Sims, Garcia lead way to first IMSA win for Z06 GT3.R in Chevrolet Grand Prix
BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada (July 14, 2024) – Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia led a 1-2 class finish for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R on Sunday as Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports swept to the top of GTD PRO in the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Sims and Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette delivered the first victory for the Z06 GT3.R in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The pairing began from pole position and led 109 of 113 laps en route to a 0.408-second victory over Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg in the No. 4 Corvette following a late-race restart.
“Congratulations to Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims and the No. 3 team on winning the Chevrolet Grand Prix today at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for the first victory in IMSA with the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R,” said Scott Bell, Vice President, Global Chevrolet. “This is one of the world’s toughest categories of racing with a strong and deep field of GT manufacturers and teams. The high levels of performance, reliability and execution from the Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports drivers, crew and engineers were evident throughout the race. We congratulate them and the entire team for the hard-earned, 1-2 GTD PRO finish today.”
The Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports team has been knocking on the door of the elusive first win in the WeatherTech Championship since the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March with leads in the last five races. Milner and Catsburg gave the Z06 GT3.R its first podium finish at Laguna Seca with Garcia and Sims finishing third in the last round at Watkins Glen.
Closing the deal this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park was fitting as the Corvette Racing program won for the 13th time at the circuit. Garcia went back-to-back in class after scoring a victory last year with Jordan Taylor in the Corvette C8.R.
Sims and Milner each drove the first half of the race with Milner making the first move for a driver change to Catsburg in hopes of leap-frogging the sister Corvette. Sims pitted two laps later from the lead with Garcia re-emerging ahead of the No. 4 Corvette for the run to the end.
Garcia’s lead remained between five and seven seconds until a full-course yellow with 16 minutes to go. That bunched up the GTD PRO field with a number of GTD-class cars ahead of them at the restart. Both Garcia and Catsburg worked their way through the slower cars to keep their positions to the checkered flag.
AWA’s home race in the No. 13 Corvette ended early when it was pushed off-track and into the tires at Turn Three. Orey Fidani had climbed to second in GTD from 11th at the start before contact from behind sent the Corvette into the barriers. The Z06 GT3.R’s safety systems and chassis structure did their jobs as Fidani climbed out of his car under his own power. He was evaluated and released from the infield care center shortly thereafter.
Meanwhile the AWA team displayed the never-give-up spirit of the Corvette Racing program and attempted to get the car back into the race, but the damage was too great.
The next race for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R in IMSA is August 2-4 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.
CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – GTD PRO RACE WINNER: “This is huge for the entire Corvette program. I’m glad that we could finally get the first win in IMSA for the Z06 GT3.R and to get my first win with Alex. We just need to carry on like this and build on the things we have been doing. More wins will come.
“This ranks pretty high in my career. I got the first win for C7.R and C8.R, so this is brilliant! I’m happy with that! I’m so happy for the team. We’ve been so close. The pace has been there all year but we just didn’t quite make it or had issues or we weren’t in the right position. We’ve been knocking on the door for a long time. We finally got it to happen so I’m very happy for everyone at Corvette Racing and the Pratt Miller team.”
(On the late-race restart) “I thought about it right before the yellow. I was sure there was quite a big potential to have a yellow at the end. It seems like it always happens. I think I was being gentle with the tires that I had so I was able to push at the end. It was tough to be in the middle of the GTDs. They were fighting and we were fighting. But I was able to stay ahead of him. It was fantastic to bring a 1-2 for Corvette Racing.”
ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – GTD PRO RACE WINNER: “It was nice. To be able to lead the race from the get-go is always the place you want to be. The pace of the Corvette has been good for most of the season, to be honest. We’ve definitely gotten stronger as the season has gone on. Everything worked really well from the start. Tommy got past the Lexus, so I knew I had him behind me. It’s always nice when you have your teammate right behind you. The car was working well all week. I felt like I was in a good rhythm. I love driving around this place. Antonio was a very good, safe set of hands to bring it home.”
“Superb. We’ve had some pace this year at times. The car has been so good today. We were able to execute a really nice race and to be able to generally manage things from the front which is what you generally want to do. The Corvette has worked super-well this weekend. Pratt Miller has done a great job. We nailed the strategy, coming up aces when we needed to. It’s been a wonderful weekend.”
(On the late restart against the No. 4 Corvette): “You never know what Nicky is going to do! He’s a bit of a wild card! He’s a fantastic driver as well. He’s the best of the best basically. I’m sure he knew what he was doing, and I’ve got full confidence in Antonio as well. They are the perfect guys to bring it home one-two for the team. We all know how important it is to get this result. It’s amazing to get two wins here, but I want more.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – RUNNER-UP IN GTD PRO: “I’m absolutely happy with this. There’s nothing better – a 1-2 for the team. Both cars executed really well today. We had fast cars, for sure, but we did everything right. We had decent qualifying too and that helped. The start of the race was pretty good for me in getting by the Lexus and then was into a lead-follow with Alex there for awhile. It got a little hectic with some of the rocket ships in our class passing us from five or six car-lengths back so I had to fight that off a little bit. It’s a great day for Corvette Racing and a great day for Pratt Miller Motorsports. We thought this racetrack would suit us pretty well which it certainly did. I’m glad that we as a whole team executed from top to bottom and got the result we deserved today.”
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – RUNNER-UP IN GTD PRO: “This is a great result for the team. I’m extremely happy because we’ve been waiting for this result for quite awhile. I’m glad we finally had everything going our way with the yellows and so on. I’m really, really happy because I feel we deserved this.”
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