LAKEVILLE, Ct. July 25, 2016 – Corvette Racing reached a major milestone in style with a big 1-2 finish in the GTLM class in the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park.
Taking the century mark victory was the No. 4 Corvette C7.R driven by Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner. Gavin took the lead with 30 minutes remaining in the 2 hour, 40 minute race on the historic 1.474 mile circuit. Finishing second were Corvette Racing teammates Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen.
“We are pleased that since Corvette Racing switched to Michelin for the 2004 racing season, the last 75 wins have been with us,” said Ken Payne, technical director motorsports, Michelin North America.
“It was a great day for Corvette Racing,” said Milner. “The traffic was very tough and frustrating at points and the track was pretty slick for the entire race. There was some cloud cover at times, but it was still very hot.”
“We work hard with Michelin to make sure that we have the right tires for every condition and it paid off again,” said Milner.
The victory, the third of the season for Gavin, Milner and the No. 4 Corvette C7.R, extends their lead in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM class to 10 points over third place finishers Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook in the No. 67 Ford GT – winners of the three previous WeatherTech Championship races.
“Lime Rock Park is the shortest (1.474 miles) and quickest (51 seconds) circuit of the season and we had the highest track temperatures of the year,” said Payne. “With 31 cars in three different classes, managing traffic was very difficult and we congratulate all of our teams and drivers on their strong performances here.”
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing’s Richard Westbrook took the pole position. BMW Team RLL’s Dirk Werner led the first stages of the race, before surrendering the lead to Risi Competizione Ferrari’s Toni Vilander.
Porsche’s Earl Bamber was in a tight side-by side fight for second place with BMW’s Werner when the two cars made contact and were eliminated with just over one hour remaining.
“We want to congratulate our friends at Chevrolet, GM Motorsports, Pratt & Miller, and the entire Corvette Racing teams and drivers on this milestone win,” said Payne.