Mid-Ohio 2009: GT2 Corvettes run 2nd and 4th in debut
Corvette C6.R GT2 - click above for a high-res image gallery
After more than two years of design and development work, the new GT2 class Corvette C6.R made its racing debut on Saturday at Mid-Ohio. For an all-new race ca,r it proved remarkably free of teething pains. In fact, it seems the biggest hurdle was for the drivers, Johnny O'Connell, Jan Magnussen, Olivier Berretta and Oliver Gavin, who had to deal with running in the GT pack rather than racing in the top of the pack amongst themselves.
After two hours and 45 minutes of action, O'Connell and Magnussen ended up finishing second in the GT1 class to Patrick Long and Joerg Bergmeister in one of the Flying Lizard Porsches. Their teammates suffered a bout of bad timing when the safety car was out during a full course yellow and causing the duo to lose a lap. Nonetheless, they still finished fourth behind the BMW M3 of Tom Milner and Dirk Mueller. Next weekend it's off to Road America in Elkhart Lake WI.
Gallery: Mid-Ohio 2009: Corvette GT2 racing
Photos Copyright ©2009 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.
Corvette Racing Finishes Second and Fourth in First GT2 Race
Magnussen and O'Connell Put New GT2 Corvette C6.R on Mid-Ohio Podium
LEXINGTON, Ohio, August 8, 2009 – It was the dawn of a new day for Corvette Racing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as the next-generation Corvette C6.R finished second and fourth in the hard-fought GT2 category in the sixth round of the American Le Mans Series. On an overcast and rainy day, the twin Corvettes shined as Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen finished as runners-up in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R, 21 seconds behind the class-winning Porsche 911 RSR of Patrick Long and Joerg Bergmeister. Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta finished fourth in the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R, one lap down after getting caught out by the safety car during a full-course caution.
"It was a really good run and we didn't have any issues," said Magnussen. "It's very difficult in traffic, even more difficult than with the GT1 cars. You really have to be smart and aggressive – this wasn't the race to risk the cars, so I lost a little time being too cautious. The GT2 Corvette C6.R is a fantastic race car, and very easy to drive fast. We still have a few minor things to sort out, but I think we're already there."
O'Connell took over from Magnussen at 1:27 into the two-hour, 45-minute race on the first pit stop for fuel and tires. He stopped again for five seconds of fuel at 2:02, while the class-leading Porsche team gambled on making it to the finish without a second pit stop. They won that bet, and O'Connell settled for second.
"Today was such an impressive debut for the new GT2 Corvettes, but I wouldn't expect anything less from this team," O'Connell said. "We've gained so much experience in GT1 over the years, and Corvette Racing sets the standards for car construction and preparation. It's great to be back, showing what Corvette and Chevrolet are all about."
As the race began under the threat of rain, the first start was waved off by officials. The field got the green flag on the next lap, and Magnussen quickly slotted into second, gaining a position on the No. 62 Ferrari. Farther back in the pack, Gavin was shuffled back to seventh. Gavin then methodically improved his position, gaining the third spot on the 20th lap. By the 22nd lap, the two Corvettes were running nose-to-tail in a familiar formation.
"Those first few laps were frantic," Gavin said. "The first start was waved off, we were forming up again, and it all got rather confusing. A BMW got by me, and then the Ford GT, so I had to hustle my way past them. We had a bit of contact, a little rubbing and banging. I got a few shoves, and I gave them back. GT2 is a great class to race in!"
As the sprinkles continued and the track became damp, the pace never slowed.
"It got a little loose sometimes, but because we had so much heat in the Michelin tires, it wasn't an issue for me," Magnussen explained.
The No. 4 Corvette pitted at 1:26 with Beretta replacing Gavin, and the No. 4 pitted one lap later with O'Connell replacing Magnussen. The decisive moment came at 1:50 when a full-course caution began when the No. 19 LMP2 prototype went off the track. The race leader was between the two Corvettes, which were four seconds apart on the track. Consequently the leading No. 45 Porsche and the second-place No. 3 Corvette gained nearly a full lap on the rest of the GT2 entries when officials began a wave-by to reform the field.
"There was a small gap between the Corvettes, and I could hear the excitement in (crew chief) Dan Bink's voice on the radio when he said, 'Don't let him by! Don't let him by!'" O'Connell recalled. "I already had that figured out, because it's happened to us enough over the years when we lost out on a safety car wave-by."
When racing resumed, a pack of five GT2 cars were fighting furiously for third place, separated by just 3.5 seconds. Beretta's No. 4 Corvette C6.R and the No. 92 BWM driven by Dirk Mueller eventually broke free, and Mueller took the third place on the podium with a pass going into the first turn with five minutes remaining.
"It's not our usual result, but nonetheless today was a great victory for Corvette Racing," said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. "To come out here with only a few days of testing on two brand-new race cars, run with the leaders, demonstrate our pit stop prowess and race strategy, and finish second is a testament to how hard this team works. I think every fan of sports car racing now knows there is going to be some spectacular GT racing in the American Le Mans Series."
The ethanol-powered Corvette C6.Rs also swept the top two spots in the MICHELIN GREEN X Challenge with the best overall scores among the 26 GT and prototype entries based on energy used, greenhouse gases emitted, and petroleum fuels displaced.
"Not only did we see a tremendous display of great planning and execution today, but also we saw Corvette win the MICHELIN GREEN X Challenge yet again," Fehan said. "That is emblematic of the new General Motors – fast, mean, lean, and green."
Corvette Racing's next event is the Time Warner Cable Road Race Showcase featuring the American Le Mans Series at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., on August 14-16. The two-hour, 45-minute race is scheduled to start at 2:05 p.m. CDT on Sunday, August 16. SPEED will televise the race live at 3 p.m. EDT.
Acura Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio GT2 Results:
Pos./Drivers/Car/Laps
1. Bergmeister/Long, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 108
2. O'Connell/Magnussen, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, 108
3. Mueller/Milner, BMW E92 M3, 107
4. Gavin/Beretta, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, 107
5. Melo/Kaffer, Ferrari 430 GT, 107
6. Henzler/Ragginger, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 107
7. Farnbacher/James, Panoz Esperante GTLM, 107
8. Hand/Auberlen, BMW E92 M3, 106
9. Law/Neiman, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 104
10. Robertson/Robertson/Murry, Ford GT MK 7,
NEXT EVENT
August 16, Time Warner Cable Road Race Showcase featuring the American Le Mans Series, Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.
TV: SPEED live, 3 p.m. EDT
Get a WordPress.com Blog
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
IOMTT 10:13AM (8/10/2009)
I must say I am not too suprised. Pratt and Miller is a top notch organization. Looks like GT2 is shaping up to be the class to watch.
Reply
why not the LS2LS7? 11:00AM (8/10/2009)
Plus Johnny O, the Ollies and Jan Magnussen are very good drivers. I would say few in GT2 (currently) outside of Porsche's factory drivers (like Jorg Bergmeister, who was in the now 6x winning Flying Lizard car) are their equals.
Although I do miss the days when we had Hans Stuck and Boris Said in GT2 also.
pokerintherear87 10:19AM (8/10/2009)
corvette is Americas middle finger
Reply
Mr.Oak 10:50AM (8/10/2009)
That drew a chuckle out from me. :))
Shiftright 11:27AM (8/10/2009)
My thumbs up to your middle finger comment!
Lemon 10:20AM (8/10/2009)
Hellll yes! I did not expect the first race to go this well - nice job boys!
Reply
engineerd 10:21AM (8/10/2009)
GT2 has been a fun class to watch this year. The Flying Lizards have been pretty dominant, but the new M3 was fast out of the box and the Ferraris have been competitive. Throwing the top notch Corvette teams in the mix just adds to the drama.
Tell me again why people like NASCAR over this?
Reply
BigMcLargeHuge 10:45AM (8/10/2009)
Same reason people like WWE over greco-roman wrestling.
NASCAR is drama. The rivalries are intentionally played up for show.
BigMcLargeHuge 10:54AM (8/10/2009)
And when I say rivalries, I mean human rivalries.
A lot of people find it easier to get behind their 'hero' than a team.
People would rather worship John Cena than Team USA. Or Tony Stewart over Team Corvette.
The most popular American 'sports' anymore are just about the celebrity superstars.
why not the LS2LS7? 10:56AM (8/10/2009)
NASCAR has FAR better coverage. And I don't just mean publicity. The amount of money thrown into NASCAR coverage makes it a far far better product. They have cutaway cars. They have several pit reporters sending video so they can get comments from the team managers right as something important happens. They even have far better filler for when the race is under caution or such. I'm not even sure SPEED sends their commentators to the track for races like these, they likely just watch it on video like we do.
There are some advantages to NASCAR. I wish they had these for a series I care something about.
engineerd 12:25PM (8/10/2009)
I agree with both of you. It was a somewhat rhetorical question.
NASCAR has done a magnificent job of promoting itself and its drivers. Even though there are teams in NASCAR (often quite large), it's the driver and crew chief that get all the attention. Because NASCAR has been able to promote itself so well, it has a following that puts a lot of money into it combined with high dollar advertising rights that they make even more money off of. Because of this, channels like SPEED have ditched nearly all their coverage of other motorsports (remember when SpeedVision covered WRC?) for NASCAR because that's where the money is.
However, if Americans were to switch their attention to the more fun and less contrived series -- like ALMS, WRC, American Rally, V8 Supercars, etc. -- then the money would follow those.
I have been less and less of a NASCAR fan over the last several years as they have moved towards a full on spec-car series and somewhat contrived drama. However, as you stated, that seems to be what Americans want.
HotRodzNKustoms 10:24AM (8/10/2009)
A very very impressive showing for the debut of a totally new car in a new class for the team. As for the drivers, it must be weird for them not being able to use all the other production based cars as slalom cones and actually having people to race!
Reply
gromitt 10:54AM (8/10/2009)
Thanks for the SPOLIER warning, Autoblog. Not!
Reply
tblack 2:12PM (8/10/2009)
+1
Very annoying. I think there's a well-establishing blog etiquette for this. Surely you realize that many of your readers record these races.
Johnnie 11:04AM (8/10/2009)
This is where the Corvette should have been racing all along in my opinion.
Against it's competitors on the street.
Reply
why not the LS2LS7? 11:08AM (8/10/2009)
Is it just me or in that pretaped segment did they point at a cutaway of a Porsche PDK (dual-clutch) gearbox, run a pre-made video of a PDK showing how it uses the two clutches to switch between gears quickly and then explain then merely explain that it has the advantage of being able to downshift quicker because they can open up both clutches and reduce the spinning mass that has to rev up?
Why is this? Why didn't they explain how it preselects gears for much faster up and down shifting? Did they completely blow it? Or perhaps does ALMS not allow dual-clutch gearboxes in GT2 right now (or perhaps at all, like F1) and so they run the PDK in some half-baked mode that doesn't provide near-instant shifting? Or am I wrong and Porsches always had two clutches in their H-pattern gearbox?
On top of this, what kind of gearboxes are the Vettes running? P&M pulled some shenanigans in the past with the CTS-Vs, using Hewland racing gearboxes for half the first season. Or am I off my rocker and GT2 doesn't even require running model-derived gearboxes anyway?
Reply
RSVDon 12:30PM (8/10/2009)
The Vette's are running basically a version of the same GT1 trans I think. GT2 class still allows sequential gearboxes, so it's just a forward and back pattern. The Corvette's thankfully haven't lost their edge and they still sound beautiful flying past you at wide open throttle. You can hear the Vettes on the other side of Mid-Ohio over all of the other cars. Love that sound!!
The only thing I hated at all about being at the race (and it really has nothing to do with racing) is the retard they got up there to play the National Anthem. This idiot completely screwed up the whole song with 80's Metallica styled guitar riffs to the point where it didn't even sound like the Star Spangled Banner anymore. When the speakers cut out halfway through, everyone started clapping! Lots of people we're really pissed and I'm personally really embarassed that someone gave this mullet-mohawk wearing, tattooed idiot a Corvette Racing suit and a Z06 themed guitar. Nothing says welcome to America for the people that visit internationally than this. :rollseyes:
nadnarb 11:13AM (8/10/2009)
I only caught the final 10 minutes of this race but what I saw I loved. The in car cams were amazing with the turns, braking and passing.
I know some people like Nascar, but this series is what I want to go see. Where else can I see a Vette passing a GT with a 430 trailing behind? It makes me wish there was still a Mustang v Camaro road series like the 60's.
Reply
Tom 12:15PM (8/10/2009)
Nascar is fun for what it is but for my money sports car racing is where it is at. I think GT2 will be the most fun to watch going into next season. These are cars that exist on the road (well, you know what I mean) and it is fantastic to see great marques like Corvette, Porsche, Ferrari and BMW fighting it out on the track.
Creeper 12:16PM (8/10/2009)
Maybe I am showing my age but I think it would be really cool to get white lettered tires on Corvettes or the retro muscle cars that are re-appearing. The C6-R's look great with the Michelin block on them.
Reply