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CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: Garcia, Sims Take VIR Victory!
First GTD PRO win of 2025 as Pratt Miller Corvettes take two podium spots
ALTON, Virginia (August 24, 2025) – 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 No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
The timing of the result couldn’t have been better as Sims took the checkered flag by 1.070 seconds over the No. 81 Ferrari – the closest car to the No. 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.
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 No. 4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg and Virginia’s Tommy Milner placed third overall and in class for their second podium finish in three races. Sunday marked the first time this year that both GTD PRO Corvettes finished on the class podium.
Garcia and Catsburg began from fourth and fifth on the grid with the Pratt Miller team electing to split strategies between the two cars in the first race stint. The No. 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 No. 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.
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.
The race swung further in the direction of the two Corvettes as they both made their final stops just inside the final hour and minutes before the race’s second full-course yellow to gain valuable track position. 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 No. 3 Corvette.
In GTD, AWA’s No. 13 Corvette of Matt Bell and Orey Fidani placed eighth in class but critically won the Akin Award for the second race in a row and second consecutive season at VIR. The result vaulted Fidani back into the lead of the season-long championship and a step closer to having AWA return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans next year.
DXDT Racing’s Alec Udell made a huge jump to second place in class in his first stint. A slow pit stop, however, knocked the No. 36 Corvette and Robert Wickens down the order to eighth after the class cycle. Unlike the GTD PRO Corvettes, the DXDT entry did not make it into the pitlane before the yellow with an hour to go. Wickens and Udell, in their final race of the year together, ended 10th in class.
The next race for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R in IMSA is the Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 21.
JESSICA DANE, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER: "Congratulations to Antonio, Alexander and everyone at Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports on today's victory and two podium finishes at VIR. The strategy and execution by both the No. 3 and No. 4 Corvette teams were perfect and showed that 'Never Give Up' spirit of Corvette Racing. It's great for our Corvette Z06 GT3.R program, good for the Manufacturers Championship and good for the Drivers Championship as well."
CORVETTE RACING Z06 GT3.R POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 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, NO. 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."
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 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, NO. 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."
MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The objective coming into this event was to leave with the Akin Award lead, and we’ve done that. Great job from the team and the crew. The car was good all weekend. We were fast and in the mix today. It was one of Orey’s best qualifying performances of the year as well. We’re building nice momentum going into the endurance races where we know we are always strong. A best-case scenario result from the last sprint race of the year, so now we can look forward to Indy.”
ALEC UDELL, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "We've got really talented people. We've got a really good race car. For one reason or another it just hasn't worked out. I believe there's always a divine plan in some things, so we'll focus forward on it. It's a bummer because I think Robbie has had a ton of pace and I think we've had a couple times this year and for sure two races that were, I'd say, bad luck and we should have had the result that we wanted and deserved. But I'm really looking forward to Indy and grateful that we have that opportunity with the team. These guys really have put in the effort and really worked hard to earn a spot on the podium and a spot on the top step. I know it's coming."
ROBERT WICKENS, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "It was a tough day all around. I think on every weekend we kept chipping away at it. We didn't start the weekend particularly strong, but we just got better and better every session. Alec did a good job of qualifying and did an amazing job at the start of the race to get us up into P2. And then, unfortunately, at the first stop, I don't exactly know what happened. What I do know is that everyone at DXDT Racing has been so good in the pits all season long. For whatever reason, we couldn't get a wheel off and we lost some track time. And then I was defending against the yellow Ferrari and we had some contact in Turn One; it wasn't anything that egregious, but for whatever reason the car never felt the same again so I don't know if I did some suspension damage or whatever, but from there on it was just really struggling for pace. We also had some electrical gremlins, so kind of a race to forget and definitely not the way I wanted to end my first year with Corvette and DXDT Racing. I really wanted to end on a high end with a bang. But that's racing sometimes. I think this team has done such a great job always putting the car in contention to be where we need to be. And these things happen sometimes. Now the goal is to try to make sure I can be here with DXDT Racing and Corvette in 2026."
Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick
CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: Garcia, Sims Take VIR Victory!
First GTD PRO win of 2025 as Pratt Miller Corvettes take two podium spots
ALTON, Virginia (August 24, 2025) – 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 No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
The timing of the result couldn’t have been better as Sims took the checkered flag by 1.070 seconds over the No. 81 Ferrari – the closest car to the No. 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.
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 No. 4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg and Virginia’s Tommy Milner placed third overall and in class for their second podium finish in three races. Sunday marked the first time this year that both GTD PRO Corvettes finished on the class podium.
Garcia and Catsburg began from fourth and fifth on the grid with the Pratt Miller team electing to split strategies between the two cars in the first race stint. The No. 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 No. 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.
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.
The race swung further in the direction of the two Corvettes as they both made their final stops just inside the final hour and minutes before the race’s second full-course yellow to gain valuable track position. 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 No. 3 Corvette.
In GTD, AWA’s No. 13 Corvette of Matt Bell and Orey Fidani placed eighth in class but critically won the Akin Award for the second race in a row and second consecutive season at VIR. The result vaulted Fidani back into the lead of the season-long championship and a step closer to having AWA return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans next year.
DXDT Racing’s Alec Udell made a huge jump to second place in class in his first stint. A slow pit stop, however, knocked the No. 36 Corvette and Robert Wickens down the order to eighth after the class cycle. Unlike the GTD PRO Corvettes, the DXDT entry did not make it into the pitlane before the yellow with an hour to go. Wickens and Udell, in their final race of the year together, ended 10th in class.
The next race for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R in IMSA is the Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 21.
JESSICA DANE, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER: "Congratulations to Antonio, Alexander and everyone at Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports on today's victory and two podium finishes at VIR. The strategy and execution by both the No. 3 and No. 4 Corvette teams were perfect and showed that 'Never Give Up' spirit of Corvette Racing. It's great for our Corvette Z06 GT3.R program, good for the Manufacturers Championship and good for the Drivers Championship as well."
CORVETTE RACING Z06 GT3.R POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 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, NO. 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."
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 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, NO. 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."
MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The objective coming into this event was to leave with the Akin Award lead, and we’ve done that. Great job from the team and the crew. The car was good all weekend. We were fast and in the mix today. It was one of Orey’s best qualifying performances of the year as well. We’re building nice momentum going into the endurance races where we know we are always strong. A best-case scenario result from the last sprint race of the year, so now we can look forward to Indy.”
ALEC UDELL, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "We've got really talented people. We've got a really good race car. For one reason or another it just hasn't worked out. I believe there's always a divine plan in some things, so we'll focus forward on it. It's a bummer because I think Robbie has had a ton of pace and I think we've had a couple times this year and for sure two races that were, I'd say, bad luck and we should have had the result that we wanted and deserved. But I'm really looking forward to Indy and grateful that we have that opportunity with the team. These guys really have put in the effort and really worked hard to earn a spot on the podium and a spot on the top step. I know it's coming."
ROBERT WICKENS, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "It was a tough day all around. I think on every weekend we kept chipping away at it. We didn't start the weekend particularly strong, but we just got better and better every session. Alec did a good job of qualifying and did an amazing job at the start of the race to get us up into P2. And then, unfortunately, at the first stop, I don't exactly know what happened. What I do know is that everyone at DXDT Racing has been so good in the pits all season long. For whatever reason, we couldn't get a wheel off and we lost some track time. And then I was defending against the yellow Ferrari and we had some contact in Turn One; it wasn't anything that egregious, but for whatever reason the car never felt the same again so I don't know if I did some suspension damage or whatever, but from there on it was just really struggling for pace. We also had some electrical gremlins, so kind of a race to forget and definitely not the way I wanted to end my first year with Corvette and DXDT Racing. I really wanted to end on a high end with a bang. But that's racing sometimes. I think this team has done such a great job always putting the car in contention to be where we need to be. And these things happen sometimes. Now the goal is to try to make sure I can be here with DXDT Racing and Corvette in 2026."
Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick
