Speaking to selected media ahead of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT-only round at the Virginia International Raceway (VIR), #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R driver Antonio Garcia attributed the ABS increasing car-to-car contact.
When asked in a pre-event media call about whether the level of contact in IMSA was reaching its limit, he said:
“Probably yes. I mean, I never like too much contact.
“… I don’t really like the ABS; I mean, everybody dives in and just prays for the car to stop. So there’s a lot of big moves and at times you just rely on your systems, and at times the system doesn’t quite work as good as you think.
“So that’s probably one of the things [which triggers more contact].
“The cars are going faster and faster. The braking zones are getting also way shorter. So the whole thing is kind of going in the wrong direction in that perspective.
“So we were unlucky [at Road America]. I mean, I felt we didn’t deserve what happened at the last race where we got hit on the very first lap.
“And yeah, obviously the car wasn’t quite where it needed to be after that.
“But for sure, that always happens at the end of the year also. Everybody gets more and more eager about doing a good result.
“And at times… decisions are not as good as they are at the beginning of the season.
“I believe we are on the high end of where racing needs to be.
“But yeah, let’s see how it goes on the last three races, where I think as we always saw, I mean, Petit is always crazy.
“And I mean, if we are at this level now, I don’t know what’s going to happen at Petit.”
The five-time IMSA champion, including his 2013 American Le Mans Series title, has competed for Corvette Racing since 2009.
During his lengthy and successful career, he has mostly driven in GTE – or GTLM – machinery which did not feature anti-lock braking systems.
Furthermore, he has only recently begun driving GT3-specification Corvettes when in 2022 and 2023 the C8.R was modified to a GT3 car, followed by a new Z06 GT3.R for 2024.
Owing to his experience, the four-time VIR winner and GTD Pro driver explained that it was normal for the racing to intensify as the IMSA season nears its traditional conclusion at Road Atlanta for the 10-hour Petit Le Mans race.
Without the GTP and LMP2 prototype classes at the final (2-hour and 40-minute) sprint race on Sunday 25 August, he expects the racing to remain close with little disruption in the form of caution periods.
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