No. 4 Corvette Loses Podium; Taylor, Garcia Clinch GTLM Title

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

The No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R has been stripped of its podium finish in Sunday’s Monterey Sports Car Championship due to a post-race technical infraction, effectively sealing the IMSA GT Le Mans drivers’ title for teammates Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia.

The Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin-driven Corvette, which initially finished third on the road, was found to have had a height infraction with the car’s rear diffuser, resulting in a penalty.

The No. 4 car has been moved to the rear of the six-car finishing order in GTLM, giving Taylor and Garcia an insurmountable points lead heading into next month’s season-ending Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

Taylor and Garcia finished second in Sunday’s race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, with the result good enough to also lock up the teams’ championship one race early.

The infringement has promoted the No. 911 Porsche of Nick Tandy and Fred Makowiecki to a third place finish in the race, meanwhile.

Prior to the stewards’ decision, the No. 3 Corvette duo needed to only start the Sebring race in order to win the drivers’ title, in what has been a dominant season for Taylor, Garcia and the Pratt & Miller-led team, which has collected six class wins between the two cars.

Taylor and Garcia won five of them alone, including four straight pole positions.

John Dagys

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