Corvette Racing has split its efforts for 2022, running a single C8.R in the GTD Pro class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driven by GTLM champions Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor, and another in the WEC’s GTE Pro class, to be raced by Milner and Tandy.
For now, Corvette’s only two-entry races in 2022 are the championships’ respective marquee events, the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona in January and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
In addition to slight differences to the C8.R's spec in WEC compared with IMSA, Milner, Tandy and the crew members have had to spend much time familiarizing themselves with the WEC procedures and regulations. Milner’s only regular experience of the championship has been at Le Mans – an event he has won twice with Corvette – while even Tandy’s last full-time WEC campaign was racing the LMP1 Porsche 919 Hybrid back in 2017.
However, the pair enjoyed an encouraging WEC Prologue test ahead of this Friday’s season-opening Sebring 1000-mile race, completing 245 laps of the 3.741-mile course and finishing up third fastest, the nearest opposition to the works Porsche 911 RSR-19s.
Milner, who turned the car’s fastest lap at 1min56.409sec, said: “All things considered, these were two very good days. We didn't really have an issues, which was great.
“It was a good chance to understand the tires that we will use in the WEC throughout the season. It was an important two days not just for Sebring but also looking toward Spa, Le Mans and beyond. It's great to have a good baseline and we'll learn as we go.
"When you have essentially the work of running in two championships, there is a chance for some things to be overlooked or missed. But we had none of that, no issues that prevented any running, which was important for us to learn as much as we can.”
Added Tandy: “Even though we've run this car at Sebring a lot, it's kind of the first time we've run it here in WEC configuration. We have different tires, different power levels, different weight levels than what we run in IMSA spec. Even though the car and track is very familiar to Corvette Racing, we had a lot to get through.
“The good thing is that a mix of conditions – it was quite warm Saturday, and Sunday was very cool in the morning with a quite a change in track temperature – gave us some good work on getting an idea of tire windows and the like… It sets us up nicely for race week.”
Watch WEC 1000 Miles of Sebring qualifying and the race live on Motorsport.tv (geo-restrictions may apply).
