Third place in GTD PRO for No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R in caution-free race run

MONTEREY, Calif. (May 11, 2025) – Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports returned its No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R to the GTD PRO podium as Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims finished third in Sunday’s Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The result gives the duo two podiums in three GTD PRO races this season following their runner-up finish at the Rolex 24 At Daytona to start the season. It also is the second straight podium finish in Monterey for the Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller squad after Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg were third a year ago.

Milner and Catsburg were sixth in class this time around in their No. 4 Corvette following an unexpected late-race pitstop. The duo ran as high as second in the opening portion of the race but suffered a refueling issue on what was to have been Milner’s final stop for service with a little more than an hour to go.

In GTD, DXDT Racing’s push for a potential victory took a hit early on. Alec Udell, who qualified second in class, attempted to bring the No. 36 Corvette in just past the 45-minute mark for its first stop and driver change to Robert Wickens. Another GTD car, though, left its pitbox just as Udell was about to pull in which resulted in contact between the two cars. Udell had to drive through the pitlane, and the offending car was called for penalty.

Wickens got in the DXDT Corvette 10 minutes later for his first double-stint in GTD competition. Despite finishing 10th in class, Wickens gained valuable data and experience behind the wheel of the No. 36 Z06 GT3.R, which was equipped for the second race with a new electronic braking system from Bosch. 

The No. 13 AWA Corvette of Matt Bell and Orey Fidani finished 13th in GTD with Bell racing his way to second place in the Bob Akin Award standings for the team. The team’s next race is its first appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans next month.

The next round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the GTD PRO Corvettes is the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic on May 30-31.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER POST-RACE QUOTES

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I didn’t plan to have to fight at the end! For some reason I had some issues with a lapped car and that brought me closer to fourth place. I knew they would have a fuel advantage on the last stop. They seemed to be a little stronger, but I was more concerned about tire life especially in the last stint. We stopped quite a bit early in the window so I was concerned about saving tires in thinking about maybe a yellow flag at the end. We probably were missing some pace compared to the other two cars ahead I think. We saw that last year. I’m sure things will come our way down the road.”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “With it being a green race, if you gained on the first stop then you lost it on the next on in terms of pit timing. It kind of worked out as I expected. Maybe not dropping back to fifth at the start. That wasn’t part of the plan but how the racing went I was maybe a little tentative. The BMW squeezed me and clipped me slightly so I was behind him with a little bit of a gap because I had to breathe out of the throttle. I was waiting for what would happen in the brake zone but by then the Porsche was alongside me. That’s the way it goes. Other than that, the Corvette felt nice. That was probably the pace we had. I think we were about the third-fastest car this weekend and that’s about right. Well done to the team. Pratt Miller did a great job, and the Corvette was working well. It’s where we were.”