CORVETTE RACING AT COTA: Seventh Starting Spot in GTE Pro

The No. 65 Corvette C7.R will start seventh Saturday in the GTE Pro class of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) race at Circuit of The Americas. Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor posted a combined average laptime of 2:08.674 around the 3.4-mile, 20-turn layout in qualifying ahead of the Six Hours of Circuit of The Americas.

Corvette Racing is running the FIA WEC round in tandem with its two-car entry in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. Milner and Taylor are joined by Ricky Taylor in the entry sponsored by Konica Minolta and Michelin.

It is the first WEC race for Corvette Racing outside the Le Mans 24 Hours, and Friday was the first time for either driver – and the Corvette Racing team, for that matter – to contest the FIA WEC’s qualifying format. The grid for all four classes is set by averaging the two best laps from each team’s two qualifying drivers.

Jordan Taylor set the car’s fastest lap in qualifying at 2:06.878, and Milner’s best time was a 2:09.558. The latter had to deal with rainy conditions at the start of the session; however the track continued to dry as qualifying went on. The Corvette Racing crew spent Thursday and Friday tweaking and adjusting the No. 65 entry, which served as the team’s test car during the development of the Corvette C7.R prior to the start of the TUDOR Championship season.

The Milner/Taylor/Taylor combination is the only all-American tandem in the FIA WEC race. In the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race earlier in the day, Milner will drive Corvette Racing’s No. 4 Corvette C7.R alongside Oliver Gavin in the GT Le Mans class. The Taylors in their No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype. The two-hour, 45-minute TUDOR Championship race will precede the six-hour WEC round.