Corvette IMSA GTD Pro Champs

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15th GT Manufacturers title for Chevrolet; Drivers, Teams championships for Garcia, Sims, Pratt Miller

Chevy & Corvette Racing swept all three GTD PRO titles in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Saturday with the conclusion of the 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway, Road Atlanta.

Chevrolet claimed the Manufacturers Championship, Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims claimed the Driver’s Championship in their No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, and Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ No. 3 squad capped the hat trick with the Teams Championship
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A runner-up class finish by the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports secured Chevrolet’s 15th GT class title in IMSA competition and first in GTD PRO. Garcia, Sims and Daniel Juncadella added a third-place class finish for good measure.

“The Chevrolet team is thrilled to win the GTD PRO Manufacturers Championship, our 15th IMSA GT-class title overall,” said Scott Bell, Vice President, Chevrolet. “We take great pride in this win, considering the world-class manufacturers we compete against each weekend. I want to recognize and congratulate our Corvette Racing competition and engineering teams, GM Propulsion and our constructor and GTD PRO representative Pratt Miller.”

The GTD PRO Corvettes recorded a combined nine podiums on the season, including a victory at Virginia International Raceway for Garcia and Sims, who finished the year with six top-three results. In addition, Milner and Catsburg finished second in class not only in Petit Le Mans but also at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The No. 4 also was the quickest Corvette in Friday’s GTD PRO qualifying, earning valuable points for Chevrolet.

Saturday’s results also capped the clean sweep of the GTD PRO championships, as Garcia and Sims won their first Drivers title together. Garcia is now a six-time IMSA champion – all with Corvette Racing – and Sims is a two-time champion after taking the GTP Driver's title in 2023 in a Cadillac prototype.

In the Teams Championship, Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports won its 16th title dating back to 2001 and the factory Corvette Racing effort. This is the 13th time that Chevrolet and Corvette Racing swept all three class championships in Manufacturers, Drivers and Teams in the same season.

“Congratulations to Antonio, Alexander, the No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R team and everyone at Pratt Miller Motorsports on securing the GTD PRO Drivers and Teams championships,” said Eric Warren, GM Vice President, Global Motorsports Competition.

“Their consistent performance throughout the season was a key factor in delivering these titles against the best GT competition in the world. Everyone at Chevrolet is proud of Antonio for his sixth championship with Corvette, Alexander’s first with our program and second with GM, and Pratt Miller Motorsports on its 16th Teams Championship in IMSA competition.”

On top of its IMSA success, Corvette Z06 GT3.R teams in GT World Challenge America, European Le Mans Series and FIA World Endurance Championship will race for championships in their respective series in the coming weeks.

 

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5 is “quite a special number” for Antonio Garcia and Dane Cameron, who both scored their record-extending fifth IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship class titles in Saturday’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans.

Garcia & Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports co-driver Alexander Sims delivered the first-ever championship for the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R in global competition, sweeping the drivers’, teams’ and manufacturer titles the GTD Pro class in the process.

Cameron, meanwhile, picked up his fifth different WeatherTech Championship class title, which remarkably came in five different classes and with four different teams.

He teamed with PJ Hyett to claim AO Racing’s first LMP2 championship, one year after the Gunnar Jeannette-led team scored its maiden class title in GTD Pro, the same year Cameron won the GTP championship with Porsche Penske Motorsport.

For Garcia, who also has the 2013 American Le Mans Series GT title to his credit, which came pre-merger, the Spaniard has remarkably achieved all of his IMSA championships with the same team Pratt Miller Motorsports.

“I think it’s consistency,” he said. “Not only the year consistency, but also keeping the key elements of the team as long as you can, basically.

“If you go around the whole Corvette crew and members, there are quite a few that have been there for a long time. When that happens, everything runs very, very smooth.

“Obviously you are taking new members once in a while for sure. You need to keep the ball rolling, but I think that consistency and be loyal to every single member of the team, that’s what it takes, because I think it’s a real family.”

Garcia, who was one of the car’s primary development drivers, and Sims also gave the Pratt Miller-built Z06 GT3.R its first WeatherTech Championship victory last year at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

“It’s just another proof of that pretty much every car that Corvette Racing, Team Chevy builds is capable of winning,” he said.

“I was very lucky to win with many versions of the Corvette, but again, with the same key members, which is Pratt Miller, so everything stays pretty much the same, even if we all evolve, the cars evolve.”

Cameron’s previous WeatherTech Championship titles came in 2014 (Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3, GT), 2016 (Action Express Racing Corvette DP, Prototype), 2019 (Team Penske Acura ARX-05, DPi) and last year (Penske Porsche 963, GTP).

The 36-year-old can now add a LMP2 class title with AO to his ever-growing resume.

“That’s obviously the goal when you start the year, and [we] believed in the project and the pieces that were there that it had this potential to bring a championship,” said Cameron on his ‘drive for five’ IMSA titles.

“[We] just needed a little glue to hold everything all together and elevate things a little bit more.
“Just grateful [and] thankful that PJ and Gunnar thought that I could be the guy. I thought there was some potential there to do it.

“The mission was to get some wins for ‘Spike’ after a tough year for them last year. Of course, the moon shot is to get the championship. That all came together.
“[It was a] difficult year in certain parts and a very strong, consistent year in other parts.

“I think of all the years that I’ve won the championship. This is probably the longest ten hours that I’ve spent here. It was a pretty long, stressful day, and it looked like it was kind of going to slip away there at a couple of points.

“Honestly, [it’s] pretty incredible. Five is quite a special number.”