cor123
Active member
PRESS RELEASE:
CORVETTE RACING AT WATKINS GLEN: Points Lead for No. 3 Corvette
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."
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R - FIFTH IN GTD PRO: "A lot of yellows obviously kept everybody close, for better or for worse. At times it helped us for sure and maybe not so good for us at other times. It's tough out there. The class is competitive and with all the yellows everybody's always there, no matter what. We continue to be hampered by having no straight-line speed. I'm sure overall that the laptimes are close but when it comes to racing and the way that the balance is between all the cars… it’s tough. To be honest, I've never seen such a disparity in cars. So for us, we have to drive like maniacs on restarts, and even that doesn't really do anything for us. So that part's frustrating. Otherwise, we do have some work to do on our side just to clean things up a little bit for us to get a good result. I think the car was in a good window this weekend. There are still some areas for me to improve, for us as the team to improve. So we'll keep working on it."
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R - FIFTH IN GTD PRO: "I feel like we didn't do so many things wrong and we ended up in P5, which was okay. I think from a team point of view it was a good day with the No. 3 car in P2, but it would be nice to have a result with the No. 4 Corvette at some point. We didn't make many mistakes. We do need to analyze where we lost time. Some of it is bad luck with the pit lane situation the way it is in IMSA and it's not really anyone's fault so we need to just keep grinding. Whenever we are ahead on track of the 3 car it gets tough in the pit lane. So sometimes it's quite unrewarding because you feel like we're doing well then the next pit stop and we're not doing well anymore. So that's frustrating. But other than that I would say a pretty solid day. We stayed out of trouble, the cars are in one piece, and it was a good job for the championship. So well done team."
CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 36 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R - 15TH IN GTD: "What could have been again unfortunately for these guys. We were in a really good spot... P2 for most of the last stint and then actually the Lexus ran out of fuel in the last lap. Just 10 minutes to go and a rear-left failure potentially from some contact early in the race, but definitely not within the last three to four hours. So we just needed to diagnose what that was. But yeah, it was a super good weekend for us from start to finish and the team did a really good job. I tried to get these guys their first podium in IMSA, my own first podium in IMSA, but again it wasn't to be today."
Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick
CORVETTE RACING AT WATKINS GLEN: Points Lead for No. 3 Corvette
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."
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R - FIFTH IN GTD PRO: "A lot of yellows obviously kept everybody close, for better or for worse. At times it helped us for sure and maybe not so good for us at other times. It's tough out there. The class is competitive and with all the yellows everybody's always there, no matter what. We continue to be hampered by having no straight-line speed. I'm sure overall that the laptimes are close but when it comes to racing and the way that the balance is between all the cars… it’s tough. To be honest, I've never seen such a disparity in cars. So for us, we have to drive like maniacs on restarts, and even that doesn't really do anything for us. So that part's frustrating. Otherwise, we do have some work to do on our side just to clean things up a little bit for us to get a good result. I think the car was in a good window this weekend. There are still some areas for me to improve, for us as the team to improve. So we'll keep working on it."
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R - FIFTH IN GTD PRO: "I feel like we didn't do so many things wrong and we ended up in P5, which was okay. I think from a team point of view it was a good day with the No. 3 car in P2, but it would be nice to have a result with the No. 4 Corvette at some point. We didn't make many mistakes. We do need to analyze where we lost time. Some of it is bad luck with the pit lane situation the way it is in IMSA and it's not really anyone's fault so we need to just keep grinding. Whenever we are ahead on track of the 3 car it gets tough in the pit lane. So sometimes it's quite unrewarding because you feel like we're doing well then the next pit stop and we're not doing well anymore. So that's frustrating. But other than that I would say a pretty solid day. We stayed out of trouble, the cars are in one piece, and it was a good job for the championship. So well done team."
CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 36 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R - 15TH IN GTD: "What could have been again unfortunately for these guys. We were in a really good spot... P2 for most of the last stint and then actually the Lexus ran out of fuel in the last lap. Just 10 minutes to go and a rear-left failure potentially from some contact early in the race, but definitely not within the last three to four hours. So we just needed to diagnose what that was. But yeah, it was a super good weekend for us from start to finish and the team did a really good job. I tried to get these guys their first podium in IMSA, my own first podium in IMSA, but again it wasn't to be today."
Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick