Corvette Racing’s Tommy Milner consolidated his thoughts on the new-for-2024 Z06 GT3.R citing performance differences where the car gains its speed to fellow IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship rivals.
The 2016 IMSA GTLM champion has driven for the General Motors manufacturer since 2011 and the Z06 GT3.R is the fifth car he has driven in for them, and is also one of seven GTD Pro manufacturers.
After closely missing out on the win last time out at Watkins Glen, when he was forced to pit a lap before the end for fuel, a maiden win is still on the cards for the #4 driver.
I think we’re in a good place right now with the car,” said Milner in a pre-event media briefing ahead of the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park sprint.
I think the start of the year, it’s always tough to go to these long distance races – Daytona, Sebring – with a brand new car.
“I would say we’ve probably had a little bit more lingering issues than we would have liked… But I feel like at this point now that the ones that have been lingering, we’ve got a handle on, finally, or we feel like we have at least.
“You never know until the results show it but Le Mans was good for the program generally as far as reliability goes.
“So from that side, there’s been some very minor sort of updates to correct some of the problems. All of our testing now has been very smooth sailing typically.
“… The car has been fast from the beginning so from that side, it’s been nice that we haven’t had to worry so much about trying to find speed from the car.
“I think we feel like that right now we’re a little bit maybe too mismatched with some of the other cars in our class with how we make our speed versus them.
“We seem to be down on power typically to most cars, so some of the racing can be a little bit difficult for us at times.
“We can get stuck behind cars quite easily that might be slower than us over a lap, but we can’t do much with it currently with the way the BoP is.
“So it changes, obviously certain tracks at Laguna Seca [P3 finish], we were fast.
“And we felt like the way that we make our speed and our pace overlap didn’t hinder us there. Watkins Glen was a little bit different in that regard.
“… I know that a lot of the men and women at Corvette Racing and Pratt Miller and GM have been working hard to fix the small little things that become bigger things in races, obviously. And I think that we’re in a much better place there now.”
As one of the four drivers full-season IMSA drivers across two Z06 GT3.Rs, Milner is keen to take his first win since Virginia International Raceway in 2021, with the help of co-driver Nicky Catsburg on Sunday 14 July.
