Yahoo Autos Corvette’s first IMSA GT3 win “huge for the entire program”
Corvette Racing has a long history of winning, including last year’s event at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. So another victory, even a one-two finish in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD PRO category, might not seem like a milestone.
This was a big deal.
For a quarter-century, Corvette Racing was a standalone entity racing in various formulae – GT1, GT2, GTE/GTLM. But with the phasing out of the GTE category in worldwide racing, GM finally embarked on producing its own in-house GT3 car. Not only would the car be raced by a factory-supported team, but sold to customers worldwide to race in various championships.
The Corvette Z06 GT3.R had already had its first victory in the hands of a customer, as DXDT Racing took a victory in GT World Challenge America’s Pro class at COTA in May. But a win in IMSA’s GTD PRO class had eluded Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports, often due to the team’s own errors. But in Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix, it all finally came together for the 116th victory in Corvette Racing’s modern history in IMSA, ALMS and Grand-Am.
“It’s fantastic to get it here at Mosport,” said Alexander Sims, who started the No. 3 Z06 GT3.R before handing it over to Antonio Garcia. “It’s a big race for Chevrolet, so to get a Corvette one-two is a big thing. Honestly, we’ve had good pace in qualifying this season so far, but haven’t quite been able to convert it. So today was a smooth race. We executed well, were fast when we needed to be, had pace in the car. Just a really, really nice race.”
Garcia now has the distinction of being part of the first victory for three generations of Corvette racer – the C7.R, the C8.R and now the GT3.R. For the Spaniard, who already had 29 wins in IMSA, to say it ranks high among his successes indicates the magnitude of the achievement.
“This is huge for the entire Corvette program,” he said. “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.”
Sims and Garcia are fourth in the GTD PRO points, but it’s going to be quite the task to pull themselves into championship contention with four races left. Still, with the way the year started, the fact that that’s even a possibility is a bit of an achievement.
Tommy Milner – part of the DXDT squad with Alec Udell that won two races at COTA – and Nicky Catsburg finished second at CTMP in the No. 4 Corvette, less than half a second behind the No. 3. The next goal is to get a victory for that car, as well as a victory in an endurance race, for which Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports will have two more chances this season.
But the first GTD PRO victory for the Z06 GT3.R was the first milestone of what will likely be many. And it didn’t go unnoticed.
“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, one-two GTD PRO finish.”
The team will have its next chance at victory in the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America next month.
