Garcia-Sims first win this season at VIR

IMSA

Aug 25

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 #3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

📷 © Corvette Racing. #3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R ahead of sister #4

Sunday marked the first time this year that both GTD PRO Corvettes finished on the class podium..

First Corvette win this season

The timing of the result couldn’t have been better as Sims took the checkered flag by 1.070 seconds over the #81 Ferrari – the closest car to the #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.

📷 © Corvette Racing. #3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R

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 #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 #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.

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 #3 Corvette.

ANTONIO GARCIA, #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, #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."

Pole sitting #81 Ferrari second

With a P2 at VIR, Albert Costa in #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 keeps contact with the duo Garcia-Sims in the drivers championship. The two last races of the season look promising in GTD PRO as both teams have now taken distance with last year champions in both teams and drivers championships.

New podium for #4 Corvette

The #4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner placed third overall and in class for their second podium finish in three races.

📷 © IMSA at Road America 2025. From left to right: #3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3, #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 and #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R
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.

TOMMY MILNER, #4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "It's a fantastic day for everyone at Pratt Miller and Corvette Racing. We've been in contention a couple times this year and things didn't go our way. But they did today. This is really good for the 3 car guys in their championship and of course Chevrolet in the Manufacturers Championship. On all fronts it was really, really good. For us, I would have loved to have been P2 but we just didn't have the pace of the Ferrari. If I look at the whole event as a whole and the race, we were quite far back in P6 early. Things just worked out for us with the second yellow and the timing of it. Days like today where the engineers work so hard, the mechanics work so hard and they do everything right... I'm just really, really pleased to be on the podium for these guys. An all-around great weekend."

NICKY CATSBURG, #4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "Excellent execution by the team today! I felt like we weren't the fastest car today or this weekend. But the team did such an amazing job for P1 and P3. It was really tough to keep the Ferrari behind. They showed some real pace at the end. So I'm super-happy with a 1-3 today. It's good for all championships involved, and the team can be very happy with the results today."

Garcia-Sims first win this season at VIR

First Corvette win this season

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