TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTLM WINNER:WE DIDN’T GET A GOOD LOOK AT THE PASS. TELL US WHAT HAPPENED. “The pass was done in Turn Six. I did a 360 and then a kick-flip afterward… Nah, lap traffic is always such a huge part of this race. When you have two cars that are so close and so competitive here together, trying to find an opportunity to pass on the racetrack is difficult. My plan was to stick with Jordan as best I could and take any opportunity that arose in traffic. That’s what happened at Turn Six. Because the GTD cars have ABS, they can brake later than we can. Jordan went for a move on the inside of that corner and it didn’t quite stick. His exit was compromised and I was able to get outside of him on the entry and that’s the preferred line there. At times it’s frustrating being stuck behind somebody. I’ve raced here for a long time and it’s happened to me. Just using that experience worked out for us. The pit stop was massively important here. It’s always limited by the driver change and four tires. That was the case again here, and everything lined up right. Nick did a great job. You have to make good decisions in traffic always. One bad decision can mean seconds of lap time and it can mean losing a position. He did an awesome job of managing traffic well and bringing our Corvette home.”RACING HARD AGAINST TEAMMATES: “It’s the age-old rule in racing: you can’t hit your teammate. That’s kind of the rule we live by at Corvette Racing, but we are allowed to race. We can try to pass each other on the racetrack – even without traffic – if the opportunity arises. Because the cars are so close and it’s the same equipment, we know exactly where they are strong and where we are strong. We can look at the same video and data. To find a big difference on the track in pure pace is pretty hard to do. In those situations, the traffic usually affords you the opportunity to make a pass that can be clean. I really only had the one opportunity and thankfully I was close enough to take advantage of that.”WINNING AT LONG BEACH: “The atmosphere here at Long Beach is fantastic with the crowd and energy that they bring. Not that we haven’t had fans for a year-and-a-half now, but this was the first time I really felt the energy of the fans. You miss it in some ways. Before the start of the race, there was so many fans in the stands. It’s one of the things that you get accustomed to after a long time. Now that we haven’t had it for a long time, to feel it again here at Long Beach is fantastic. I’m not sure that has any impact when you’re in the car, but it makes for a fun event for them and us as drivers and as a team.”RACING AGAINST GTD CARS: “That class has gotten super competitive the last couple of years. They’re doing the same job we are. For us at Corvette Racing, we don’t look at that class as something easy in any way. If anything it’s more difficult. For those guys to get wins in that class is very difficult. Whoever races in that class next year is going to have a hard time.” | |