Milner & Tandy in the # 4 C8.R win GTLM at Laguna Seca

Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy in the # 4 C8.R finally prevailed over the # 3 team car, ending a 6-year Corvette losing streak at Laguna Seca and notching their first win of the 2021 season.

Milner started 2nd in GTLM and drove the first 58 minutes before handing over to Tandy who drove a double-stint, finishing a lap clear of the sister # 3 Corvette of Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia when the 2-hour 40-minute race was over.

Tandy made his 2nd pit stop a few laps after the # 3 and won, thanks to quick pit work and despite locking up the brakes and a trip through the gravel along the winding pit lane exit.

The # 4 team’s last points-paying class win came with Oliver Gavin more than a year ago in July 2020 at Sebring.  Laguna Seca was Tandy’s first official victory with the Corvette Racing Team as the 2021 Detroit Exhibition race earlier in July was purely for show. 

Their sole competition, (# 79 Porsche 911 RSR WeatherTech Racing of Cooper MacNeil and Matt Campbell) was never a factor, a sign that manufacturers have lost interest in the GTLM class now in its final year.

It’s also worth noting the track itself faces big operational changes ahead.  In 1957, a group of local enthusiasts operating as SCRAMP (Sports Car Racing Association of Monterey Peninsula) raised $ 1.5 million to build an operate a 2.2-mile circuit on a parcel of land at Fort Ord that was ceded by the U.S. Army.

 The latest in a long history fraught with egos and politics, Monterey County officials recently dislodged SCRAMP in favor of an influential local professional management company, charged to extract more dollars spent at this lavish tourist area.

For example, next year the traditional Monterey vintage races are pushed ahead, starting Wednesday running thru Saturday, freeing up more of the weekend and Sunday at Pebble Beach; all while the newly-created non-profit LSRF (Laguna Seca Raceway Foundation) recruits volunteers and solicits money to make the track into more like a park.

Mind-boggling stuff vs 1975, a simpler time with Frank Fahey and Bob Matkovich pictured here.

Results compiled by Wayne Ellwood

Vintage photo credit to the late Vic Oliver supplied by Mike Sepe.

Corvette Racing returns to action at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, Sept. 25.