First GTD PRO win of 2025 as Pratt Miller Corvettes take two podium spots

ALTON, Virginia (August 24, 2025) – Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports scored its first victory of the season as Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims won the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR on Sunday in their championship-leading No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. 

The timing of the result couldn’t have been better as Sims took the checkered flag by 1.070 seconds over the No. 81 Ferrari – the closest car to the No. 3 in the GTD PRO points standings for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Garcia and Sims combined to lead for 41 of 81 laps. They now lead by 53 points heading into the final two races of the season, and Chevrolet extended its Manufacturers Championship lead to 81 points with 770 points still remaining in the final two events.

The win Sunday was the seventh for Corvette Racing at VIR in IMSA competition. Garcia won for the fifth time at VIR – most among active drivers – and Sims is now a two-time winner. The Pratt Miller-run Corvette team also now has won at least one IMSA race in 25 of 26 seasons.

The No. 4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg and Virginia’s Tommy Milner placed third overall and in class for their second podium finish in three races. Sunday marked the first time this year that both GTD PRO Corvettes finished on the class podium.

Garcia and Catsburg began from fourth and fifth on the grid with the Pratt Miller team electing to split strategies between the two cars in the first race stint. The No. 3 Corvette was the first GTD PRO to make its first scheduled pit stop at the 46-minute mark for fuel, fresh tires and a driver change to Sims. The move paid dividends as the No. 3 moved to the lead after the class pit cycle as Sims took advantage of better tire management and a quick stop by the pit crew.

Catsburg went about 10 minutes deeper in the opening stint before handing over to Milner to go to the end of the race. The No. 4 went from second to seventh after the pit stop but the advantage of fresher tires allowed Milner to catch back up to a four-car battle for third through seventh while saving fuel.

The race swung further in the direction of the two Corvettes as they both made their final stops just inside the final hour and minutes before the race’s second full-course yellow to gain valuable track position. Sims and Milner ran first and second for the final two restarts before a pace advantage for the Ferrari elevated it to second, but it was not quick enough to chase down Sims and the No. 3 Corvette.

In GTD, AWA’s No. 13 Corvette of Matt Bell and Orey Fidani placed eighth in class but critically won the Akin Award for the second race in a row and second consecutive season at VIR. The result vaulted Fidani back into the lead of the season-long championship and a step closer to having AWA return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans next year.

DXDT Racing’s Alec Udell made a huge jump to second place in class in his first stint. A slow pit stop, however, knocked the No. 36 Corvette and Robert Wickens down the order to eighth after the class cycle. Unlike the GTD PRO Corvettes, the DXDT entry did not make it into the pitlane before the yellow with an hour to go. Wickens and Udell, in their final race of the year together, ended 10th in class.

The next race for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R in IMSA is the Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 21.

CORVETTE RACING Z06 GT3.R POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: «Finally! It feels like VIR has always been good for us. It’s been more than a year since our last win and we’ve been chasing it forever it seems. There was always something going on or this or that. It was a perfect race. It played out how we wanted by jumping everyone on the first stop. I’m very, very happy. Alex did a fantastic job. I’m so pleased and happy for this team and for Team Chevy. This is a great day for all of us in the championship for Drivers and Manufacturers.

«I was very nervous but very confident in the team and in Alex. We called a good race and it played out how we wanted. The Corvette had really good race pace, for sure. So I’m very glad for Team Chevy and our Corvette community. We’ve been chasing this win for more than a year. It’s great to do it again here at VIR.»

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: «I was just doing my job. Antonio did a fantastic job in his first stint and the team called a great strategy. We went aggressive on the first stop to try and force a situation, and it seemed to work. We could just about hold the gap to the BMW who had a significant fuel advantage on us had it stayed green. We were fortunate with that second yellow but I think we just about had the race anyway. A really great job by everyone. The Corvette was fast today. The Michelin tires held on nicely. In these temperatures they were working hard but held on well. It was a really enjoyable race and it’s great to get our first win of the year.»

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.»

Luck goes the way of Milner, Catsburg for second place in GTD PRO

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario (July 13, 2025) – Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg and the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R team gambled and won on strategy Sunday on the way to a second-place GTD PRO finish in the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

A call for a top-off of fuel under yellow by the Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports engineering team with nearly 80 minutes to go reversed the fortunes for the Milner, Catsburg and the No. 4 Corvette, which lost time earlier in the pits and ran as far down as ninth in class.

Two additional full-course yellow periods over the final 30 minutes – including one with 15 minutes left that ended the race – allowed Catsburg to hold position and put himself and Milner on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship podium for the first time this year.

The result solidified Chevrolet’s lead in the GTD PRO Manufacturers Championship with four races left in the season.

Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims also retained their Drivers Championship lead with a fourth-place finish in the No. 3 Corvette. The duo ran a more traditional strategy and looked likely to make the podium for the fifth time this season, thanks to a fuel advantage over two of the cars ahead of it when the final yellows flew.

In GTD, Alec Udell and Robert Wickens posted the best finish of the season for the DXDT Racing No. 36 Corvette Z06 GT3.R effort. Wickens, racing a Corvette at CTMP for the first time, started third and drove the first 45 minutes before giving way to Udell to go the rest of the way. The pair was in the same position as the No. 3 Corvette and likely would have made the GTD podium without the late yellows due to the team’s fuel strategy.

Matt Bell and Orey Fidani placed ninth in GTD with AWA’s No. 13 Corvette in the team’s home race. The team fought back from a lap down and likewise had its progress halted by the final two yellows.
The next race for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R program in IMSA is August 1-3 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTD PRO: «It was super difficult strategy-wise to know what to do. You would do whatever you had to do and it obviously went the other way for us. In a way, I’m happy that we did our race. Without the last yellow, everyone ahead of us was tight (on fuel) so it was going to be another fight with the 77. The 4 car made that gamble on fuel and obviously it paid out. For all the loss we got for running the regular strategy, at least the 4 team got the most out of it. They had issues on their first two stops so that put them on the back foot but for once it worked. Great Manufacturer points for Chevrolet. It’s good that either the 3 or 4 Corvette is on the podium in any race. That’s what we need to achieve. Let’s see if at the next races we can get them both up there. But today I’m happy for Corvette Racing overall and we’ll move ahead for the next one.»

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTD PRO: «It honestly wasn’t one of my most comfortable races for whatever reason. I made a bad call on the last restart; I got checked up by the Ford in front of me which compromised me but then made the wrong call going into Turn One with the Lambo on the inside. I tried to fight him, and if he didn’t back out then I was going to come off second-best by a long way. That happens. It’s really, really frustrating from my side to make that situation happen. I could have sucked it up and lost just one place. The team did a great job to get us back into the mix on strategy. I don’t know how it panned out on strategy. We initiated the strategy call and were proactive to get us back into the race, which was great. On the final restart I got back past the Lambo to reverse the situation from earlier. It was another crazy restart and I don’t know what happened. Thanks to the Pratt Miller team for getting our Corvette back nearer to the front. Huge congrats to the 4 car guys. They’ve had some tough races so it’s nice that they get a result.»

Garcia, Sims finish second in GTD PRO for third time this season

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (June 22, 2025) – Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims, Chevrolet and the No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R squad moved into first place in the GTD PRO championship standings after a second-place finish Sunday in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

Sims drove the opening and closing stints with Garcia doing the work in the middle to net the fourth podium finish in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season for the No. 3 Corvette duo and third runner-up result of the season.

The No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports team weathered – literally (early on, at least) and figuratively – a race that featured 10 full-course yellow periods and sweltering heat in the race’s second half. In addition, Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg came home fifth in class with the No. 4 Corvette for the best finish of the season as the championship enters its critical summer stretch.

Eight full-course yellow periods in the first four hours didn’t do much to help teams get into any kind of racing rhythm. Starting drivers undoubtedly had the worst of it on the day as a heavy downpour soaked Watkins Glen. All four Corvettes made it through unscathed and worked toward setting up track position for the final hours.

In GTD PRO, the No. 3 Corvette moved toward the front with Garcia driving the middle portion. He took the class lead with 2:35 left – the first time the No. 3 led on pace since Sebring. Garcia turned the car back over to Sims for the final 70 minutes in third place but the straight-line pace of the Corvettes’ competitors made it difficult to hold position over the course of a stint. 

Sims still was able to make a daring overtake for second place inside the final half-hour to net a precious position and valuable championship points.

Milner and Catsburg worked their way forward from ninth mid-race to their first top-five finish of the year. A late-race fuel save by Catsburg allowed him to attack in the closing stages and gain three spots in the final 45 minutes.

It appeared for most of the race that Corvettes would make the GTD podium as AWA and DXDT Racing challenged late for the race lead. Contact and a late penalty shuffled AWA’s No. 13 Corvette down the order and to a ninth-place class finish, and the No. 36 DXDT entry suffered a rear suspension issue late that ground the Corvette to a halt from second place with 10 minutes to go.

The next race for Corvette Z06 GT3.R teams in IMSA is the Chevrolet Grand Prix from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on July 11-13.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – SECOND IN GTD PRO: «Starting sixth in my stint, I was a little bit on the back foot there on track position. But overall we made no mistakes. Every stop or every strategy call, we kind of felt like we always went in the right direction. We got into the lead near half distance, so that felt really good. I felt I had the pace just to be there, and nobody seemed to be faster than us at least at that time. But the car felt really good. On the restarts, I didn’t expect the 48 and 1 to be that fast. Pretty much everyone was competitive. It was difficult to defend on restarts and so on. So I thought I had a really good run and the car felt really good. It’s a shame that we seem to be doing the laptime in different places than the others, but in a way I think we maximized whatever we had today. So fuel strategy, the race strategy, driver changes, everything worked really, really good. So I’m happy with that.”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – SECOND IN GTD PRO: «That was a fantastic race… really exciting, really tough to do it completely trouble-free with such changing conditions at the start and then such warm conditions at the end. The tires were, I’m sure, screaming for everybody. This is such a high-speed, flowing track that it’s really hard to save the tires when they’re getting hot in these conditions. Plus we had to fuel-save until that last yellow which I guess saved everybody. But it was really frantic. I don’t think there was a full green stint out there. It’s why we love IMSA… the racing’s so hard, so close and changes all the time. So yes, I’m really pleased with the job that we did. The whole team at Pratt Miller Motorsports did a pretty flawless job. Every pit stop was executed really well. I don’t think we ever really lost out at any point. We played it smart when we needed to. Antonio did a phenomenal middle of the race. That really put us in a good position. and gave me a great chance at the end. I raced hard. Some things went my way, some things didn’t, but it was great fun. It’s just awesome to finish second again. Obviously we’d love to win, but with the pace that some of the other cars had in the first sector here, it was nigh-on impossible to stay ahead if we were ahead each time, so I’m really pleased to be here.”

Garcia, Sims, No. 3 Corvette go from eighth to second in GTD PRO after wild street race

DETROIT (May 31, 2025) – Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims led the way home for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports on Saturday with an inspired drive to second place from eighth on the GTD PRO grid of the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic.

The No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R squad made its way from eighth at the start to an improbable runner-up result in a chaotic 100-minute race at the 1.654-mile, nine-turn street circuit around GM’s global headquarters. 

It marked the second consecutive podium finish and third of the season for the Sims and Garcia – they also finished second in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona. More importantly, the two gained 40 points in the fight for the GTD PRO Drivers championship races heading into the summer stretch for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Teammates Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg weathered early contact that seemingly undid their race, but the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R managed to claw back from 10th in class after five minutes to sixth at the end.

Garcia took the start in the No. 3 Corvette and moved up to fourth for the majority of his 30-minute stint. He stopped from the class lead, and the team lost only two spots after taking fuel and a mighty outlap for Sims. He moved up into second when the then-class leader had to make its second stop of the race and set out for the win.

Sims set the fastest lap of the race a couple of laps into his stint and got to within a half-second of the class-winning car before taking the checkered flag in second.

Meanwhile, Catsburg ran as high as fifth as the race’s second and final full-course yellow bunched up the field for the final 30 minutes. The team took advantage of the late yellow to make its final pit stop, which put Catsburg back to seventh in GTD PRO. He appeared set for a top-five finish until he and the No. 77 Porsche were assessed dual drive-through penalties for late-race contact while fighting for position.

The next race in IMSA for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R program is the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on Sunday, June 22 from Watkins Glen International.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER QUOTES

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: «I think we played it very well. It is difficult to stay calm and make the moves and so on. But yeah, I just tried to be smart. Probably at times I lost positions, but then I got them back and from that point on, I think I knew how to play it, so saving fuel, and relying on all the practice we did in the pits. So I think that’s where we really jumped everyone also on the stop. It’s a shame that we were behind the 64 for over an hour. We couldn’t really pass that car so that’s a long time following that one. But after all that happened yesterday, I think we can be happy with this. Alex did great, the team was great and the Corvette was great. Thanks to everybody.»

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: «If I’m perfectly honest, no, I didn’t think this sort of result would be possible with a relatively normal strategy. But people fell off all around us. We gained a few positions on the pit stop, we had good pace in clear air, anyway. And it worked out for us this time. It’s impossible to overtake the Ford, but we had the car underneath us. Our Corvette was really working well around the streets here in Detroit. And yeah, after the pit stop I took some big risks to try to get the laptime on the outlap in case we needed to jump people on the stop, which we ended up doing so it paid off. for sure. It all worked out well. I couldn’t ask for much more. The team did a great job. The Corvette felt nice. Thanks to Pratt Miller and everyone on the team.»

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.”

Late-race dramas bite Corvette contingent in 12 Hours.

SEBRING, Fla. (March 15, 2025) – Corvette Racing’s quartet of Corvette Z06 GT3.R teams suffered cruel ends to the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Saturday with misfortune ruining chances for GTD PRO and GTD victories in America’s oldest sports car race.

Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ No. 3 Corvette was the highest-finishing Z06 GT3.R with a seventh-place GTD PRO finish for Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims and Daniel Juncadella. The result marked an unfortunate turn of fortunes for the group of four Corvettes – all of which led their respective classes on multiple occasions.

The No. 4 Z06 GT3.R of Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone – also in GTD PRO – ran a clean race for the first three-quarters and ran second when it had to stop for a repair to the IMSA-mandated scrutineering logger. It cost the Corvette three laps and dropped Varrone to 10th in class. Catsburg made up a spot near the end to move himself, Varrone and Milner to ninth at the end.

DXDT Racing appeared set to challenge for its first podium in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition. However a late-race mechanical issue knocked the No. 36 Corvette of Charlie Eastwood, Alec Udell and Salih Yoluc – who drove a triple-stint to start – from the top-four in GTD down to eighth at the finish.

AWA’s hopes of a second straight GTD victory took a huge hit with damage to the right-front of the No. 13 Corvette on a restart with a little less than three hours remaining. Orey Fidani drove three of the first four stints, and Lars Kern and Matt Bell steadily worked their way forward and into the class lead on multiple occasions.

Subsequent stops for repairs dropped Bell from seventh to 12th but the Corvette remained on the lead lap up until being hit late by the leading LMP2 entry. It relegated AWA to 10th in GTD.

Perhaps the Corvette in the best position late in the race was the No. 3 of Alexander Sims, Antonio Garcia and Daniel Juncadella. After a strong run through the day and some clever strategy, Sims worked his way up from sixth to fourth inside the final 90 minutes and was on a fuel strategy that likely would have had him challenging for the victory.

However, the Sebring circuit bit the Corvette as Sims had to pit for a rear with a little more than an hour with a broken right-rear suspension component. It knocked him from third in class and in the podium fight to seventh and two laps down.

Corvette Racing’s next event in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is the Long Beach Grand Prix from the Long Beach (Calif.) street circuit on April 11-12.

SELECT CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER QUOTES

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:“A bit of a bummer, this one. Our Corvette had pretty good pace to be honest. Going into the night, it seemed to come alive a bit. We had good pace and I was able to get up to third before we had the rear suspension problem. It did seem the leaders at the end had pace that we didn’t, to be honest. I don’t think we would have gotten any better than that. Even holding on to third would have been a struggle. Full credit to the Pratt Miller guys for getting it turned around quick and salvaging what we could. We didn’t give up and still managed seventh place, which could have been worse if they weren’t as quick in the pits as they were. On to the next one.”

SELECT CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTES

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: «It’s not bad when you are involved in the fight for pole, for sure. So it’s not that I wasn’t going for it. I definitely liked the times we were able to start from that position, but today we probably didn’t have the ultimate pace against the cars ahead of us. But I would say car balance isn’t bad, so we kept working throughout yesterday and I think we made progress last night. It was improving, and maybe we tried a few other things in qualifying just to validate or discard toward the race. So even if the car wasn’t what I wanted it to be, I think it gave us that good information for tomorrow. I’m still happy with that. It’s not the front row. It’s the third row but I’m sure we can still win this race from there.»

Win for No. 13 Corvette is first in a 24-hour race for Corvette Z06 GT3.R 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 26, 2025) – The Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R started its second season of competition by winning one of the biggest races the world as AWA and drivers Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern and Martin Kirchhöfer captured the GT Daytona (GTD) victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona to start the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The No. 13 Corvette crossed the finish line by 1.454 seconds for the 21st victory for Chevrolet in the Rolex 24 and the fifth for the Corvette Racing program since 1999. AWA’s victory was its second in three seasons at Daytona, also the first in a 24-hour race for the Corvette GT3 and 12th since debuting at the Rolex 24 a year ago.

Five Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs entered the race with two making the podium. Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims and Daniel Juncadella placed second in GTD PRO in Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ No. 3 Z06 GT3.R.

GTD PRO Corvette Z06 GT3.R Results

· No. 3 Corvette – Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports – Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims, Dani Juncadella – Runner-up in class

· No. 4 Corvette – Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports – Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg, Nico Varrone –– Seventh in class

· No. 91 Corvette – Trackhouse by TF Sport – Ben Keating, Scott McLaughlin, Shane van Gisbergen, Connor Zilisch – Ninth in class

AWA’s victory began to take shape past the halfway point. Both Fidani and Kern completed the minimum drive time in the first 13 hours to set the stage for Bell and Kirchhöfer to drive most of the remaining 11 hours with Kern giving the pair a stint’s worth of a break before going the rest of the way.

The GTD race swung in favor of AWA inside the final seven hours when Bell stopped for fuel and tires and retained the class lead. The class running order went back and forth the rest of the way with Bell taking the lead for good with 20 minutes left and running as low as fourth after a restart with 40 minutes to go. 

As joyous as the win for AWA was, the fate of the No. 4 Corvette from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports was just as heartbreaking. After cycling up and down in the GTD PRO order, Tommy Milner moved into the lead inside the final two hours but his attempt to extend his lead over the second-place No. 1 car was repeatedly blocked by that car’s team entry. That allowed the No. 1 to get to the back of Milner’s Corvette, which suffered rear damage that required multiple stops to repair.

Despite that, the No. 4 squad remained in contention with Varrone racing his way up to second before the trio eventually finished seventh. The wild late-race chaos also saw Sims go from seventh to second inside the final hour.

The No. 91 Trackhouse by TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Ben Keating, Scott McLaughlin, Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch took the fight to the GTD PRO regulars and consistently ran in the class’s top half for the majority of the race.

DXDT Racing’s No. 36 Corvette was on pace for a solid result in its IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut before retiring at the halfway point with Charlie Eastwood moving toward the front.

The next race for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R program is 1812KM of Qatar – the opening race of the FIA World Endurance Championship – on Friday, February 28. The next round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Saturday, March 15.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “All race we were going everywhere, basically. We solved a wiring problem during the night, and the car got back to being alive. We were lucky our crew could fix that, and the car was back in contention and fast. Ever since I drove it at night, we at least had a chance. I don’t think it would have made a ton of difference, but it’s a shame that penalty that I had, which from my point of view, was a little bit on the edge and avoidable from both sides. Such a shame. That put us on our back foot, and no yellows for three hours, at least. That was painful because if there were a yellow, we could have made our way to P1 and P2. I think we were both fast enough to be P1 or 2 or be up front on regular strategy instead of gambling on our strategy. Here you only want to win, but the good thing you can take is championship points for manufacturers, drivers, and teams. We’ll go up from here. And congratulations to the AWA guys on their win in GTD with their Corvette.”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Right at the end for the last few hours, things really chopped and changed a lot for everyone in the field, really. But our Corvettes were working really well. We maybe didn’t have the pace overnight, but during the day things really came to us and we had the laptime. It was just a little bit difficult to race in a pack with a couple of the other manufacturer cars who were particularly fast on the straights and weaker in the corners, which is where we made our laptimes. Honestly, from where things looked like a few hours from the end, second is pretty good. But when you’re fighting super close for the win, you can’t help as a sportsman to feel disappointed not to get the win.”

Considering where you were a year ago…

“I thought that exactly too. Here we had a near flawless race. Our Corvette held up really, really well. The whole team did a fantastic job to execute so much of the race so well. It was a good start for the year.”

DANI JUNCADELLA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’ve had some time to cool down and to be honest, it’s an amazing result to finish second. A great start to the year. Really thankful to the team. They made us believe in winning, and we ended up just short. Alex is an absolute legend. That last 30 minutes gave us the shivers and made us dream about the victory. We just came short. It is what it is. Tomorrow will taste way better and I think looking at the overall performance and where we’re coming from one year ago, it’s fantastic. So really happy for the Pratt and Miller guys, everyone at Corvette Racing. They gave us a fantastic Corvette GT3 car and that was good fun.”

AWA heads to Le Mans; Chevy wins GTD PRO Endurance Cup Manufacturers title.

BRASELTON, Ga. (October 12, 2024) – Corvette Racing’s three Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs teams encountered mixed fortunes in the 10-hour Petit Le Mans on Saturday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, but Chevrolet claimed a key long-distance championship and the No. 13 AWA team punched its ticket to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

AWA driver Orey Fidani clinched the season-long Bob Akin Award with the No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R at the end of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s season finale. The award goes to the top points-scoring, Bronze-rated GTD driver at each race and for the season with the additional prize of an automatic entry into the following year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans for the year-long winner.

Fidani, Matt Bell and Lars Kern finished 12th in GTD and fourth among Akin-eligible cars Saturday night. For the season, Fidani and Bell were the highest-finishing Akin pairing in three races.

«Congratulations to Orey Fidani and all of AWA on securing the Bob Akin Award and an automatic entry into the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans,” said Christie Bagne, Corvette Z06 GT3.R Program Manager. “To see their hard work and effort lead to this accomplishment is something in which they and everyone at Corvette Racing can take a high level of pride. We’re excited for AWA’s future and can’t wait to welcome them to Le Mans next summer.»

That wasn’t the only season-long award for the Corvette program after Saturday. For the fourth time since 2015 – and first in GTD PRO – Chevrolet won the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Manufacturers Championship. The Endurance Cup is a collection of the five IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races, including Petit Le Mans.

“It is very gratifying for Chevrolet to win our fourth IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Manufacturers Championship,” said Mark Stielow, Director, Chevrolet Motorsports Competition Engineering. “We are very proud and pleased as a company to achieve this in the first year of the Corvette Z06 GT3.R in IMSA’s premier long-distance races.”

Those accomplishments offset a tough race for the two GTD PRO Corvettes from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports. The No. 3 Z06 GT3.R of Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims and Daniel Juncadella placed fifth in class after a frantic 10 hours that saw the trio lead three times but also suffer brake issues that required two extra pit stops in the race.

That the No. 3 team made the race was an achievement. The Corvette suffered right-rear chassis damage in a crash during Thursday’s night practice, and mechanics worked into early Friday morning to patch and weld the damaged portion back together. Garcia qualified the No. 3 Corvette fourth in class and remained in contention through the end.

The result was good enough to clinch third place in the GTD PRO Drivers and Teams standings for Garcia and Sims, and the No. 3 Corvette team, respectively.

The No. 4 Corvette of Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg and Earl Bamber showed strong form early from its second-place starting position. Milner was at the wheel when he was hit by an LMP2 car with the impact damaging the front and rear suspension on the right side of the car. The No. 4 crew worked quickly to repair it and get it back in the race, albeit more than 50 laps down. The trio finished 12th in class. 

The Corvette Z06 GT3.R program will return to IMSA competition at January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona.

CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It looked really good from the start until we had our first brake issue that put us a lap down. We kind of kept it there and with the lack of yellows that’s all we could do… just carry on and stay there. It was a gut-check race the whole way. With two hours to go, the last issue more or less put us out of it. We did fight our way back but needed some more yellows and action on track to get something good to happen. The guys did an amazing job. It was a difficult season with some challenges for all of us. I think we deserved a few more wins this year, but that’s the way it is. I’m proud of how the team worked and responded even in hard times – just like Thursday night and trying to repair the whole car just in time for qualifying. It’s a hard job for them but it was nice to fight for the win for them.”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was a typical Petit Le Mans. All sorts of things happened in the race, unfortunately probably one too many things for us. We had issues with the brakes early in the race with the caliper. We’re not entirely sure what happened when I went out toward the end. Immediately the brake pedal was really long… potentially a lack of fluid from the previous issues. We’ll diagnose and understand that better for the future. It put us one or two laps down. Although we finally got back on the lead lap, there were so many cars between myself and the leader that I couldn’t really make my way through enough. But I had fun. I had a really eventful last stint carving through a lot of GTD cars. I’d say the second half of the race was pretty clean. There were very few yellows and not too much mayhem. There was probably a lot less carnage than people expected. It was a joy to drive the Corvette as always. The whole Pratt Miller team did a great job to give us all a great, fast, consistent racecar after Thursday. I can’t thank them enough. Unfortunately we had those two issues that put us back too much.”

Garcia’s late charge sends him, Sims to P3; AWA wins second straight Akin Award in GTD

INDIANAPOLIS (September 22, 2024) – Corvette factory drivers Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims climbed back on the podium in GTD PRO on Sunday in the six-hour Battle on the Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course to lead the contingent of three Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs in the next-to-last race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Garcia drove the final three hours in the No. 3 Corvette from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and went from fifth to third in the final two laps to secure third place. It was the first podium for the Garcia/Sims duo since their victory in July at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Rain dominated the first half of the race, which saw three separate full-course yellow periods in the first 100 minutes. Sims and the No. 3 Corvette went toward the head of the class as the first GTD PRO car to take wet tires during the first yellow. A steady rain settled in not long after, with Sims taking the lead following a short pit stop during another full-course yellow.

A third caution period, this one for almost an hour, kept Sims out front until the rain stopped for good in the third hour. The No. 3 Corvette did lose some time having to make two stops 30 minutes apart to switch to slick tires just before the halfway mark.

Garcia drove the rest of the way in the No. 3 Z06 GT3.R, including a hard-fought battle during the final hour with the No. 14 Lexus and No. 23 Aston Martin for the final podium position. A restart with 55 minutes remaining set the stage for the finish with Garcia falling from fourth to fifth inside the final half-hour. He fought to regain the spot with five minutes left and gained another to third and the podium with two laps to go.

The GTD PRO pole-winning No. 4 Corvette of Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg finished 11th in class after losing four laps due to contact and subsequent repair with 75 minutes to go.

Catsburg led the first 15 laps from pole before making the team’s first stop during the initial full-course yellow. The No. 4 Z06 GT3.R was assessed an avoidable contact penalty near the one-hour mark before Milner was hit from behind by a prototype, which necessitated a lengthy stop to repair damage to the right-rear of the Corvette.

Both Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and AWA close the IMSA season with the 10-hour Petit Le Mans on Saturday, October 12 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Those last laps were tough. We had a good call to pit before a yellow, but the way things unfolded it kind of helped the ones that stayed out. So we lost a little track position to some of the cars that were ahead of me when we got to the last restart. The restarts with these guys and being so close is not easy. I made up a few places but with how hard the race was for everyone, there were times where I got caught in traffic and lost some spots. I thought we were done when the (No. 23) Aston Martin passed me, but somehow I regrouped and put everything together to get back up there to them. Maybe I had a little more than them with the tires or made some good choices. With two or three laps left, that’s it. It’s time to go! It was either a podium, fourth or fifth. I went for it, and it worked. It would have been nice to win, but I’m happy with where we finished.”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I was very happy that Antonio was in the car! He did a really, really good job. I really enjoyed the wet laps at the start of the race, so it was probably the right way around for the both of us. Antonio did a great job to keep in the fight. From the outside, I thought once Antonio got held up and passed by the Aston, I thought it would be hard for him to get back past with the pace situation as it was. Thankfully he stayed with them and kept fighting with them to the end… quite literally! It was great to watch.”