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Garcia: Corvette Looking to “Bounce Back” from Le Mans

Corvette Racing looking to put Le Mans disappointments in rear-view mirror in start of busy IMSA stretch…

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

Antonio Garcia said Corvette Racing is looking to “bounce back” from the disappointments of Le Mans in this weekend’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, in the team and GTD Pro’s return to IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition in nearly two months.

The Pratt & Miller-run factory squad recorded its first double retirement in the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 2010 following mechanical issues for Garcia’s No. 63 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R and a race-ending accident for the sister No. 64 entry while battling for the GTE-Pro lead. 

“It obviously was a shock,” said Garcia. “It’s been awhile since we’ve retired from such a big race like this.

“Le Mans is always tough for everyone but I didn’t expect to retire going into the race.

“It’s disappointing in one hand, but in the other hand I was happy with the performance we were having. Unluckily the sister car had to retire as well.

“It’s time to bounce back. We’ll be back to the GTD spec so we need to get used to this car configuration.

“The Glen has always been a really good racetrack for us. It’s another new place for this car in this configuration, and we don’t know where are against the rest [of the GTD Pro field].

“Looking back at other races, we’ve been competitive so I hope everything stays the same and we’re able to fight for it.”

With the French endurance classic behind them, Garcia and co-driver Jordan Taylor enter the Watkins Glen weekend second in the GTD Pro points standings, 50 points behind Pfaff Motorsports’ Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell.

The third round of the Michelin Endurance Cup marks the return of the class since WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in early May and sets up a busy stretch of summer races, with three races in the next four weeks.

“The team has been flat-out since they got back from Le Mans,” said Garcia.

“Luckily, the car we use in the States is a completely different one [than the Le Mans chassis] so they already had prepared the car for this part of the season right after Laguna.

“So on that part we are set. Now we need to get back in our mindset of IMSA racing, knowing the rules, pit lane sequence and how everything works in America.

“It’s been good to have both teams running either WEC or IMSA. As we showed, we were very prepared to run Le Mans. Now it’s time to get back to our normal season.

“Corvette Racing has always been prepared. We’re all looking forward to these two races and racing at two of my favorite tracks back-to-back – The Glen and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Let’s see if the Corvette is fast enough to be up front and if we can go for the win.”

Unlike several GTD Pro teams, Corvette did not test at Watkins Glen prior to this weekend, which Garcia feels may present a challenge, especially in coming to grips with Michelin’s commercial tire offering in the production-based ranks.

“As we have at every other race track, we will correlate all the data we have from the GTLM car and translate everything we know up to now to what we think a baseline would be for this car,” he said.

“We don’t know how it will go yet, but I think we have a narrow path to know where the car should be.

“So far we’ve been pretty good off the bat in the first practices. I hope we are the same here at this new track for this car.

“It’s always a challenge learn on the [GTD] tire. Every racetrack is different, and The Glen was pretty tough on the GTLM tires. We don’t know yet what to expect, but the tire will be the main thing.”

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John

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