Wild surprise win & 2nd in a downpour at Road America

# 3 Antonio Garcia and # 4 Tommy Milner were classified first and second as the caution flag waved just before the final lap.

Just minutes before, # 24 BMW M8 GTE John Edwards was leading and # 911 Porsche RSR Nick Tandy was running third on the rain-soaked track.  Exiting the carousel, both slid off through the “kink”, vaulting Garcia and Milner from 2nd and 4th.

IMSA had stopped the race when a deluge and flooding made the track undriveable.  Torrential rainstorms are not uncommon in heartland America at this time of the season.

The race resumed with a shootout to end at 3:00 pm EDT for the benefit of fans watching on NBC national TV.  

Few expected a downpour of this severity even though rain was forecast for the 100-minute race that started under sunny skies.  While everyone on the Corvette Racing team deserves a heap of credit, in truth the outcome was settled by mayhem.

Chaos resulting from the longest possible red flag yet assure air a live finish*, the spin-outs, blinding conditions and that last lap caution. 

Swapping dry and rain tires would be critical so a 3-stop strategy was a smart call, especially for Milner who stayed out too late on slicks.

An electronic glitch also disabled his traction control.

It would seem misguided for IMSA to handicap the C8.R based on this latest of three straight victories.

Garcia and Taylor # 3 Corvette lead Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor # 912 Porsche by 10 points going into round 5 at VIR on Aug 21-23.

Road America under Mike Kertscher has done a good job in satisfying fans and keeping them safe such as at the fan walk and the Corvette Corral.

Photo credits to: Kevin Bowman, kevin.bowman1@gmail.com, Thomas Nickels, Jake Galstead IMSA & Rich Zimmerman

Results compiled by Wayne Ellwood

Note from above * The TV fiasco of the 1968 AFL Pro football “Heidi Game” between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets lives on.