The vaunted Corvette Racing Team goes out with a whimper at IMSA finale at Road Atlanta

No matter what, it has been one heck of a ride for 25 years.

If Racing Improves the Breed, the dollars spent by GM to make the Corvette a world class sports car have paid off in spades.    

 The team’s “chemistry” between Gary Pratt, team principal and Doug Fehan, GM Program Manager raised the bar in professional sports car racing.

They hired top talent like Ron Fellows, Johnny O’Connell and Dan Binks.

And turned the biggest, most loyal fan base into potential buyers for GM cars and trucks…which after all is what counts.

Selling the new C8 Z06 GT3.R to customers that will race them on their own dime also counts and gives fans more Corvettes to root for next year.

Back to Road Atlanta, Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor controlled the race, leading 87 of 189 laps after Garcia qualified the # 3 C8.R 2nd on the grid.  Disaster struck in the sixth hour when Tommy Milner’s engine quit for reasons still to be understood.

As for the total GM sports car racing program, the # 31 Action Express Cadillac GTP won the championship in IMSA’s first year for hybrid prototypes against Porsche, BMW and Acura, each in the running for all the marbles.

 The C8 Z06 GT3.R is coming soon with four cars entered at Daytona that kicks off the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech Championship.

 Photo credits Richard Prince, Kevin Bowman