The all new mid-engine # 3 Corvette C8.R completes the 2020 season at Sebring winning multiple GTLM titles in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Series
Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor (replacing Jan Magnussen) won five (5) times and finished second 2nd three (3) times clinching the drivers and team titles heading into the season’s final race. Simply by starting the 12-hour race, they bested BMW for the manufacturers title.
“The first season for the Corvette C8.R has shattered all of our expectations,” said Mark Reuss, GM president.
Taylor made a brilliant qualifying run and started from pole but the race itself was a letdown. Running third with about 2 hours to go, they lost 9 laps to repair a broken rear suspension and finished 5th.
Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin (capping off his 19-year full-time role with the Corvette Racing team) fared worse classified 6th falling many laps behind to repair a radiator leak. https://twitter.com/i/status/1327674371079630848 Then a similar suspension break and an off-course excursion in the darkness at the end. Twelve hours of pounding seem a bit too much for the C8.R so it’s back to the drawing board.
Porsche USA won Sebring and the previous race at Laguna Seca as it quit IMSA GTLM. (IMSA GTD is more attractive to Porsche and BMW privateers racing GT3 spec cars)
The Corvette collapse vaulted the Rahal Letterman BMW into second in the manufacturers’ points.
These troubles were overshadowed by the Corvette Racing Team’s amazing performance as IMSA officials juggled the 2020 schedule on the fly.
Following the Daytona 24 in late January, the traditional Sebring 12 hours moved from March to the November finale and races at Long Beach, Watkins Glen (6 hr), Mosport and Lime Rock were cancelled. Daytona, Sebring and new venue Charlotte ROVAL hosted shorter races while Road Atlanta filled in for the Glen.
Racing the GTLM full schedule next year looks problematic as Porsche USA has dropped out and BMW might enter just the four (4) longer-distance races.
Even so, a buyer can drive a cutting-edge mid-engine 2020 Corvette Stingray because racing design, engineering, parts and technology deliver performance and looks for a fraction of the price of the competition. The old adages “Racing improves the breed” and “We race what we sell” still speak the truth.
The track laid out in 1950 on Hendricks Field, a B17 training base just south of Sebring in sleepy central FL, is America’s oldest dedicated sports car road circuit.
Since the first racing Corvettes entered there in 1956, Sebring is the track where Corvette racing legends are made.
Legends group photo by Richard Prince
