This year, Corvette has split its racing strategy, running one C8.R in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and one in the WEC. Tandy and Milner currently lie fourth in the latter's GTE Pro class after second in the Sebring 1000-mile race and fourth in the six-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps.
Despite Le Mans being worth double points and a poor finish – or even worse, a DNF – likely to end their title quest, both drivers are prepared to risk running flat-out in order to achieve victory in the WEC’s marquee event.
“Running WEC doesn’t change anything for me in terms of preparation,” said Milner, who won Le Mans with a Corvette C6.R in 2011 and with a C7.R in 2015 (the team’s last win at the track).
"No matter what, we finish the race and we finish as strongly as we can… We race hard to the end no matter what our position is.
“Now that we have some concerns for points in the full WEC championship, we’ll race with that in mind. But it doesn’t change the fact that winning Le Mans would be the crown jewel for this season.
"This is how we’ve always raced and it won’t change. It just means that the points at the end of the weekend will mean a little bit more.”
Tandy, who won the race overall with Porsche back in 2015, declared: “Le Mans is Le Mans. It’s always been its own event. Now it’s a part of our championship and a double-points one at that, so it takes on extra significance now for us this year, at least on the #64 side.
“One of the reasons we entered the [full] WEC is that it gives us more preparation, information and experience of the series’ rules and regulations. It’s things like pit stop sequences, maximising strategy information and bits and pieces that are different from series to series.
"We have more information about what we can do better going into Le Mans. We’re coming into Le Mans with the best level of preparation that Corvette Racing has ever had.
“It’ll be the first time that we’ll run the low-drag aero kit so the car will be a little different than what we were used to at Spa. The other good thing is that we have last year’s experience and data to look back on. We’re not coming into this with a brand new car.”
Milner and Tandy will be joined in the #64 C8.R by Alexander Sims, while the sister #63 car will be driven by the usual IMSA endurance race line-up of Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg.
With IMSA no longer running the GTLM class (a WEC GTE Pro equivalent) but instead GTD Pro (GT3 cars), it means this trio has to readapt to cars with Corvette-specific tires from Michelin, no anti-lock braking system and slightly more power. However, two of them at least aren’t expecting this to be an issue.
Said Garcia: “It would be way different if we were running the GTD Pro spec. We are going back to our regular GTE setup in the C8.R, and I’m looking forward to that. Part of it won’t be ideal as Jordan, Nicky and myself will need to readapt to that car a little bit.
"Having the #64 car in the WEC will help the whole team, though. We will need to get up to speed at the start and maybe the #64 car will start some development early on.
"We’ve done this race so many times and have raced the GTE spec so many years that it won’t take much to get on the pace. To be honest, it is more difficult to drive the IMSA [GTD Pro] car compared to what we have driven for the last 15 years!”
Catsburg added: “The last time I drove a car without ABS was Petit Le Mans in the Corvette. That’s a bit of a handicap but we’re all more than capable to make that adjustment and be ready for it. I’ve always been going back and forth between GTE and GT3 whenever I would come race in the States last year…
“I honestly prefer a car without ABS. We’re all in the same boat and we can all do this, for sure.”
Taylor, who completed some tire testing in a GTE-spec Corvette in March, sounded a more cautionary note, stating: “I still think it’s going to be a big adjustment for us going back to that, especially with it being such a tight schedule on [Le Mans] race week.
"There is such limited time to get three guys through the car with such a long lap and adding in the car development we want to do. Hopefully we can hit the ground running and get comfortable right off the bat to get into development.”
