Corvette Racing at Baltimore: Third and fifth in GT qualifying

BALTIMORE – Corvette Racing will start its two Compuware Chevrolet Corvette C6.Rs from the second and third rows of the GT grid for Saturday’s Grand Prix of Baltimore. The positions are solid ones for Corvette Racing and Chevrolet, both of which are leading in the American Le Mans Series’ team and manufacturer championships.

#4 Flying Lizard Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1: Oliver Gavin, Tom Milner

Photo by: Michael Tan

Saturday’s race is the seventh round of the ALMS championship.

Live online coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN3. On Sunday, ABC’s coverage starts at noon ET.

“Baltimore is an exciting yet demanding venue,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet US Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “The ALMS GT class is extremely competitive so it will take the right combination of race strategy, smart and persistent driving, and efficient pit stops to work our way to the front of the pack. Baltimore is a critical race for the ALMS drivers’ and manufacturers’ standings.

"It's great to have the support of so many Corvette owners in the Baltimore Corvette Corral,” Campbell added, “along with Corvette owners and fans from around the world as we work to defend the manufacturers, team and drivers championships in the ALMS GT class."

Indeed, Milner and Oliver Gavin entered the weekend leading the GT drivers’ championship. The duo placed second in last year’s race at Baltimore and is the only pairing to win more than once in the class this season.

Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, stand fourth together in the championship, underwent some drama following an engine issue in the day’s first practice. The No. 3 crew changed the Corvette’s motor in less than two hours, and the car made the next session.

Bill Auberlen (BMW) was the fastest qualifier in class, followed by Joey Hand (BMW).

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R: “What happened this morning was unfortunate, but luckily we didn’t lose that much time in practice. It’s a shame that the guys had to change an engine instead of concentrating on making the car go faster. But they did a fantastic job of getting it back out there for the second practice.

In qualifying, the car was pretty good. It had a little bit too much understeer for me to really be able to have a shot at pole. I don’t know if we could have caught the two BMWs but it is very close behind them. Usually you don’t have to deal that much with traffic in qualifying. You have to make a quick decision – are you going to fight to get by or give some time and create a big gap. What I can say is that it will be worse tomorrow.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R: “In the end, I could have gone quicker were it not for traffic early. It is what it is. Third place is good. Based on all the practice sessions and qualifying, it will be an incredible race. I laid it all out there in qualifying. It’s so close that if I didn’t push that extra last little bit, I would have been fifth or sixth and that puts us in a worse position for the race. In this case, qualifying matters because the race matters, and because it’s hard to pass getting the car up front is important. The car feels good and should be great for the race.”

Corvette Racing