Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
Round 3 of the IMSA WeatherTech Championship
#36 Bosch/Mobil 1 Corvette Z06 GT3.R
Robert Wickens and Tommy Milner
DXDT Racing
RESULTS:
Practice 1: 4th Practice 2: 1st
Started: 8th* Finished: 15th
*Wickens fastest lap was discredited during qualifying for causing a red flag in second practice.
The discredited lap was fifth quickest.
DRIVER QUOTES:
Robert Wickens:
“I’m disappointing with the result, but I am proud of what we achieved. It definitely wasn’t the end to the weekend of the we wanted. Qualifying dictated the weekend for us unfortunately. We knew it was going to be a track position race. Qualifying was not what we deserved, we know we had more speed than that, but it is what it is…it’s a competitive championship. We did what we could in the race. I kept the car clean and gave it to Tommy in P.7. I think our driver change wasn’t quite what it needed to be, we lost some track position, but then Tommy drove his heart out. He got us up to p.5 and was making things happen. It was awesome to see.
Unfortunately we had to come in and make a repair after Tommy took fifth. I think that was a little harsh, but there is nothing you can do when race control gives you a black flag for repairs. There are a lot of positive takeaways from the weekend. We proved we belong here, and can be competitive, the Bosch hand control system worked flawlessly, DDT Racing gave us a great car. The car was very good all weekend and I feel like we had one of the cars to beat. We just couldn’t maximize it and that is what hurts right now.”
Tommy Milner:
“A frantic first couple of laps there out of the pits. I was fighting with a lot of cars that came out of the pits with me and fighting with cars that did the one-lap over cut. So there was a lot going on out there. Honestly, it felt like with those first 10 laps felt like 50 laps with how much stuff happened, but we were able to come out ahead of them and then focus on the next two cars in front. The pace of the Corvette was strong, for sure. I think we had kind of what we thought from the beginning- we had a car that could compete for the win. Maybe we’re not quite as quick as the Porsche, but in any case we had a quick car. I caught the two Mercedes and all that was fine. Then I came up on the 96 BMW, and it was just good racing. As has been the case all year long, we just don’t have the straight-line
speed, and the drive off the corner that almost everybody else does. Regarding the incident, I think he got balked big time going into turn eight and I had a nice run on him going into nine. We were strong there, I could tell already and was in pretty good position to make a difficult pass, no question, in the hairpin. I thought my braking point was fine and my entry speed was okay. I think, as is the case there, it’s hard to go two-by-two and he turned in because he needs to. I don’t think we did anything wrong really.
We just made side-to-side contact and I think we just kind of got hooked together. I’ll have to see the video to know for sure, but that’s what my feeling is. Looking back on the weekend, I think there are a lot of positives. Getting Robbie in the car and comfortable in this environment was great. There is nowhere more hectic than a Long Beach Grand Prix weekend and just one day of practice and qualifying. He did an excellent job this weekend on the most difficult track that he is going to experience all year. To me, there was nowhere that he lacked anything. He had pace, he has the race craft. He’s for sure gonna want more and more time and experience and I think he’s going to have a darn successful season.”
