“There is something about Long Beach,” Milner said. “Something about having magic here. I don’t know what it is. We had it today. We had it last year. Whatever it is, I want to keep it. Really tough race today. The track was really, really tough with the marbles off line. Super difficult. I almost threw it away on the last corner, last lap. Really, really tough conditions. But, Corvette was great. Michelins were great. They were super strong right to the end. Just had that little bit of magic, little bit of luck and that’s all we needed today!”

After the final restart, the No. 4 Corvette took the lead from the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR of Laurens Vanthoor and Earl Bamber which encountered a suspension failure. The Corvette went on to win by a margin of 2.1 seconds over the No. 67 Ford GT of Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe. The No. 66 Ford GT of Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller took the final step on the podium finishing third.

Courtesy of IMSA

It was a record setting day for Oliver Gavin who won for the fifth time on the streets of Long Beach. It was Tommy Milner’s third win and Corvette Racing’s seventh win at Long Beach. Porsche also has seven Long Beach wins.

Courtesy of IMSA

“Amazing the way that all came around,” Gavin said. “Yes, we had a little bit of luck, but Tommy had to drive brilliantly at the end there and stay out of trouble. There were a number of incidents there. Man, we could have gotten taken out. We could have gotten in the wall. Tommy just navigated. We had a great pit stop and the guys did an amazing job at the stop. We jumped a number of people and put us in position there so we could challenge for that victory. And we got it! That is our first win in season No. 20 for Corvette Racing. And it is my 50th victory with the team. That is pretty amazing. I am just thrilled.”

The No. 3 Corvette of Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia finished fourth followed by the No. 24 BMW M8 GTE of Jesse Krohn and John Edwards and the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR of Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy in sixth place. It was Corvette Racing’s 107th IMSA win and Oliver Gavin’s 48th career IMSA win.