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Corvette Racing drivers Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner met with members of the media during a Zoom conference call Monday ahead of this weekend’s IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America and the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans.
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R
IT’S A BUSY MONTH COMING UP AHEAD FOR THE TEAM. WHAT’S YOUR MINDSET AHEAD OF EVERYTHING FOR CORVETTE RACING?
“It’s going to be a busy month, as you said. It’ll be hectic.
I think the biggest part is logistics for the team getting parts, cars and people back and forth between the two. They’ve been shipping stuff for the past couple of months overseas to get ready for Le Mans.
Timing-wise, it’s difficult having Road America this weekend but at the same time it’s always good to go racing.
It was a 1-2 last year for Corvette Racing but it was pretty wild circumstances at the end there with the rain.
I think Antonio (Garcia) and Tommy were fourth and fifth on the last restart and survived at the end to get the 1-2.
Hopefully it will be a little cleaner and smoother this year. It’s always been a good track for the team and the car. We did a test there earlier this year kind of prepping for this week’s race and prepping for Le Mans in the low-downforce kit. We feel confident going back there and to Le Mans.”
CORVETTE RACING’S ABSENCE FROM LE MANS LAST YEAR WAS STRANGE. HOW WAS IT FOR YOU NOT RACING AT LE MANS IN 2020 AND HAS IT FUELED YOU TO GET BACK THIS YEAR?
“When you watch it on TV I missed the race in 2018 and 2019 as well that’s when you remember how special it is. When you’re there, you’re in the moment and enjoying it because it’s Le Mans. But when you’re away from it and watching it on TV like when you were a kid, you definitely miss it and want to be back.
It motivates you to get back there and be competitive.
Watching last year on TV was difficult. This year if you knew the behind-the-scenes effort that the team has gone through with the resources and getting everything over there, it shows how much it means to the organization and Chevrolet as a whole.
I’ve been getting excited. I’ve been watching old Le Mans races during the days while riding my bike in the garage to get motivated. I’m looking forward to getting back.”
TALK ABOUT THE POWER OF MOMENTUM WITH THE RUN YOU AND ANTONIO ARE ON SINCE THE START OF 2020.
“It’s kind of crazy how well it’s gone starting in the last year. After the COVID break last year, things have gone so well. Things just clicked, especially on the 3 car side. A lot of things have gone our way strategy-wise.
If you look at the Road America race from last year, we were fourth and fifth until the rain came, and that’s what switched things around and got us back to the lead.
There were a lot of circumstances like that where we shouldn’t have been in contention and things just flipped around.
At the same time, you need to be prepared for those opportunities.
The team needs to be prepared to call the strategy on tire changes in that situation. A lot of times that can fall on experience. We’ve had a lot of close battles with the 4 car where they could have very easily gone the other way and they could have won all those races. Putting ourselves in the right position in a lot of times and having the little things going our way a lot of the times.
Antonio and I have been working well together and the chemistry has been good.”
CORVETTE HAS USED ROAD AMERICA TO PREPARE FOR LE MANS.
HOW MUCH OF WHAT YOU WILL RUN THIS WEEKEND CAN CARRY OVER TO THOSE FOLLOWING TWO WEEKS?
“The test was important. We learned a lot from the very beginning. We started on our sprint configuration and went to low-downforce. From the beginning to the end, we made a bunch of improvements. Had we not had those tests, we would have been learning those things at Le Mans but the time there is crucial to get on track.
We had two days there with low-downforce, and I think Tommy has done 45 days in the simulator around Le Mans with me watching! We’ve put in a lot of time and effort into it. A lot of it is also coming from that simulator time where we saw last year how important, how crucial and how well it worked.
That was reiterated and confirmed at our Road America test as well.
We knew from the simulation what to expected and what kind of changes we wanted to make. It’s looking positive from that point of view for Le Mans.”
DOES TOMMY DO MOST OF THE LE MANS SIMULATION WORK?
DO YOU BOTH PARTICIPATE OR IS IT BETTER TO GET A BASELINE FROM ONE GUY AND WORK OFF THAT?
“I do my fair share! Usually each test is two days and two drivers, and each of us will have our own program.
Tommy has been the Le Mans guy most of the days I’ve been there, and then my project would be Lime Rock prep or Road America prep.
My focus would be on one thing and his focus would be on one thing.
That way every time you get back in the sim, you have something to relate to. Sometimes when you go track to track, it can take a run or two to adjust your brain to what that package is doing to give accurate feedback.
Over time, the engineers have developed this process that’s shown to have the best result. Even these days when we go, there are things being adjusted to make it more accurate from a driver and feedback point of view.
When I was doing Lime Rock prep, it’s like a 10-lap run and I’d be done in five minutes and Tommy would get in for his 10 laps and I’d sit there for an hour watching him!”
TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH FANS MAKE LE MANS WHAT IT IS, AND HOW PLEASED ARE YOU THAT WE WILL HAVE SOME KIND OF FAN ATTENDANCE AT THIS YEAR’S RACE?
“I’ll never forget my first time there in 2012.
I flew over for the Test Day, was 20 years old and was just a little GRAND-AM driver here in America. I walked from the paddock to the pitlane and got stopped by like 10 people who knew my name and had pictures of me printed out of all my different GRAND-AM cars.
In America, we have a great fanbase especially with Corvette Racing. When you go to Le Mans, it’s a very unique group of sports car fans. It’s very special.
It will be missed but it it’ll be good to have at least some attendance. Missing the parade and some of those things will change a bit of the atmosphere.
“My dad used to say that in NASCAR and Formula One, the fans know the drivers.
In sports car racing, all drivers know the fans. In a lot of aspects, it’s true.
When you go to Sebring, you have the cows, the monks and the group at Turn 10, and you get to know them.
When you go to Le Mans, there are unique people like Therése (Heurtebize), and I think Tommy got knighted in 2015 by a group of British fans there, plus the Nerdmans come from Spain. That quote is true in a lot of aspects. When we go to those events, you expect to see these people every time.
So it will be a little bit sad if we don’t get to see those same people but hopefully in a few years it will be back to normal so we can see all our fans again that we recognize every time we go back.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R
IT’S A BUSY MONTH COMING UP AHEAD FOR THE TEAM. WHAT’S YOUR MINDSET AHEAD OF EVERYTHING FOR CORVETTE RACING?
“It’s going to be a busy month, as you said. It’ll be hectic.
I think the biggest part is logistics for the team getting parts, cars and people back and forth between the two. They’ve been shipping stuff for the past couple of months overseas to get ready for Le Mans.
Timing-wise, it’s difficult having Road America this weekend but at the same time it’s always good to go racing.
It was a 1-2 last year for Corvette Racing but it was pretty wild circumstances at the end there with the rain.
I think Antonio (Garcia) and Tommy were fourth and fifth on the last restart and survived at the end to get the 1-2.
Hopefully it will be a little cleaner and smoother this year. It’s always been a good track for the team and the car. We did a test there earlier this year kind of prepping for this week’s race and prepping for Le Mans in the low-downforce kit. We feel confident going back there and to Le Mans.”
CORVETTE RACING’S ABSENCE FROM LE MANS LAST YEAR WAS STRANGE. HOW WAS IT FOR YOU NOT RACING AT LE MANS IN 2020 AND HAS IT FUELED YOU TO GET BACK THIS YEAR?
“When you watch it on TV I missed the race in 2018 and 2019 as well that’s when you remember how special it is. When you’re there, you’re in the moment and enjoying it because it’s Le Mans. But when you’re away from it and watching it on TV like when you were a kid, you definitely miss it and want to be back.
It motivates you to get back there and be competitive.
Watching last year on TV was difficult. This year if you knew the behind-the-scenes effort that the team has gone through with the resources and getting everything over there, it shows how much it means to the organization and Chevrolet as a whole.
I’ve been getting excited. I’ve been watching old Le Mans races during the days while riding my bike in the garage to get motivated. I’m looking forward to getting back.”
TALK ABOUT THE POWER OF MOMENTUM WITH THE RUN YOU AND ANTONIO ARE ON SINCE THE START OF 2020.
“It’s kind of crazy how well it’s gone starting in the last year. After the COVID break last year, things have gone so well. Things just clicked, especially on the 3 car side. A lot of things have gone our way strategy-wise.
If you look at the Road America race from last year, we were fourth and fifth until the rain came, and that’s what switched things around and got us back to the lead.
There were a lot of circumstances like that where we shouldn’t have been in contention and things just flipped around.
At the same time, you need to be prepared for those opportunities.
The team needs to be prepared to call the strategy on tire changes in that situation. A lot of times that can fall on experience. We’ve had a lot of close battles with the 4 car where they could have very easily gone the other way and they could have won all those races. Putting ourselves in the right position in a lot of times and having the little things going our way a lot of the times.
Antonio and I have been working well together and the chemistry has been good.”
CORVETTE HAS USED ROAD AMERICA TO PREPARE FOR LE MANS.
HOW MUCH OF WHAT YOU WILL RUN THIS WEEKEND CAN CARRY OVER TO THOSE FOLLOWING TWO WEEKS?
“The test was important. We learned a lot from the very beginning. We started on our sprint configuration and went to low-downforce. From the beginning to the end, we made a bunch of improvements. Had we not had those tests, we would have been learning those things at Le Mans but the time there is crucial to get on track.
We had two days there with low-downforce, and I think Tommy has done 45 days in the simulator around Le Mans with me watching! We’ve put in a lot of time and effort into it. A lot of it is also coming from that simulator time where we saw last year how important, how crucial and how well it worked.
That was reiterated and confirmed at our Road America test as well.
We knew from the simulation what to expected and what kind of changes we wanted to make. It’s looking positive from that point of view for Le Mans.”
DOES TOMMY DO MOST OF THE LE MANS SIMULATION WORK?
DO YOU BOTH PARTICIPATE OR IS IT BETTER TO GET A BASELINE FROM ONE GUY AND WORK OFF THAT?
“I do my fair share! Usually each test is two days and two drivers, and each of us will have our own program.
Tommy has been the Le Mans guy most of the days I’ve been there, and then my project would be Lime Rock prep or Road America prep.
My focus would be on one thing and his focus would be on one thing.
That way every time you get back in the sim, you have something to relate to. Sometimes when you go track to track, it can take a run or two to adjust your brain to what that package is doing to give accurate feedback.
Over time, the engineers have developed this process that’s shown to have the best result. Even these days when we go, there are things being adjusted to make it more accurate from a driver and feedback point of view.
When I was doing Lime Rock prep, it’s like a 10-lap run and I’d be done in five minutes and Tommy would get in for his 10 laps and I’d sit there for an hour watching him!”
TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH FANS MAKE LE MANS WHAT IT IS, AND HOW PLEASED ARE YOU THAT WE WILL HAVE SOME KIND OF FAN ATTENDANCE AT THIS YEAR’S RACE?
“I’ll never forget my first time there in 2012.
I flew over for the Test Day, was 20 years old and was just a little GRAND-AM driver here in America. I walked from the paddock to the pitlane and got stopped by like 10 people who knew my name and had pictures of me printed out of all my different GRAND-AM cars.
In America, we have a great fanbase especially with Corvette Racing. When you go to Le Mans, it’s a very unique group of sports car fans. It’s very special.
It will be missed but it it’ll be good to have at least some attendance. Missing the parade and some of those things will change a bit of the atmosphere.
“My dad used to say that in NASCAR and Formula One, the fans know the drivers.
In sports car racing, all drivers know the fans. In a lot of aspects, it’s true.
When you go to Sebring, you have the cows, the monks and the group at Turn 10, and you get to know them.
When you go to Le Mans, there are unique people like Therése (Heurtebize), and I think Tommy got knighted in 2015 by a group of British fans there, plus the Nerdmans come from Spain. That quote is true in a lot of aspects. When we go to those events, you expect to see these people every time.
So it will be a little bit sad if we don’t get to see those same people but hopefully in a few years it will be back to normal so we can see all our fans again that we recognize every time we go back.”
