CORVETTE RACING AT CTMP: A Corvette 1-2 in Canada!

Sims, Garcia lead way to first IMSA win for Z06 GT3.R in Chevrolet Grand Prix

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada (July 14, 2024) – Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia led a 1-2 class finish for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R on Sunday as Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports swept to the top of GTD PRO in the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Sims and Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette delivered the first victory for the Z06 GT3.R in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The pairing began from pole position and led 109 of 113 laps en route to a 0.408-second victory over Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg in the No. 4 Corvette following a late-race restart.

“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, 1-2 GTD PRO finish today.”

Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports team has been knocking on the door of the elusive first win in the WeatherTech Championship since the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March with leads in the last five races. Milner and Catsburg gave the Z06 GT3.R its first podium finish at Laguna Seca with Garcia and Sims finishing third in the last round at Watkins Glen.

Closing the deal this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park was fitting as the Corvette Racing program won for the 13th time at the circuit. Garcia went back-to-back in class after scoring a victory last year with Jordan Taylor in the Corvette C8.R.

Sims and Milner each drove the first half of the race with Milner making the first move for a driver change to Catsburg in hopes of leap-frogging the sister Corvette. Sims pitted two laps later from the lead with Garcia re-emerging ahead of the No. 4 Corvette for the run to the end.

Garcia’s lead remained between five and seven seconds until a full-course yellow with 16 minutes to go. That bunched up the GTD PRO field with a number of GTD-class cars ahead of them at the restart. Both Garcia and Catsburg worked their way through the slower cars to keep their positions to the checkered flag.

AWA’s home race in the No. 13 Corvette ended early when it was pushed off-track and into the tires at Turn Three. Orey Fidani had climbed to second in GTD from 11th at the start before contact from behind sent the Corvette into the barriers. The Z06 GT3.R’s safety systems and chassis structure did their jobs as Fidani climbed out of his car under his own power. He was evaluated and released from the infield care center shortly thereafter.

Meanwhile the AWA team displayed the never-give-up spirit of the Corvette Racing program and attempted to get the car back into the race, but the damage was too great.

The next race for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R in IMSA is August 2-4 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Article by

Ryan Smith
678.316.1880
ryan2uga@gmail.com

Judy Kouba Dominick
317.408.1049
judy.dominick@
insidetrackcomms.com