“It’s farewell but maybe not goodbye” for Nick Tandy, who ran his final laps for the Corvette Racing team during the FIA World Endurance Championship season finale at Bahrain.
That’s the way Tandy summed up leaving the Pratt Miller-run factory team, ending his two-year stretch behind the wheel of the C8.R Corvette with co-driver Tommy Milner.
“Honestly it’s sad to talk about summing up the end of what’s happened the last two years,” Tandy told Sportscar365. “I’ve been lucky enough to be part of this team, which is something not a lot of drivers can say.”
Tandy and Milner’s full-season campaign in the WEC included a GTE-Pro class win in the 6 Hours of Monza, along with a concurrent IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship campaign.
“I’ve been lucky to race this awesome race car in the two best sports car championships in the world,” Tandy said. “Not many people get to be in my position, so I feel very fortunate for that.”
Nick Tandy (L) with teammate Tommy Milner (R)
Tandy says he’s grateful for the opportunity to make “lifelong friends within the team,” adding that “I’ve met so many enthusiastic and committed Corvette owners and fans who three years ago wouldn’t have talked to me, but now they’ve taken me on and treated me like one of their own.”
While Tandy is rumored to be returning to Porsche’s factory LMDh program, he’s not burning any bridges with the Corvette team.
“It’s farewell but maybe not goodbye,” the 38-year-old driver said. “We never know what the future holds.”
His final laps for Corvette, at least for now, came in the GTE-spec Corvette C8.R during Sunday’s WEC rookie test, helping dial in the car for Corvette newcomer Ben Keating and several Silver-rated drivers being evaluated for the team’s switch to GTE-Am next year.
“I left the pit lane for my last run in the test, and Tyler [Neff, race engineer] and Tim [Kavanagh, car chief] came on the radio and said, ‘Right, these will be your last few laps,” Tandy said. “It hadn’t dawned on me that it would be the last time I’d drive the C8.R and in the GTE configuration. I left the pit lane and this struck me.” When he first joined the Corvette team, Tandy says the plan wasn’t for such a short run, but “things within the sport changed and plans within the team had to change. Luckily I have somewhere else to go where I will still see all my friends in this team across the paddocks.”
Calling his stint with Corvette Racing an “awesome two years,” Tandy says he “thoroughly enjoyed every day of work, which you can’t often say.”
“There are good days and there are very long days,” he added, “but even the long days with Corvette Racing are still filled with fun and excitement.”
He says he’ll “hold forever” the race days and “especially the days where we won,” extending his thanks to Corvette Racing, Chevrolet, General Motors, and “especially each and every member of this team who has taken me in as one of their own.”
The past two years, the team has spent “having a great time in professional sport together,” Tandy said.
Indeed, on Sunday, his teammates greeted him in the pit lane “with a great big signboard with a specially written slogan for me, which is quite funny,” Tandy said.
“To see them waving all the flags just for me… it was pretty emotional. And we got red flagged for the enthusiasm of the team, which I didn’t know at the time!”
Calling it “an overwhelming and emotional thing,” Tandy says he’s “just one member of a great big group of people who go racing together. It’s nice to see that people have appreciated my time here, and it’s sad we won’t be doing it again in January.”
Source:
Sportscar365.com
Related:
Corvette Racing at Bahrain: What a Run to GTE Pro Podium!
Corvette Racing at Monza: Celebrazione for Tandy, Milner!
Corvette Racing at Le Mans: Hyperpole for Tandy, No. 64 Corvette
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Porsche Motorsports will be very happy to have NT back with them.
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