Ahead of six-hour IMSA Battle on the Bricks in GTD PRO

Corvette Z06 GT3.R driver Antonio Garcia met with members of the media Monday afternoon to discuss next weekend’s Battle on the Bricks – the penultimate race of this year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Garcia and teammate Alexander Sims are coming off a victory at VIR and lead the GTD PRO Drivers Championship heading into the first of two endurance races to close 2025.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.

YOU HEADED INTO VIR AS THE POINTS LEADER BUT WERE MISSING A RACE WIN UNTIL THAT EVENT. NOW YOU’VE GOT THAT RACE WIN. HOW MUCH DOES THAT HELP SET UP THIS LAST RUN TO END THE SEASON?

“It felt really nice to really break through with how the last year or year-and-a-half has been going. I mean, we were very close to victory many times, but at some points we were kind of lacking that last part of the race we needed to. So to win that race I was so happy that we managed to do that and came up with a win at the last race.

“From now on, definitely the championship is the new target. And also winning at Indianapolis which is one of the few races that I haven’t won either. So I’m looking forward to next weekend and let’s see how we compare to every other manufacturer and how competitive we are.”

HOW DO YOU APPROACH THE FINAL TWO RACES OF THE SEASON, KNOWING WHAT’S AT STAKE WITH THE CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE? DO YOU GO FOR WINS LIKE VIR, OR DO YOU JUST MAKE SURE YOU’RE AHEAD OF THE 77 AND THE 81?

“I mean, it’s difficult. Obviously, the last few races we’ve been always trying to cover different strategies coming from especially the 77 (Porsche) or the 81 (Ferrari). So you cannot really afford to lose a race because you did what seemed to be the right strategy, and then the other two guys you’re fighting against in the championship end up winning. That’s the difficult part of the championship now. So Indy probably won’t be as critical. I don’t think people will roll the dice as much as they would at Petit Le Mans, but that’s the classic end of the season here. So when people are probably not feeling very competitive or not in contention and at some point they roll the dice and they kind of put everybody under pressure, I think we really need to be very prepared to counter that. Or if it’s something we can do like we did at VIR and be the first one to really make the move. It paid out there and I’m sure we can always do that and still go for the win.”

YOU AND CORVETTE ARE CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDERS IN THE TOP PRO CLASS OF THE SPORTS CARS. WHAT’S CHANGED OVER THE YEARS BETWEEN ALMS AND NOW IMSA IN GTD PRO COMPARED TO GTLM? AND JUST HOW HAS IT KIND OF EVOLVED FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE OVER THE YEARS FIGHTING FOR THESE CHAMPIONSHIPS?

“I don’t think it has changed much in the way we work together. The team has been the same over the last many years. I think this is my 16th year with them, so the approach has always been the same. Obviously the cars have been changing from GT1 to GT2 to GTLM. Those were really, really cool cars to drive; we really had a lot of fun during those years.

“With the transition to GT3, it was a little bit different for us. In the first couple of years we kind of did a mixed car (GTLM to GT3-spec) in order to be able to race, which IMSA allowed us to in order to keep going as we waited for the Z06 GT3.R. So I don’t see many differences because there is always a really good level of drivers and good teams you’re fighting against. The Corvette Racing mentality has been always the same, and the approach to every single race or championship has been the same regardless of the actual class or car we were running. So this is just another year. We are very happy and proud that we are in contention. The last two years we came up short so we are looking forward to the last two where we can show and use all the knowledge we have to be in this position. Let’s see if we have enough of everything – pace, race strategy, and I would say a little bit of luck. If everything falls in the right direction, we can come up with another championship.”

WHEN DID INDIANAPOLIS AS A TRACK CROSS YOUR VISION AS A YOUNG MAN, AND WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO WIN THERE?

“Even as a European driver, I always looked at the Indy 500. Ever since my first time I raced there in GRAND-AM, I really loved it and loved to be there, even if we were going the other way around! But I really, really liked it. So it’s a shame I’ve never been able to win there, but I had a lot of fun.

“Even last year was a fun race between all of us with all the changing weather conditions we had. It’s a six-hour race, so there’s also a ton of strategy playing out. In order to be in a really good place at the end of the race instead of a regular two-and-a-half hour race, you need to work it out a little bit differently. Last year at some point we looked really well and then strategy didn’t go our way where we had to do an extra stop compared to the rest. At the end of the day we came up third so let’s see how this race unfolds. Obviously we have to be smart and not just go for the win and maybe make mistakes on strategy or on track. Again it’s a very long race but it’s going to be difficult. Traffic is very tricky there and you just need to play it smart and be up there in the last hour or half-an-hour. It would mean a lot for us if we come up with a win as it would mean that we are even in a better position for the championship.

THAT’S BIG PICTURE BUT CAN YOU IMAGINE BEING ON THE TOP STEP FOR YOU PERSONALLY WHAT WOULD THAT MEAN? 

“I’ve seen so many drivers going up that podium. I’ve been lucky enough to be on the best podiums in the world, and Indy is one of the ones that I haven’t been on the first step to, so looking forward for that.”

NOW THAT YOU’VE HAD A COUPLE YEARS RACING IN IN GTD PRO WITH SAME SPEC OF GT3 CAR, HOW BIG A CHALLENGE HAS IT BEEN TO ADAPT TO THERE NOT BEING A PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO GT CLASSES?

“It was difficult during the first two years where we were completely mixed up in the race where we were doing our own strategies. By that I mean covering other teams in our own race, and in the meantime there were GTDs doing their own race. There were times where the whole GTD field was ahead of us because of strategy, so that would make it difficult. I remember one of the Road Atlanta races where on every single yellow flag we cycled to the back of the GTD field so that wasn’t nice at the time. I think because if you would have at some point GTDs maybe driven by their Bronze or Silver, you don’t want to be in the front of the race because you don’t want to be in front of all the maniacs of GTD PRO being right behind you on the restarts. That made it very difficult to deal with both sides of the GTD classes. So I think it was the right call to do the split starts and on every restart to split the classes. That brings both of the races completely apart and so now we can race GTD PROs and GTDs can race GTDs. Maybe it’s difficult for the GTDs to be placed behind the last GTD PRO car on every restart. Overall it brought a little bit better racing and less crashes between classes, which I think wasn’t right before. So obviously, I think IMSA is doing a really, really good job on that, listening to the teams and doing different things just to make things a bit better. And I think it’s going in the right direction. So I’m glad to be in this championship too. And it looks like the whole championship is in a very, very healthy situation right now. So yeah, I think we are in the right spot now.”