Chevrolet Corvette’s high momentum. Part 1 : IMSA

IMSA

Jul 21

Third in the championship last year, the #3 Corvette for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports with Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims are now leading the drivers and teams GTD PRO championships despite not winning one of the five races so far but finishing as runner-up at Daytona, Detroit and Watkins Glen.

📷© Luc Warnotte at Daytona. #3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R runner up.

Chevrolet lead the GTD PRO Manufacturers Championship with four races left in the season after four P2 in five races and four P3 in qualifying with Milner and Catsburg recording their best finish of the season in the #4 Z06 GT3.R also with a runner up in CMTP.

Victory and runner up at Daytona

The Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R started its second season of competition with a GT Daytona (GTD) win in the Rolex 24 at Daytona to start the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as AWA and drivers Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern and Martin Kirchhöfer captured the victory. It was 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.

📷© Luc Warnotte at Daytona. #13 AWA Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R leads the GTD pack after last caution.

The Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ #3 Z06 GT3.R was the second Corvette making the podium with Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims and Daniel Juncadella placed second in GTD PRO in .

#4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R with Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg, Nico Varrone ended seventh in class.

📷© Luc Warnotte at Daytona. #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R (left); #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R (right)

DANI JUNCADELLA, #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.”

From Hopes to Heartbreak at Sebring

Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ pair of Corvette Z06 GT3.R suffered cruel ends to the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with misfortune ruining chances for GTD PRO victory in America’s oldest sports car race.

Perhaps the Corvette in the best position late in the race was the #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.

📷© Luc Warnotte at Sebring. #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Alexander Sims, Antonio Garcia and Daniel Juncadella

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.

ALEXANDER SIMS, #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.”

P2 and P3 at Detroit and WeatherTech Raceway sprint races

After a P3 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R ended the Detroit sprint race as runner up.

It marked the second consecutive podium finish and third of the season for the Sims and Garcia. 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.

📷© courtesy of IMSA at Laguna Seca (left) and Detroit (right): #3 Corvette Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R

ANTONIO GARCIA, #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."

Corvette Racing at Watkins Glen: Points Lead for #3 Corvette

Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims, Chevrolet and the #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R squad moved into first place in the GTD PRO championship standings after a second-place finish in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

The #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 #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.

📷© Courtesy of IMSA at Watkins Glen. #3 Corvette Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R

ALEXANDER SIMS, #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."

Runner-Up for #4 PMM Corvette AT CTMP

Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg and the #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R team gambled and won on strategy on the way to a second-place GTD PRO finish in the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims also retained their Drivers Championship lead with a fourth-place finish in the #3 Corvette.

NICKY CATSBURG, #4 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTD PRO: "It's very nice to finish on the podium. It's our first of the year, and it's great to do it at the Chevrolet Grand Prix. But we do have a lot of work to do. We got a little bit lucky today. We need to figure out where things keep going wrong for us in the pitlane and figure out how to get the Corvette in a bit better window. We have work left but the guys worked really hard. We did a really good job in terms of Manufacturers points. The points for the 3 car guys today was good for their championship, too. So all good."

ANTONIO GARCIA, #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." Source: Corvette Racing