Yahoo Autos Sims, Catsburg in at Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller
With the news that Jordan Taylor would be returning to the family team next season, and with Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller doubling the Corvette presence in GTD PRO in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the full-time, four-driver squad for the two Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs has been determined. Alexander Sims returns as a Chevrolet Corvette factory driver, this time for a full season, along with returning veterans Antonio Garcia, Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg. Driver pairings of the quartet of drivers with a combined 34 years of experience with Corvette will be confirmed at a later date.
“We’re very pleased with the full-season IMSA lineup in the Corvette Z06 GT3.R for 2024,” said Mark Stielow, director of Chevrolet Motorsports Competition Engineering. “The four drivers have exceptional records and history with Corvette. At the same time, we thank Jordan Taylor for his years of service and success with General Motors. He has been an important part of Corvette Racing and a great ambassador for Chevrolet. We wish him well.”
Three of the drivers are current Corvette drivers, either in IMSA or WEC. Sims is returning to Corvette, having served as an endurance addition for 2021-22, after a year in the No. 31 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R run by Action Express Racing. He was part of the winning effort for the team at this season’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and he and Pipo Derani are currently second in the GTP points.
“It’s been fantastic to drive the Cadillac GTP car, but It’s great to be able to work with all the team at Pratt Miller again after two years as third driver,” Sims said. “I know not only a lot of the engineers and team personnel but also the other full-time drivers and guys I’ve worked with before within Corvette Racing. I’ve shared a Corvette with Tommy and shared a garage with Antonio and Nicky. It’s great to be going into a driver group where I know everyone and know that we get on well together. We will push each other hard, so from a performance point of view, it’s really good to know that we will all be on a similar level and eking more performance out of one another all the time.”
Of the other three drivers, only Garcia has participated in WeatherTech Championship competition full-time this season. Milner has joined in for the endurance races while also helping develop the Z06 GT3.R. Catsburg returns to IMSA competition after competing for Corvette Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, where he won the GTE-Am title with Ben Keating and Nico Varrone.
“This will be my first full season in America, and it’s something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time,” said Catsburg, who has wins in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Sebring’s 12 Hours. “Some of the most notorious tracks like VIR, Road America, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, I’ve never been to these. I’ve always wanted to do this because those are the events I enjoy watching always, and now I get to race there.
“When I joined Corvette Racing, the goal was to become a full-time driver. To have a chance to do full-season WEC this year and a full IMSA season next year is something I’m really looking forward to. This is something new and something that is a challenge. This will not be easy because some of these tracks are ones I don’t know. But I am ready for that challenge.”
For Milner, it marks a return to full-time racing for Corvette, where he has scored 20 victories and two championships in 13 years. Garcia will be the only driver with extensive experience in the GTD PRO category that was created for the 2022 season, albeit in a different version of the C8 than he has raced the last two years.
“It’s hard to believe this will be my 16th year racing with Corvette Racing and Pratt Miller,” said Garcia, who has 27 victories, including two in the Rolex 24 and four at Sebring, plus five championships. “We have grown a lot in our time together with many different versions of the Corvette. I think this Z06 GT3.R is a very good car. You can see that from the months of testing and development we’ve done on this car for 2024. I think it will be a very good race car for us in what is going to be a tough GTD PRO category with some new teams and maybe some new manufacturers. More importantly, it will be a very good car for the new customer Corvette race teams. I’m very happy to be part of the first group to race this car in this new era for Corvette Racing.”
Corvette Racing is in its 25th year of competition, having competed in various IMSA categories, WEC and at Le Mans as a factory team, earning 126 victories. With the advent of the Corvette Z06 GT3.R, the effort is transitioning to primarily customer racing, with its GTD PRO attack run by Pratt Miller. AWA Racing will be running two cars in GTD, and TF Sport will campaign WEC with a pair of Corvettes.
Jordan Taylor has been a significant part of that history, but moves back to prototypes with his father’s team in 2024, opening the door for Sims. In more than 10 years as a factory driver for Corvette Racing and General Motors, Taylor compiled an outstanding record of 33 victories and four drivers’ championships in both prototype and GT competition — including in 2020 and ’21 with Corvette Racing. He also was part of the team’s winning lineup at Le Mans in 2015 and is a three-time Rolex 24 winner in GM-powered entries.
Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller will make its competition debut in the 62nd Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 27-28, 2024.
