The new Corvette C7.R proved to be fast at the Rolex 24 at Daytona but sadly the new car was fragile on debut – Tommy Milner however is looking forward to make amends at the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Milner along with Oliver Gavin and Robin Liddell were in contention for victory on debut for the new car but a gearbox issue with a couple of hours to go took them out the race.

The sister car of 2013 ALMS GT champs Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia (with Ryan Briscoe) also showed strong pace but a water leak issue brought upon an early demise for the No.3 car as well.

With lots of testing under their belt at Sebring, Milner is confident of building on this week’s test to becoming a serious contender at the 12 Hour.

“Daytona was disappointing becuase we had a shot at the end. We were within striking distance of the winning Porsche but with two and half hours to go we had a gearbox issue,” Milner said.

“It was encouraging because we showed the car was very competitive already straight out of the box. It is a new car so little issues like that always come up.

“We’ve done quite a bit of testing here in Sebring and we have lots of data from years past so I think in general we feel better about our chances here in Sebring than we did at Daytona.

“The first session here this morning with other cars and traffic was strong. It was a good first run for the car.”