Neither BMW nor Corvette wound up winning the 24-hour race after a tit-for-tat exchange that raised hackles on either side of the manufacturer divide.
Milner was vying for victory in the #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R with just under three hours to go when he came upon the #48 BMW M4 GT3 driven by Augusto Farfus.
Farfus was well out of contention after the eighth-hour race restart crash that claimed his car and several more. The #48 had been leading the race to that point but lost several laps to damage repairs.
Slowed by the #48, Milner began to fall into the clutches of the #1 BMW driven by Connor De Phillippi.
Farfus defended hard, and made contact with Milner through the chicane after Turn 1. The Brazilian was given a drive-through penalty for blocking but the chaos continued later on.
Sandwiched between the two BMWs, Milner sought to go around the outside of the #48. With the #1 at his outside, the pair made contact and caused damage to the #4 car.
Milner was left incensed – and at full speed down put his hand out the window and poked his middle finger at Farfus who was entering the pits to serve his penalty.
WE HAVE CONTACT FOR THE LEAD IN THE GTD PRO CLASS! 👀@PrattMillerMS and @paulmilleracing get into each other in the international horseshoe. @Rolex24Hours | @NBCSports | @MichelinRaceUSA pic.twitter.com/dqyPy2AEYZ
— IMSA (@IMSA) January 26, 2025
Speaking after the stint, Milner let rip.
“That kind of racing is not what IMSA’s about. It’s not what sports car racing is about,” Milner told IMSA Radio.
“First and foremost, the driver should be embarrassed. The team should be embarrassed. BMW should be embarrassed for that kind of racing.
“It is team racing here, but not like that when the other car that is laps down, out of the race, whose only job is to basically help the teammate and not like that.
“Lap after lap after lap. Blocking, blocking, blocking. Waiting for me.
“It’s not how sports car racing should be. It’s disappointing. I don’t have an issue with the #1 car. Those guys are in their own race. It’s just the sister car that’s out there just to be a nuisance.”
Corvette retaliated (timestamped video above) with just 11 minutes left in the race.
The #4 Corvette spun the #1 BMW out of the final podium place, which gifted third place to Ford’s #64 driven by Austin Cindric. Sebastian Priaulx, and Mike Rockenfeller. The #4 was penalised for the incident and finished seventh.
Post-race, Farfus issued a statement via BMW. He said the situation between him and the front-running Corvette was “very difficult” and “My intention was to support my teammate in the sister car in the fight for victory. I was aware that it was hard racing.”
He added, “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.”
BMW M Motorsport boss Andreas Roos skirted around the incident.
“I think this, at the end, it’s customer racing — but to be honest, I don’t want to even go into detail into this because at the end it’s a give and take,” said Roos.
“Because what happened at the end I think in both directions it went not the way we would like to see the racing on the track.
“I think everybody has to take his points back home and hopefully next time we do it better.”
Following Farfus’ statement, Milner took to social media where he defended the BMW driver’s actions, pointing the blame squarely at the German marque.
“I want to say something for Augusto since it’s nearly impossible to do so himself right now,” Milner wrote.
“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.”
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