was difficult. Obviously eighth place in qualifying is not where we like to be, and it's no fault of the efforts of the team. Fortunately, we traditionally have been very good for the races and over long runs, no matter our qualifying positions. That has been the focus of our practice sessions this weekend. Hopefully it will make a difference in the outcome tomorrow."
Gavin - "We have focused quite hard on getting a good race car here. For a longer run we are in pretty good shape from what we can see from practice so far. I feel reasonably confident that we're going to be getting better as the race goes on. I felt as I was qualifying the car was coming, coming and coming, and I felt like the next lap was going to be a bit better. That is a promising sign for the race. In practice we had the same thing. So I'm quietly confident that we are going to get the maximum out of our car here for our team this weekend. It is going to be tough - very, very tough. You just look at the gap between us and the cars on the front row and it is pretty substantial. I remember here a couple of years ago when there was a two-tenths split between the first seven cars. Now we are in the position where there is a second split between the top six or more which is kind of disappointing and frustrating. It is what it is, and we can only work with what we've got. I think that Chuck (Houghton, Corvette Racing engineering manager) and all the guys on the No. 4 car have maximized that over the weekend, and we have made good use of our time on track. We haven't been hit by too many problems or issues, so I feel that we are a ready as we can be for the race."
On race day, the team also struggled with pace, posting the 7th and 8th quickest lap times in class. They also struggled with with execution, seeing Tommy Milner run the red light at pit exit causing a stop +60 second penalty. The #3 also had an unscheduled pit stop with a cut tire.
Caution after caution, debris and wrecked cars were all over the track. Pit lane was like rush hour traffic. Overall....this race was a mess, and if you were trying to follow it on the tape delayed/commercial infested TV broadcast then it was even worse. Corvette Racing finished 6th and 7th.
RACE QUOTES:
Garcia - "It was quite a nightmare out there. The debris puncture on our tire put us out of sequence; we were already out of sequence a little bit. I found myself trying to defend even on new tires. The car was good but we were getting hammered out there."
Magnussen - "It was a very hectic and crazy race. We tried a gamble early by taking two tires. The second caution coming out soon after that hurt our chances, along with a piece of debris puncturing one of our tires. We scored the maximum amount of points that we could today, which was the goal. We will turn our focus to VIR now and hopefully be in better position to fight for a win and podium."
Gavin - "It was another day that kind of summarizes our year. The call for two tires early was a good one but unfortunately the penalty pushed us back down the order. My stint started well and I could run pretty good lap times and stay with the cars directly in front of me. The incident with one of the Vipers ruined any chance we had for a good result. It's a shame as the team did a fantastic job getting us up to fifth. But we will regroup and be ready for VIR and hope for a repeat of our 2012 victory."
Milner - "It was a pretty rough couple of laps at the start. Both the driver's side and passenger's side and the rear bumper and front bumper all had contact. In some places, I was trying to make room for myself around people who didn't want to give me room. It's how the racing is, trying to get around PC cars. The car wasn't bad."
VIDEO: Road America Qualifying
VIDEO: Race Broadcast
The next round is at VIR, Sunday August 24th. This is a GTLM/GTD only race. |
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