Corvette Racing Encounters Perfect Storm in Sebring
Pit Lane Contact Seals Corvettes' Fate in Classic
Endurance Race
SEBRING, Fla. - For many years, Sebring International
Raceway was Corvette Racing's Bermuda Triangle, a
place where strange things happened routinely. After
seven victories at the classic circuit, Sebring was
once again the team's nemesis in the 58th running of
the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. An improbable
collision in the pit lane ultimately consigned the
No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6. R to an eighth-place
finish and the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R to ninth
place at the checkered flag.
The race started well for the twin Corvettes, with
Jan Magnussen running fourth and Oliver Gavin fifth.
At the 39-minute mark, the Corvettes were second and
third before the first full-course caution period
began. But Murphy's Law - "Anything that can go
wrong, will go wrong" - was about to be invoked as
the No. 3 Corvette went behind the wall to repair a
power steering hose at 1:55 into the race, rejoining
the fray with an eight-lap deficit to the leader.
The decisive moment occurred at 3:09 when the No. 3
Corvette pitted, with Magnussen replacing Johnny
O'Connell. Magnussen was released from his pit box
just as Emmanuel Collard was entering the adjacent
stall in the No. 4 Corvette. The resulting contact
damaged both cars. The No. 4 went immediately to the
transporters where the Corvette crew replaced its
front stabilizer bar and bodywork. The No. 3 suffered
a punctured front tire and returned to the pits for
repairs after completing a lap at reduced speed.
"I can’t tell you all the things that had to line up
for that to happen right there, but it was super
unfortunate and everyone is feeling bad about it,"
Magnussen said. "I feel so sorry for the No. 4
Corvette - we were out of contention because we had a
long pit stop, but the No. 4 car was in with a good
shot, it was fast. I can guarantee that things will
be done so that never happens again."
"It was a misunderstanding because normally I should
pit one lap later, but I had a low fuel alarm on the
back straight," Collard explained. "I put the reserve
on and they asked me come to the pits."
"An incident like this has never happened before at
Corvette Racing," said program manager Doug Fehan. "A
perfect storm of events that certainly we can't
attribute to any one thing caused the two cars to
come together in pit lane. We’ll go back and look at
what took place, establish procedures to ensure that
it never happens again, and come back stronger for
the next event. Even when our guys were laps down to
the leaders, they ran just as hard after that
incident as they did before. That tells you what
Corvette Racing is about."
The misfortune continued in the eighth hour as the
No. 4 Corvette C6.R with Oliver Gavin at the wheel
was hit by an errant tire on the course. It was a
glancing blow; a few microseconds later, it might
have been much worse. As darkness settled on Sebring,
Gavin found that the headlights were not working. He
returned to the pits, where the Corvette crew
replaced the nose, headlight, and harness assembly.
"I don't know which of the racing gods I've offended,
but I'd certainly like to apologize," Gavin quipped.
"It’s been an extraordinary day, the most eventful
ever for this team. We had a car capable of
challenging anyone, but somehow it all went wrong. So
now it’s on to Long Beach."
In the closing hours, the race settled into a steady
routine as the miles went by. The drivers completed
their stints without incident, punctuated by pit
stops for four Michelin tires and a tank of E85
ethanol fuel. O'Connell took the No. 3 Corvette C6.R
across the finish line, and Olivier Beretta piloted
the No. 4 to the finish.
"Racing is hard stuff, and no matter how hard you try
and how hard you prepare, sometimes things go wrong,"
O'Connell said. "You can either beat yourself up or
be encouraged by how well the crew performed to get
both cars back in the race. The guys were awesome. We
got a lot of positives out of this event: We made
good progress on our engine development and we got a
gauge to measure where we stand versus the
competition. The mark of a champion is overcoming
adversity and finding ways to win, and I know this
team can do that."
Corvette Racing’s next event is the American Le Mans
Series at Long Beach on Saturday, April 17. The
one-hour, 40-minute race will start at 4:15 p.m. PT
and will be televised at 8 p.m. ET on SPEED.
Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring GT2 Results:
Pos./Drivers/Car/Laps
1. Melo/Bruni/Kaffer, Ferrari 430 GT, 331
2. Auberlen/Milner/Werner, BMW E92 M3, 330
3. Mueller/Hand/Priaulx, BMW E92 M3, 330
4. Bergmeister/Long/Lieb, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 329
5. Law/Neiman/Lietz, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 325
6. Brown/Cosmo/Barbosa/ Ferrari 430 GT, 323
7. Krohn/Jonsson/van de Poele, Ferrari 430 GT, 321
8. O'Connell/Magnussen/Garcia, Chevrolet Corvette
C6.R, 320
9. Gavin/Beretta/Collard, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, 320
10. Robertson/Robertson/Murry, Ford GT, 300
11. Sharp/van Overbeek/Farnbacher, Ferrari 430 GT, 271
12. Sellers/Henzler/Pilet, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 255
13. Gentilozzi/Goossens/Dalziel, Jaguar XKRS, 11
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Corvette Racing Encounters Perfect Storm in Sebring
