The GTD-Pro race at Road America was a head-scratcher.
One minute the C8.R team of Taylor and Garcia could almost taste the bubbly victory champagne. The next, they’re staring in bewilderment at third-place trophies.
Standing on the bottom rung of the podium, the talented duo tried unsuccessfully to hide thinly veiled disgust at the day’s results.
So if you had stepped away to grab a cold one, you came back to see results that left you shocked, dazed, and confused. How could this happen, you ask?
At this point, all the usual suspects flash through your mind. Perhaps Garcia was forced off the track by the Aston Martin or involved in a late-race pileup caused by slower traffic.
Either of those scenarios would have made great fodder around the water cooler, but that wasn’t the case. And here is where our head-scratching starts.
The reason for the first place Garcia having to serve a drive-thru penalty with 24 minutes left in the race was because of a pit violation. And are you ready for this rule infraction?
Garcia was too quick in the pits.
The Corvette team was penalized for not meeting the minimum refueling time during that final fuel stop. I’ll let you, Jake racing fans, stew on that for a moment as I try to wrap my frontal lobe around the need for this rule.
The No. 3 C8.R Corvette would reenter the race about 30 seconds down from the leader and finish in a less-than-hoped-for third place.
Where Corvette Racing Stands Now
The way the C8.R finished this race will undoubtedly bruise some egos and go down as a hard swing and a miss. Instead of winning and closing in on the points-leading Lexux, the team fell further behind in the GTD-Pro standings.
Such are the trials and tribulations of pro-level racing, nothing new here.
A second-place finish by Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat solidified the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 lead in the class championship standings.
Our C8.R team of Garcia and Taylor remains second in points, while Juncadella and Jules Gounon are third in the No. 79 WeatherTech Mercedes.
The Vasser Sullivan duo lead the Corvette Racing team by 169 points with three races remaining. Corvette’s game plan is simple. They have to win to gain points on the leader.
But if nothing else, this Pratt-Miller Motorsports team has proven they can weather any storm.
For his part, Jordan Taylor laid down some blistering lap times and had the third-best lap at 2:03.143. Antonio Garcia felt they had a strong pace and good strategy calls that put them in the lead late in the race.
For those seeking answers about the pit penalty, Luke Sagur from Pratt Miller Racing put together a short video explaining the error. Be forewarned; it gets a little deep in the weeds, so brush up on your high-level math skills beforehand.
Road America Penalty Explained video by Luke Sagur.
On a side note, this weekend’s GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) winner, The Heart of Racing Team, has been on a two-race winning streak.
Fast, Newly Repaved Track
Last-minute race shenanigans aside, the newly repaved Road America track gave smooth race grip that delivered blistering fast lap times. Just how fast?
The first race for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Road America’s newly repaved surface resulted in four track qualifying records among the five classes.
The fresh 4.048 miles (6,515 km) FIA Grade Two circuit turned out to be both quick and tricky at the same time.
Because the new surface had a narrow rubber line through the corners, if you got offline, it got slippery in a hurry. Though in the end, the professional drivers adjusted as they always do and continued to sing the praises of Road America.
From a driver’s perspective, the course is full of ups and downs, fast corners, slow corners, and heavy braking zones. It seems like you have everything rolled into this circa 1955 course.
From a spectator’s perspective, the entire tree-lined 640-acre facility in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, is easily accessible and offers excellent vantage points to catch the action. The 14 concession stands and fan-centric layout make this a favorite stop on the race calendar.
This year the action wasn’t limited to the road course; downtown Elkhart Lake also got into the action. From 6 pm to 8 pm on Friday night of race weekend, over 100 vintage racecars thundered down the main street and eventually displayed on Lake Street.
This was a rare treat for fans as they could get close to these classic race cars and talk to the drivers and owners. Sunday featured The WeatherTech International Challenge, with those same 100 classic race cars dueling on the track simultaneously.
Kurt Roussell – Racing Photographer
Professional track-side photos can make or break racing articles. The best photographers tell a story with their images, capturing both action and emotion.
They choose techniques, angles, and composition to capture the essence of a race car moving at speed.
We’re fortunate to have these Road America images from Kurt Roussell, a longtime professional racing photographer and owner of Fast Car Photos.
After living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Kurt now lives in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. He’s an avid motorsports enthusiast, regularly attends motor sporting events, including NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA, NHRA, and motorcycling.
As a true road warrior, he can be seen capturing the action at race venues across the country. Looking through his extensive portfolio, you can quickly see his mastery at work.
And best of all, Kurt is a devoted fan of America’s Sports Car. Having owned Corvettes, he loves the seat-of-the-pants performance and on-point styling.
On social media, he can be reached both on Facebook and Instagram.
We look forward to bringing Kurt’s photographic art to our future coverage of Corvette Racing.
The National Park Of Speed
You’ll often hear Road America referred to as “The National Park of Speed,” and rightfully so. This tree-studded course gives you acres of soft grass and beautiful shaded vantage points to see the action.
We aren’t the only ones who think so. This year’s Road America weekend was the largest crowd for an IMSA race since the series debuted there in 1979.
Regarding IMSA’s “Balance of Performance” issues, we suspect that every team in the GTD-PRO series has problems with it at one time or another. Probably just the inherent nature of trying to keep the racing competitive.
We suspect the Team Corvette’s “Too Fast” pitstop may be a head-scratcher for casual fans from NASCAR or Formula 1.
That said, there’s another race coming up, and the show must go on.
And go on it does, with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship resuming with the GT classes on August 27th in the Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway.
By then, hopefully, our C8.R team will figure out a way to slow down their pit stops to give everyone else a chance.
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