Corvette Racing at Detroit: A Drive Back to Second

Photo Credit: Richard Prince for Corvette Racing

Garcia, Sims, No. 3 Corvette go from eighth to second in GTD PRO after wild street race

DETROIT (May 31, 2025) – Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims led the way home for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports on Saturday with an inspired drive to second place from eighth on the GTD PRO grid of the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic.

The No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R squad made its way from eighth at the start to an improbable runner-up result in a chaotic 100-minute race at the 1.654-mile, nine-turn street circuit around GM’s global headquarters.

It marked the second consecutive podium finish and third of the season for the Sims and Garcia – they also finished second in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona. More importantly, the two gained 40 points in the fight for the GTD PRO Drivers championship races heading into the summer stretch for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Teammates Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg weathered early contact that seemingly undid their race, but the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R managed to claw back from 10th in class after five minutes to sixth at the end.

Garcia took the start in the No. 3 Corvette and moved up to fourth for the majority of his 30-minute stint. He stopped from the class lead, and the team lost only two spots after taking fuel and a mighty outlap for Sims. He moved up into second when the then-class leader had to make its second stop of the race and set out for the win.

Sims set the fastest lap of the race a couple of laps into his stint and got to within a half-second of the class-winning car before taking the checkered flag in second.

Meanwhile, Catsburg ran as high as fifth as the race’s second and final full-course yellow bunched up the field for the final 30 minutes. The team took advantage of the late yellow to make its final pit stop, which put Catsburg back to seventh in GTD PRO. He appeared set for a top-five finish until he and the No. 77 Porsche were assessed dual drive-through penalties for late-race contact while fighting for position.

The next race in IMSA for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R program is the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on Sunday, June 22 from Watkins Glen International.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER QUOTES

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“I think we played it very well. It is difficult to stay calm and make the moves and so on. But yeah, I just tried to be smart. Probably at times I lost positions, but then I got them back and from that point on, I think I knew how to play it, so saving fuel, and relying on all the practice we did in the pits. So I think that’s where we really jumped everyone also on the stop. It’s a shame that we were behind the 64 for over an hour. We couldn’t really pass that car so that’s a long time following that one. But after all that happened yesterday, I think we can be happy with this. Alex did great, the team was great and the Corvette was great. Thanks to everybody.”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“If I’m perfectly honest, no, I didn’t think this sort of result would be possible with a relatively normal strategy. But people fell off all around us. We gained a few positions on the pit stop, we had good pace in clear air, anyway. And it worked out for us this time. It’s impossible to overtake the Ford, but we had the car underneath us. Our Corvette was really working well around the streets here in Detroit. And yeah, after the pit stop I took some big risks to try to get the laptime on the outlap in case we needed to jump people on the stop, which we ended up doing so it paid off. for sure. It all worked out well. I couldn’t ask for much more. The team did a great job. The Corvette felt nice. Thanks to Pratt Miller and everyone on the team.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“A typical street race and a place where it’s hard to pass. We got roughed up a little bit right at the start, and then got roughed up again the next corner after that. Obviously, we had a little issue with the bumper, which of course, doesn’t affect the driving but we knew what to expect at that point. But frustrating for sure. It really didn’t have a massive effect on our race in reality… not good for it, for sure, but that was one of the strategies that we actually discussed – basically pitting very early. So we kind of had a plan for that anyway.

“At the end, Nicky and the Corvette were certainly fast, no doubt about it. I can only imagine what Nicky feels like. I know he had some frustration built up. But it’s street racing. Everybody gives a little bit. Sometimes you take a little bit, sometimes you give a bit more than you take. It’s just kind of how it goes sometimes. Obviously, we’re fighting hard to get a good result for ourselves but obviously our car needs to be in better shape than what it has been in the last couple of races. I think that’ll be our plan going forward – just focusing on having a clean race and hoping that that’s the key to our success.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“We tried and we fought hard again. But today, it wasn’t meant to be for us. I think we had good pace in the car. We showed it all race. I tried quite hard with the Porsche but I couldn’t pass him. We got together so yeah, we were racing hard… a little bit too hard, but that happens. That’s part of it. And you race each other the same way. I’m happy for the sister car that they got their good result. And I think honestly, we should have been there as well.”

Source:

CorvetteRacing.com

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