Corvette Scores First, 100th Wins with New C8.R

Months after its disastrous first outing at Daytona, Corvette C8.R returns to take first pole, class win on the Fourth of July.

There’s nothing more American than the Corvette. From its birth to this day, the two-seater not only carried Americans within, but changed with them. Big muscle, comfy personal luxury, the high-tech future, whatever the U.S. was feeling at the moment, so did America’s sports car.

Of course, America loves to race and win. Thus, so has the Corvette over the past near-seven decades. And if the Corvette can win on our nation’s birthday, the Fourth of July, then that’s the most American thing ever. According to The Detroit News such a thing happened on this Fourth of July at Daytona. There, the new C8.R not only won its first race, but scored the Corvette name its 100th win.

A Long Time Coming

“This means a lot,” Corvette Racing driver Antonio Garcia told Racer. “Our last win was at VIR in 2017. From then until now, you look at all the times we finished second and how many times we could have won a race. So I’m very happy for today.”

In January, the yellow-and-silver Corvette C8.R pair fell on hard times during the Daytona 24. Stuck behind the one-two punch of the Porsche GT team, the C8.R duo finished fourth and fifth in the GTLM class. Redemption would’ve come as soon as the Sebring 12 in March. However, the pandemic pushed Sebring to November, and brought the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season to a halt.

“Knowing the cars were just sitting there idle was tough for everybody, but we had four weeks to get everything done,” Pratt & Miller team manager Ben Johnson told The Detroit News. “IMSA had a (track) testing ban through all of June (because they) understandably want to continue to protect everyone.”

“It is amazing,” added Garcia’s co-driver, Jordan Taylor. “I think the off time gave the Corvette Racing guys some decent time to make some headway with our new C8.R. Our fuel mileage, engine and drivability at the beginning of the race was much better than the first race.”

Combined with time spent on simulators in Charlotte, Corvette Racing forged its path towards redemption once the season started again. The C8.R pair took pole and second in their class at the WeatherTech 240, a race last run in 2010. Two hours and 40 minutes later, Garcia snagged the coveted win for the C8.R, beating the Porsche GT team. The silver C8.R took fourth.

“There was great execution in the race and we didn’t make a single mistake,” Garcia told Racer. “It really showed that we learned a lot from the Rolex 24. This was a perfect day for us with the first pole and first win for the Corvette C8.R. Hopefully this is the first of many.”

Photos: Facebook/IMSA; Facebook/Corvette Racing Fans

.