There are very few events in motorsport that are more contentious and grueling than a 24-hour race. The GTD Pro class at last weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona perfectly exemplifies how endurance races can devolve into a delightfully gritty free-for-all cage fight. Daytona’s on-track slugfest featured Corvette driver Tommy Milner sticking his entire arm out of his window to flip off BMW’s Augusto Farfus.
During the race’s closing stages, Milner’s No. 4 Corvette was in the lead and fending off the No. 1 BMW with Connor De Phillippi behind the wheel. Farfus’ No. 48 BMW was running several laps down after getting collected in an earlier crash. Aiming to help his teammate by hindering the Corvette driver, Farfus deliberately blocked and held up Milner. And he did it more than once, despite receiving a reprimand from IMSA for his actions.
Tempers flared when De Phillipi made a move for the lead while the Corvette was stuck behind Farfus. Milner opened his steering wheel in the International Horseshoe and bashed the No. 4 into De Phillipi’s BMW. The Corvette took the brunt of the damage, with left-rear taillights dangling off the car.
Milner showed his displeasure when Farfus came into pit, and he finally blasted past him. It was an evocative image on the TV feed, Milner’s arm stretched out of the damaged Corvette’s small sliding window. Regarding the tussle, Farfus told Racer:
“The situation with the Corvette and our sister car was very difficult. My intention was to support my teammate in the sister car in the fight for victory. I was aware that it was hard racing. The situation that led to the collision between the Corvette and Connor De Phillippi behind me was very unfortunate, but I had nothing to do with it directly. I stayed on my inside line.”
Yes, there was another collision with less than 12 minutes to go. The BMW-Corvette feud continued to boil even after driver changes. Nicolás Varrone used the No. 4 Corvette to punt the No. 1 BMW, Kelvin van der Linde now driving, in Turn 1. Milner blamed BMW team orders for provoking everything that happened in a social media post:
“I want to say something for Augusto since it’s impossible to do so himself right now. I’ve raced with and against Augusto for 15 years. He has always been fair with me on track. I’m certain that was him following orders.”
Amid this chaos, neither BMW nor Corvette took home the class victory. Ford won the prize watches for GTD Pro, the Mustang’s first race win since its ignominious introduction last year.
