Chevrolet Racing

CORVETTE DPs AT MONTEREY: Visit Florida Racing Seeks Second Straight Laguna Seca Win Corvette Daytona Prototypes coming off podium sweep at Long Beach

CORVETTE DPs AT MONTEREY: Visit Florida Racing Seeks Second Straight Laguna Seca Win
Corvette Daytona Prototypes coming off podium sweep at Long Beach

· Dalziel, Goossens at helm of VisitFlorida.com Corvette DP

· Four podiums in two races for Corvette DPs

· Monterey event is 50th for Corvette DP program

DETROIT (April 26, 2016) – Chevrolet’s Corvette Daytona Prototype program, off a podium sweep two weeks ago at Long Beach, will look for continued success in California at the Continental Tire Grand Prix of Monterey powered by Mazda. The fourth round of IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will feature a pair of two-hour races Sunday with the Prototype class competing alongside GT Le Mans (GTLM) entries.

The Corvette DP has won three of its last four races at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca – 2012, 2013 and 2015. This weekend’s race will be the 50th for the program.

Visit Florida Racing arrives at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca as the defending race-winner with its No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Corvette Daytona Prototype. The team led the first 15 laps and the final 29 as the crew got its Corvette DP out of the pits following a quick splash of fuel without giving up the lead.

Visit Florida Racing also gave the Corvette DP its first Monterey victory in 2012 as it won from pole position.

Long Beach overall winner Wayne Taylor Racing finished second to the VisitFlorida.com entry a year ago at Laguna Seca. Ricky Taylor and Jordan Taylor went back-to-back at Long Beach in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP. Jordan Taylor qualified on pole in Monterey a year ago with Ricky Taylor making up considerable ground in his closing stint in the race.

Action Express Racing’s two Corvette DPs round out the group of Chevrolet-powered prototypes. Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP moved into the Prototype Driver’s Championship lead with their runner-up finish at Long Beach – their best result at the street circuit together. They’ll look to do the same at Laguna Seca.

Dane Cameron and Eric Curran in the Action Express Racing No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP stand second in points after a third-place finish at Long Beach. Cameron set the fastest lap of the race for the second straight year, and the Cameron/Curran pairing has two podium finishes in three races this season.

The Corvette DP bodywork reflects the Corvette C7 production lineup. At the heart of the Corvette Daytona Prototype is a purpose-built 5.5-liter Chevrolet LS9 V-8 engine developed by ECR Engines.

The Continental Tire Grand Prix of Monterey for GTLM and Prototype entries is set for 11:15 a.m. PT on Sunday. It will air live on FOX Sports 1 with audio coverage from IMSA Radio is available on IMSA.com.

JOAO BARBOSA, ACTION EXPRESS RACING NO. 5 MUSTANG SAMPLING CORVETTE DP: “Last year we really struggled in both races in California. As a team we returned home and went to work on what the problems were and that made us stronger throughout the second half of the 2015 season and helped us to win a second consecutive championship. Just like last year it looks like we’ll face heavy competition from the Whelen Engineering Corvette DP, which is a great problem to have when you’re racing with such competitive teammates. Hopefully the sharing of information from last year at Laguna Seca will help us improve like we did at Long Beach.”

RICKY TAYLOR, WAYNE TAYLOR RACING NO. 10 KONICA MINOLTA CORVETTE DP: “They are two very different tracks (Long Beach and Laguna Seca) but for some reason we’ve been very good at these two races, as well. The whole year we’ve had good momentum after a great start at Daytona and the win at Long Beach. Sebring was just a bit of a speed bump in the middle of all that. Long Beach became just an extension of our strong and clean run at Daytona. It was a great result and a great boost for the team. It’s great to have a solid weekend, but winning makes everything so much better than second. It’s nice to go to Laguna with a win under our belt already. It’s always nice to get that first one. Every year you feel like it’s so competitive that you might not get one, and when you do have one within reach it’s so easy to let them slip through your fingers. So it was nice actually hold onto one so early in the season.”

DANE CAMERON, ACTION EXPRESS RACING NO. 31 WHELEN ENGINEERING/TEAM FOX CORVETTE DP: “The competition in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is as tough as it’s ever been,” said Cameron. “We’ve got two great teammates that we’re going to have to compete against all season and as we saw at Long Beach, the No. 10 Corvette DP is going to be right there in that fight with us. Laguna Seca has always been a home event for me, growing up in Northern California. It was always the race at the end of the season I got to attend with my dad. The Formula Atlantic weekend was always an opportunity to get out and see the champ cars put on a great show. It’s still great to go back because you get to see a lot of the people you grew up karting with and friends you went to school with. This year I’m bringing my wife and kids out again to be part of the event, so it’s really exciting.”

MARC GOOSSENS, VISIT FLORIDA RACING NO. 90 CORVETTE DP: “After we had a little bit of a struggle on the bumps of Sebring and Long Beach, this smooth surface should be a little bit more in our favor. After Long Beach, we had a two-day test at Buttonwillow and I believe we learned a couple of things with regards to the set up. Hopefully we can roll off the trailer pretty strong at Laguna. The track itself is one of my favorites on the calendar. Like a couple others, this is an old school track. You look for the limit but if you pass that limit slightly, you get punished. But it is a nice smooth lay out with some elevation changes which challenges us and the cars. I very much believe that the Visit Florida Racing Corvette DP is up for a good showing in Monterey.”

JIM LUTZ, CORVETTE DAYTONA PROTOTYPE PROGRAM MANAGER: “It was good to get our first win of the year at Long Beach and sweep the podium. All four of our Corvette DPs ran well and were competitive. We expect the same at Laguna Seca, which moves back split-class races. It lessens the chance of a caution period and makes long green-flag runs more likely. That doesn’t lessen the challenges of Laguna Seca, though. The ambient and track temperatures along with track surface conditions can change in a moment’s notice. So it’s important for our Corvette DP teams to plan ahead.”