Wickens “Couldn’t Maximize” Promising Debut GTD Weekend

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Robert Wickens felt like he and Tommy Milner had “one of the cars to beat” in Saturday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach but “couldn’t maximize” it after several setbacks over the course of the weekend.

Wickens, in his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD class debut, and the Corvette factory driver, were forced to settle for a 15th place class finish after Milner was given a black-and-orange flag to pit and repair the rear bodywork of the DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R in the late stages.

It came after Milner was challenging for fifth in the race following a solid opening stint from Wickens, who started eighth after losing his quickest time in qualifying due to bringing out a red flag in practice, while battling a damaged car in the session.

Wickens, racing with hand controls for the first time in IMSA’s top series, set the quickest time in second practice on Friday.

“I’m disappointed with the result, but I am proud of what we achieved,” said Wickens. “It definitely wasn’t the end to the weekend that 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. This is a competitive championship, and we did what we could in the race.

“I kept the car clean and gave it to Tommy, and he got out in P10. 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 P5 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, that we can be competitive.

“The Bosch hand-control system worked flawlessly, DXDT Racing gave us a great Corvette. 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.”

Milner, meanwhile, described his incident while battling for a top-five.

“I caught the two Mercedes and all that was fine,” he said. “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. So racing is difficult for us.

“I think he got balked big time into Turn 8 and I had a nice run on him going into [Turn] 9. I stayed close to him through there and then just was peeking around in [Turn] 10.

“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. 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 he 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 video to know for sure, but that’s what my feeling is.”

He added: “Unfortunately, that was a big problem for us. We had to come in and fix it. It’s unfortunate for the DXDT team… kind of seems like this is how their year has gone a little bit so far.

“They’ve been really promising for a good part of the race and then something kind of hurts them a little bit toward the end, and that happened again today.”

Milner Upbeat on Wickens’ Chances Later in Sprint Season

Milner, who was in a one-off drive with the team in GTD due to GTD Pro not being in action at Long Beach, predicts a “darn successful year” for Wickens.

“Removing that and looking back on the weekend, I think there’s a lot of positives about what happened… getting Robbie in the car and comfortable in this hectic environment,” he said.

“There’s no more hectic environment than a Long Beach Grand Prix weekend with one day of practice and qualifying and then racing.

“From my perspective, I think he did an excellent job this weekend in the most difficult conditions at the most difficult track that he’s gonna experience this year.

“To me there was nowhere where he lacked anything. He had pace, he has the racecraft. He’s for sure is gonna want more and more time and experience. I think he’s going to have a darn successful year this season.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John