Rounds of contact, yellows knock all four Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs from podium finishes

ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. (August 3, 2025) – Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims and Chevrolet emerged from Road America on Sunday with their GTD PRO Drivers and Manufacturers championship leads intact following a rough-and-tumble Motul SportsCar Grand Prix.

All four Corvette Z06 GT3.R entries in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round had their podium hopes dashed late in the going with Garcia and Sims recording the highest finish of the quartet – fourth in GTD PRO with their No. 3 Corvette from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports.

Both of the Pratt Miller Corvettes took turns out front in class in the opening 90 minutes. Sims was going for the lead following a restart after the race’s third full-course yellow when he was hit and knocked into the gravel trap at Turn One.

The resulting damage limited the Corvette’s performance for the rest of the way, but Sims and Garcia soldiered on to drive from 10th and back into podium position in the late going.

On the No. 4 side of the pitbox, Tommy Milner led 10 laps early in the No. 4 Corvette before handing over to Catsburg after 50 minutes with the Pratt Miller entry consistently toward the front. Unfortunately for Catsburg, he was caught up in an incident two corners after Sims’ off and spun in the middle of the track in traffic to fall down the order. 

Catsburg found himself roughed up throughout his stint from a number of GTD PRO competitors, The final contact from the No. 9 Lamborghini resulted in heavy front damage and a water leak that caused Catsburg to pull the No. 4 off-track with 15 minutes to go. 

In GTD, AWA’s No. 13 Corvette of Matt Bell and Orey Fidani placed seventh and won the Bob Akin round to move back into the lead of the season-long championship. Fidani drove the first 45 minutes – much of it under full-course yellow – and Bell ran as high as third late before another unfortunate yellow forced him to drive back from 11th following the race’s final restart with 40 minutes left. 

DXDT Racing’s No. 36 Z06 GT3.R of Robert Wickens and Alec Udell, on the other hand, benefitted from that yellow after a pit stop just before the caution flew to take the class lead. Wickens qualified and started from fourth place, and the duo kept the DXDT Corvette toward the front until Udell assumed the lead going into the homestretch. Much like Catsburg in GTD PRO, Udell lost multiple positions due to contact and close-quarters racing and finished eighth in class.

The next IMSA event for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R teams is the Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway on August 24.

CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: «It’s a shame. It’s the second year in a row that we have to finish this race with a damaged car. Last year it was a crash on Lap One and now because another car crashed into us at Turn One. It was very difficult to drive because I had no performance. The alignment seemed to be OK but there was definitely something on the aero side. It was difficult to hang on. I have to say that I tried to be fair to people and they were fair to me. So there was no chaos or no big contact between us or people trying to make bad moves. So I’m happy with that. I was super slow because I couldn’t go any faster. I tried to defend and used my experience to place the car wherever I needed to do. In the end I think we have a points advantage that is way better than it could have been. The way the car drove, it wasn’t even fast. So I’m happy we managed to save some good points. Eventually it will come our way and we’ll have a good race toward the end of the championship. That’s the way it is this year but I’m happy with the finish we had.»

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: «It’s IMSA racing. If nothing else, it’s exciting. There was a lot going on in the race. There were so many situations with so many yellows and pit stops… all the chess games going on. I haven’t seen a replay of the incident between the 48 BMW and us but I felt like I was giving enough racing room to them. It’s a shame that we got shoved off and sustained damage that frankly hindered the rest of our race. Our Corvette was really good before that. We seemed to lose rear downforce and it became a handful to drive. Without that I think we could have been in a situation to be at the front most of the time in a controlled state. Antonio did a great job to keep the field behind him for so long. It wasn’t easy to drive after the hit. It’s bizarre to say but fourth is actually reasonable considering what happened. But we came into this race with a fast Corvette and expected more than that.»