The 10 hour Petit Le Mans signalled the last race of this season’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and was also the last race of the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class, that Corvette Racing has been a part of. The event also heralds the 250th race event for Corvette Racing since their first outing in 1999 in the C5-R race car.
The #3 Corvette C8-R, driven by Garcia, Taylor and Catsburg, was the highest qualifying Corvette, starting third in the GTLM class, with the #4 car of Tandy, Milner and Sims, starting fifth. The #3 car needed only to start the race to claim the season’s GTLM Drivers and Teams titles. If either of the two C8-Rs started the race, Chevrolet would claim the IMSA GT Manufacturer’s Championship for the 14th time.
Unfortunately, the team didn’t celebrate the season in winning style with Taylor suffering a mid-race accident when the field was staging a restart. Taylor came over a blind crest, only to face another GT car that had spun and stopped on the track, just seconds before Taylor came upon it. The Corvette crashed heavily, causing Taylor to be taken to the infield medical centre. He was evaluated and released, feeling a little sore and sorry, but without significant injury.
Corvette Racing still had hopes they would win the Petit Le Mans, with the #4 car leading a race-high 313 laps. But with 10 minutes left in the race and fighting for the lead, Tandy’s car was hit and pushed off the track, breaking the left front suspension.
Although the race finished in heartbreak for the team, they were still able to celebrate a second straight sweep of the full-season GTLM titles.
“This year was a really good year. We started by winning the Rolex 24. It felt like a really long time since my last one. It was starting to be a little bit like last year. Corvette was super strong and probably even stronger this year. We just kept doing what we did last year, Jordan and I. We seem to be really good together. Everything was working really good. We just kept doing what we did. We didn’t think about the championship but somehow everything came back to us”.
Next year, starting in January with the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Corvette Racing will compete in the new GTD PRO category. Garcia and Taylor are contesting the full 10-race championship in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. Catsburg will rejoin the Garcia/Taylor duo for the Rolex 24 At Daytona (where they won the 2021 GTLM class), Sebring and Petit Le Mans.
Milner and Tandy will take on the six-round FIA World Endurance Championship with the No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, which will continue in the GTE Pro category against similar factory entries. Their season will begin with the 1,000 Miles of Sebring on March 18 as the FIA WEC returns to its doubleheader weekend with IMSA, which runs the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring the following day.