A BANNER YEAR FOR CORVETTE. AND GT RACING.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. When Corvette Racing's No. 4 Corvette C7.R crossed the finish line in the 10-hour Petit Le Mans presented by Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Road Atlanta Saturday night, it was the culmination of another sensational year for one of the best racing teams in the world in the most competitive class of sports car racing on the planet. Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin (No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, with Marcel Fassler) captured their first WeatherTech Championship GTLM title by finishing third at Road Atlanta. With its seventh podium result of the 11-race season, the No. 4 Corvette team also swept the WeatherTech Championship and Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup drivers’ titles for Milner and Gavin, team championships for Corvette Racing and manufacturer championships for Chevrolet.

The Corvette Racing team actually took five wins for the year. Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia (No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R) won at VIR and took third place in the points. “Every year, this class somehow gets more competitive,” Milner said. “This year was even that much more so. Ford came in with a great car, great drivers, and pushed us to the end. A good example of the guys who keep pushing was the Risi (Ferrari) guys; they got the win and you could see the relief on their faces. That shows how much it means to get a win in this class. This whole year, we can think about all the good memories and moments we had. I’m proud to be a part of this team and represent Chevy and Corvette. It’s exactly what a driver wants in a car, is a chance to win. It’s good to see all those efforts were rewarded this year.”

Gavin and Milner started the year with a photo finish victory at Daytona over the No. 3 Corvette Racing team car and continued their momentum with a victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring. They later took back-to-back wins at Lime Rock Park (the team's 100th win in major league sports car racing) and Road America, "America's National Park of Speed."

“Today has been sort of an epic PLM. Really hard battle throughout the GTLM class,” Gavin said after standing on the podium with Milner and Marcel Fassler, the No. 4 Corvette's third driver for the endurance races. “As always you couldn’t take your foot off the pedal. We worked our way up the order and had a good car. It was coming in at the end, not enough to catch the Ferrari. Our focus this whole weekend was to win the Championship. Certainly my focus shifted from winning the championship halfway to winning the race. “We came up a little short with third but a good podium. Our season has been fantastic, it started off with an amazing victory with our teammates, photo finish, certainly one of the closest in Daytona history. Other wins we won over the season were brilliant. We got our hundredth win at Lime Rock. I’ve been proud to be a part of Corvette Racing. “It’s been a team effort all season, our team has kept us in it with fast stops, great strategy and great changes to the car. Never a duff move, and that’s what wins you championships. I think we won every championship we possibly could this year, team – drivers, manufacturers, NAEC. We’re pretty pleased. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

To say that this is an incredible achievement doesn't do the program justice, however, because the overall excellence that has marked this program from the beginning is a testament to a will to win against all odds and a focused consistency over sixteen years of competition that has secured Corvette Racing's legacy as one of the great teams in history. And to do it against a crack, factory-supported Ford GT team entered by Chip Ganassi Racing and Multimatic, which despite this being its initial year in GTLM competition won the most prestigious endurance race in the world, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, made it even more special. The Ganassi team was formidable and it pushed Corvette Racing to the absolute limit, reminding everyone that the IMSA GTLM class - with Corvette vs. Ford vs. Ferrari vs. Porsche vs. BMW - boasts the premier GT racing in the world.

As I've mentioned repeatedly, Karl Ludvigsen, a PR man who once worked for my father and who became a famous - and gifted - author, journalist and historian, wrote the definitive tome about Porsche (among many other books), entitled Porsche: Excellence Was Expected.

I am going to borrow Karl's title - with all due respect - because it applies to Corvette Racing as well. This team sprang from the doldrums of a company that had forgotten all about the competition heritage of its very own sports car, the Corvette, and with one fateful decision back in the fall of 1996 decided to not only honor the machine's rich historical legacy, but endeavored to write new chapters on the race tracks of the world with a full-on factory racing effort for the very first time.

In doing so, Corvette Racing has forged a level of excellence and achievement that will endure the test of time. And the icing on the cake? Corvette Racing has accomplished all of this while playing a definitive role in the constant, accelerated development and improvement to the performance of Corvettes that are available for enthusiasts to drive on the street, in an ultimate example of the efficacy of a focused ROI.

Over the years it has been a constant battle within GM to use and promote the success of Corvette Racing. In too many instances the team's achievements have been underused, or ignored all together. And it's really a shame because Corvette Racing projects a level of excellence and success that should be cherished and used frequently by GM and GM marketing, because it represents the tip of GM's technological spear and the impressive capabilities of the company's best and brightest.

For the True Believers within GM, Corvette Racing is a source of pride - and excellence - that never gets old. As it should be.

Congratulations are in order to Gary Pratt and Jim Miller, the two leaders of Pratt & Miller Engineering, the talented organization that has cut its own wide swath of excellence in the racing world and beyond, and prepares the Corvette C7.Rs for competition. And Doug Fehan, the Corvette Racing Program Manager who has been there from the very early days.

Then there's Doug Louth, Director of Engineering for Pratt & Miller. Dan Binks, the Crew Chief for the No. 3 Corvette and Kyle Millay, chief engineer on the No. 3 machine. And Brian Hoy, Crew Chief for the No. 4 Corvette and Chuck Houghton, chief engineer on the No. 4 machine.

And of course, Mark Kent, Director of all of GM Racing's programs; and last but not least, Jim Campbell, Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports.

And I can't close this column without mentioning GM's True Believer-in-Chief, Mark Reuss, Executive Vice President of Global Product Development and Global Purchasing & Supply Chain, who can often be found embedded in Corvette Racing's pit box with a headset on.

I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the entire Corvette Racing Team family on a mission accomplished.

Excellence expected. Excellence Delivered. Again.

And that's the High-Octane Truth for this week.

(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin (No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, with Marcel Fassler) captured their first WeatherTech Championship GTLM title by finishing third at Road Atlanta. The No. 4 Corvette team swept the WeatherTech Championship and Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup drivers’ titles for Milner and Gavin, team championships for Corvette Racing and manufacturer championships for Chevrolet.
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
The Ford/Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GTs were formidable and delivered a fantastic debut year in GTLM competition. The cars were brilliantly conceived and executed - and quick - and the team's preparation was remarkable. The "Battle of the Titans" will continue between Ford and Corvette - and the rest of the GTLM competitors - in Daytona in January when the 24 Hour race kicks off the new season.
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
A glimpse of the GTLM battle at the start of the 10-hour Petit Le Mans. In "ancient" times the idea was to "endure" the endurance races with conservative car preparation and race craft. Now? the endurance races are balls-to-the-wall, knock-down, drag-out, flat-out battles from the drop of the green flag.
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Corvette Racing is now considered to be one of the most successful racing teams - of any kind - in the world.
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Corvette Racing: 2016 WeatherTech Championship GTLM Class, Drivers, Team and Manufacturers' Champions.

Editor's Note: Many of you have seen Peter's references over the years to the Hydrogen Electric Racing Federation (HERF), which he launched in 2007. For those of you who weren't following AE at the time, you can read two of HERF's press releases here and here. And for even more details (including a link to Peter's announcement speech), check out the HERF entry on Wikipedia here. -WG

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
Brooklyn, Michigan, September 27, 1969. World champion Jack Brabham (No. 15 Agapiou Brothers Ford G7 A 427) sits in his "one-off" Ford-powered Can-Am car during practice for the Can-Am race held on the Michigan International Speedway road course that year. Brabham was unable to do much with the unwieldy machine, qualifying ten seconds off of the pole time in tenth place. He suffered a DNF in the race due to a lost wheel. Bruce McLaren (No. 4 McLaren Cars Gulf/Reynolds Aluminum M8B 427 Chevrolet) won, followed closely by teammates Denny Hulme (No. 5 McLaren Cars Gulf/Reynolds Aluminum M8B 427 Chevrolet) and Dan Gurney (No. 1 McLaren Cars Gulf/Reynolds Aluminum M8B 427 Chevrolet). Gurney stormed through the field to finish third in a guest drive after starting dead last with no qualifying time to make it a memorable 1-2-3 finish for Team McLaren. For more information on the history of motor racing check out racingsportscars.com.