This weekend’s WeatherTech Sports Car Championship race in Long Beach, California was set to be Corvette Racing’s third win in a row until the No. 4 C7.R was robbed of first place by the No. 912 Porsche.

Unlike the previous IMSA races of the year, Corvette Racing did not have its second C7.R to fall back on when the No. 4 car was knocked out – with less than 10 minutes to go, while being heavily pressured by the pair of Porsche GT cars, Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette spun out around a corner, leaving Milner entirely on his own.But in the final two minutes of racing, Milner was successfully holding down the top spot – poised to take the GTLM class victory – until he was shunted in a corner by Frederic Makowiecki in the closely-trailing Porsche. The contact spun Milner’s C7.R completely around and stalled both cars. Directly behind both Milner and Makowiecki was Nick Tandy in Porsche’s No. 911 car, which was able to snake by the collision and into first place.

There’s been a lot of controversy as to whether this incident was in fact dirty racing, or if it was simply an innocent accident. In regards to dirty racing, the insinuation is that Porsche knew they were about to lose the race, so Makowiecki bulldozed Milner in the corner to allow Tandy in the No. 911 Porsche to steal first. The position that it was simply a racing accident, however, exploits that Milner took a bad line around the corner, resulting in the contact.

However, the most widespread opinion is that it was a deliberate move by the Porsche. Makowiecki was given a penalty, but with two minutes left of racing and first place being left wide open for Porsche’s second car, it made no difference.This race would have marked not only the team’s third straight win, but also Corvette Racing’s 100th GT racing victory; instead, however, the team had to settle for second place. Nonetheless, having lost the No. 3 C7.R and suffered a spin out in the last few moments, second place is still a remarkable feat for the team.

Naturally, however, Corvette Racing was less than happy with the outcome – in a post-race interview, Milner said, “It’s pretty disappointing that this is the kind of racing here, when we are better than that. I don’t mind finishing second if it is clean and it is the right way, but that wasn’t the right way. But at the end of the day, second place is good points for us. We can hold our heads high that we raced as hard as we could today – the right way.”It’s unfortunate that the Corvette Racing team was deprived of what would have been an outstanding victory, but – whether Porsche’s driving was dirty or not – such is racing. Fortunately, however, the disappointment was only limited to the GTLM class; the Corvette swept the podium in the Dayotna Prototype class, with brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor dominating the track in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing DP car.

Photo: Phillip Abbott, LAT Photo USA

The brothers got a solid first-place lead early in the race and held on to it until the checkered flag, finishing with a nearly three-second lead over the next car. Behind them was Action Express Racing’s No. 5 Corvette DP, followed by Whelen Motorsport’s No. 31 Corvette DP.

Despite the controversial GTLM finish, overall it was a killer weekend for the Corvette. Be sure to mark your calendars for the next Sports Car Championship showdown at Leguna Seca on May 1st.