NBC Sports will preview the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale, Motul Petit Le Mans, with a special one-hour show on Sunday, Oct. 5 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.

The network show will air the Sunday before Motul Petit Le Mans, which kicks off live on network NBC at noon ET on Saturday, Oct. 11.
Peacock will stream the full race flag-to-flag (in the U.S.) with additional streaming via IMSA.TV and IMSA’s Official YouTube channel (internationally).
The top-level, factory-supported production car-based class in American sports car racing has evolved through several names and technical specifications over the last 15 years. But there’s been one constant:

Corvette drivers Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims will be fighting to win the GTD-Pro championship in this last IMSA race of 2025 season

Since the 45-year-old Spaniard joined Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports in 2009, he has excelled in every iteration of the premier GT category, through half a dozen technical regulation changes and three generations of Corvettes.

Garcia won his first championship in the GT class of the American Le Mans Series in 2013 with co-driver Jan Magnussen, the final year before ALMS and IMSA’s TUDOR United SportsCar Championship merged to create the modern-day IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Teamed with Magnussen from 2014-’19, Garcia won a pair of IMSA Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM) titles for Corvette Racing in 2017 and ’18 and added two more teamed with Jordan Taylor in 2020 and ’21.

Garcia has collected a total of 31 IMSA race wins along with his quintet of championships, including five wins since the most recent GT category realignment that created the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class in 2022.
But whether with Taylor in ’22 and ’23 or his current co-driver Alexander Sims, Garcia has never achieved a GTD PRO championship.

That could change October 11 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Sims and Garcia and the No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R will carry a slim 18-point advantage into the season-concluding Motul Petit Le Mans over Albert Costa, who has shared DragonSpeed’s No. 81 Ferrari 296 GT3 for the majority of the year with Giacomo Altoè and endurance driver Davide Rigon. Mike Rockenfeller and Sebastian Priaulx sit third, 169 points back in the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3, with an outside shot.

Given his record, it’s surprising that Garcia has not won a championship to date during the GTD PRO era. What’s even more remarkable is that while Corvette Racing owns eight victories at Motul Petit Le Mans, Garcia has never tasted the champagne in Georgia a measure of how challenging and unpredictable the 10-hour day-into-night endurance classic can be.

Sims and Garcia achieved their only win of the ’25 season at VIRginia International Raceway with an aggressive undercut pit stop strategy from the Corvette by Pratt Miller team that vaulted them to the front of the field.
At that point, they led Costa by 53 points, but the fellow-Spaniard cut the margin to 18 by finishing second ahead of the No. 3 Corvette in fourth at the most recent WeatherTech Championship race at Indianapolis.

“The last few races we’ve been always trying to cover different strategies coming from especially the No. 77 (the defending GTD PRO class champion AO Racing Porsche that lies fourth in this year’s standings) or the No. 81 (Costa),” Garcia said. “When people are probably not feeling very competitive or are not in contention at some point, that’s when they roll the dice and they kind of put everybody under the pressure.

“So, I think we really need to be very prepared on that before the races knowing what to do and how to react to people,” he continued. “Maybe there’s something we can do, like we did at VIR, be the first one to really make the move. You play it out from there and still go for the win.”

Garcia noted that fighting for a championship has become more difficult since IMSA aligned its GT classes to the worldwide FIA GT3 specification in 2022, mostly eliminating the performance disparity that existed between GTD class cars and slightly faster GTLM entries. GTD and GTD PRO now also use a standardized Michelin tire, whereas in the GTLM era, manufacturers worked with Michelin to develop tires for their specific car.

Corvette Racing had been a pure factory program since the early 2000s.
However, the shift in regulations required Chevrolet and Pratt Miller Motorsports to create the first-ever Corvette GT3.R for customer sales. Ford Racing quickly followed suit with a GT3 version of the Mustang.

“GT1, GT2, GT Le Mans…they were really cool cars to drive, and we had a lot of fun with those cars during those years,” recalled Garcia. “The transition to GT3 was a little bit difficult, or different, because we had a transition year with a bit of a mix until the Z06 GT3.R was able to race.
But I don’t see many, many differences, because there is always a superb level of drivers and good teams you’re fighting against.

“This is my 16th year with the team, and the approach has always been the same,” he added. “The Corvette Racing mentality has always been the same and the approach to every single race or championship has been the same regardless of the actual class of car we were running. This is just another year we are very happy and proud that we are in contention.”

Driving for IMSA’s most established and successful GT-class team, the No. 3 Corvette pairing has the championship-tested mettle going into Motul Petit Le Mans over Costa and the DragonSpeed Ferrari, which are in their first full season of GTD PRO competition. Chevrolet leads Ferrari by 46 points in the GTD PRO Manufacturer’s championship.

“The last two years, we came up short, but we are looking forward to showing and use all the knowledge we have to be in this position,” Garcia said. “Let’s see if we have enough of everything pace, race strategy, and I would say a little bit of luck.
“Let’s hope everything falls in the right direction, and we can come up with another championship.”

BoP - BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Lexus Receive Power Increases in GT

Multiple GT manufacturers will head into the ten-hour season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with power increases.

It notably includes the BMW M4 GT3 EVO (+4.2 percent), Chevy Corvette Z06 GT3.R (+4.1 percent), Ferrari 296 GT3 (+3.9 percent) and Lexus RC F GT3 (+5.1 percent), all at first-stage power levels below 190 km/h.

The Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 is the big gainer in second-stage power, getting a 3.7 percent increase since the last round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with the BMW notably receiving a 2.4 percent boost.

BMW’s power increase in both stages, however, comes amid a 12kg increase in the car’s minimum weight, the same amount the Ferrari 296 GT3 has also been handed.

The Ford Mustang GT3 has also been weighed down with an additional 7kgs since the last race, while the Lamborghini gets a minor 2kg weight increase.

All GT cars, except for the Lamborghini (+1.7 degrees) and Porsche 911 GT3 R (-1 degree) receive a 1 degree increase in minimum rear wing angles.

GTD PRO, GTD honors on the line in IMSA season-finale at Road Atlanta

DETROIT (October 7, 2025) It’s Championship Weekend for Corvette Racing and its Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R teams. The Corvette GT3 program has plenty to race for Saturday in both the GTD PRO and GTD classes at the 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

This year’s running is the 28th annual race and again serves as the finale for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Four Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs dot the 53-car entry list with two each in the GT classes.

As a program, Corvette Racing has raced at the 2.54-mile, 12-turn Road Atlanta circuit every year since 1999 with eight Petit Le Mans victories…but none since 2010.
Part of that is down to Corvettes routinely being in championship contention whenever the race rolls around.
This year could prove different with narrow points leads for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports in GTD PRO and AWA in the GTD Akin

Award standings
Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports (GTD PRO)
• No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Antonio Garcia/Alexander Sims/Daniel Juncadella
• No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Tommy Milner/Nicky Catsburg/Nico Varrone

A positive result at Petit Le Mans will add to the already-impressive Corvette Racing honor roll in IMSA GT competition: a 15th Manufacturers Championship for Chevrolet, a 15th Drivers Championship and a 16th Teams Championship for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports.

The scenario is pretty simple. Garcia and Sims who will team with Juncadella lead the GTD PRO Drivers standings by 18 points with 385 total points available; the points difference between first and second is 30 points, it’s 20 points per position from second place to fifth place and 10 points between the remaining spots.
The most likely scenario is that the highest-finishing entry between the No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R and the No. 81 Ferrari will take the Drivers and Teams titles.

In the Manufacturers race, Chevrolet enjoys a 46-point lead heading into Petit Le Mans. Both Pratt Miller-run Corvettes can contribute to the points haul at Road Atlanta, so stakes also are high for the No. 4 Corvette of Milner, Catsburg and Varrone. A second podium finish would go a long way toward securing Team Chevy another full-season championship.

AWA (GTD)

• No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Matt Bell/Orey Fidani/Lars Kern
The AWA team’s situation is even more straight-forward than the No. 3 Corvette. At stake for Fidani and the No. 13 Z06 GT3.R is a second straight Bob Akin Award championship and the return trip to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2026.

Fidani is tied for the lead in the Akin Award standings, which rewards the highest points-scoring Bronze driver in the GTD class. AWA seized the lead at the start of this season thanks to a victory at the Rolex 24 At Daytona for Fidani, Bell and Kern, and the lead has gone back and forth in the second half of the year.
Long-distance races have been a strong point for the AWA trio as the No. 13 Corvette has contended for wins and podium finishes in the other four endurance races on the IMSA calendar.

DXDT Racing (GTD)

• No. 36 Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Charlie Eastwood/Alec Udell/Salih Yoluc
DXDT Racing has high hopes entering the final race of its debut season in the WeatherTech Championship. Like the AWA lineup, the trio of Charlie Eastwood, Alec Udell and Salih Yoluc tested at Road Atlanta in mid-September to gear up for DXDT’s first crack at Petit Le Mans.

Between the three drivers, both Udell and Yoluc have one start each in Petit Le Mans while Eastwood will make his Road Atlanta debut. Despite that and in their first season as a trio, they have contended for multiple race wins in the long-distance events this year including leading in GTD late at both Sebring and Watkins Glen.

Petit Le Mans is the first of two consecutive season finales for DXDT Racing with the Corvette Z06 GT3.R. It will race for the GT World Challenge America Pro-Am title next week in the Indianapolis Eight Hours.
The 10-hour Petit Le Mans is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, October 11. The race will air live on NBC from noon to 3 p.m. ET and with live streaming on Peacock in the United States and IMSA.com outside the U.S. from noon to 10:10 p.m. ET. IMSA Radio will provide the audio call at IMSA.com, XM 206 and SiriusXM Online 996.

CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS PRE-EVENT DRIVER QUOTES

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

“We know what we need to do now to win the championship for us, Corvette Racing and Chevrolet. We definitely will have to race our Corvette hard as there won’t be an opportunity for us to ease off with such a small points gap. We just need to continue doing the same things we have been doing for many years now execute, make no mistakes and be on top of the strategy.
That’s been the key to many of the race wins and championships that Corvette Racing has achieved.
While I still really want to finally win this race, I want to win my sixth championship more!”

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

“It feels like the entire championship happens in this one race. Lots and lots of things go on that throw the championship battles in one direction or the other throughout. It’s a phenomenal track to drive. It’s got some great undulation and quick flowing corners. There are parts of the track where the speed differential is quite great, so the GTPs are always chomping at the bit to overtake on the outside.
That creates some sketchy race moments, to be honest.

“This is going to be a crazy race. It always is at Petit Le Mans. All sorts of mayhem can happen. We want to try to optimize our package as absolutely as best as we possibly can to see if we can extract a bit more pace than what we had at Indianapolis.”

DANIEL JUNCADELLA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“Road Atlanta is a big highlight to finish off the IMSA season. It’s been awhile for me not to be in that championship and with Pratt Miller. I’m excited for that one. It’s an amazing racetrack and one of my favorites in the U.S. I got to win that race back in 2023 and will be back with Antonio and Alex. Antonio, even though he’s a legend in the States, hasn’t won that race yet so hopefully we can finish the season on a high with a win there.”

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

“Ultimately for the 3 Corvette guys and for us in the 4, championships are the talk. While the Drivers Championship for us is out of reach, we can certainly help Antonio and Alexander, but obviously the Manufacturers Championship is the No. 1 goal. Whether the 3 car guys have a good race or a bad race, we also need to be performing at the highest level we can so we are as far forward as possible.

I’d love to be able to take as many points away from the other manufacturers. The more Corvettes we have up front, the better that is for the championship. As we know at Petit Le Mans, anything can happen the later it gets so it’s about ultimately executing as well as we possibly can. As drivers, we lean on our experience to guide us through challenging situations. The same goes for the crew and the team. We’re in a good position. We just need to continue to execute at a high level.”

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

“Petit Le Mans is a very big and very important race every year and this year is no different. We saw a little bit at Indianapolis how crazy the traffic can be and how easy it is to have contact that can alter your race. So we need to be mindful of that as there is still a lot to race for my first Petit Le Mans win, the first for the team in many years and the Manufacturers Championship as well as helping Antonio and Alex in the Drivers Championship. It’s going to be a busy and hectic race. I can’t wait for it.”

NICO VARRONE, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“I’m super happy to be back in the No. 4 Corvette for Petit Le Mans. For me it’s an honor. I feel really at home with the team. It’s exciting for us to be able to fight for the Manufacturers Championship. The guys have done a great job during the year to be in this position. We also have the possibility for the No. 3 Corvette to win the Drivers and Teams championships. For sure those are the two most important things that we will try to achieve in this last race.

“I’m excited to be back with Tommy and Nicky and Tyler (Neff, race engineer). I think we make a super lineup. We will try to achieve all our goals and do our best to win the race. This is such a unique race with a lot of history and everyone wants to win. I can’t wait to be back in it and start working with the team again.”

AWA PRE-EVENT DRIVER QUOTES

MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“It’s a slightly different picture to last year where we just had to start the race in order to get our ticket to Le Mans. This year we’ve got to finish ahead of the No. 70. It’s been a real back and forth competition all season. Some races definitely have gone in our favor, some in theirs, and it’s ended up where we are tied going into the last race. We enjoy competing against each other.
I think there’s a good relationship between the two teams, but both of us want to go to Le Mans, and only one of us can win the invite.

“This is always a fascinating race with multiple championship battles up for grabs, which probably makes this, in my opinion, the hardest sports car race in the world when you throw in the traffic, the length of the track and the amount of cars out there with everything on the line. So we’ll have our little battle in the middle of it all, and see how we get on.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“The Bob Akin Award has been a goal for us all year. Heading into Petit Le Mans tied at the top of the standings shows how strong our program has been, but the job isn’t done yet. Matt, Lars and the entire AWA crew have worked tirelessly to put us in this position, and now it’s about executing one last time. Winning the award and earning a return to Le Mans would be an incredible way to finish the season.”

LARS KERN, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“Last race of the year, full send! I can’t wait to wrap up this amazing season on a high note and give both AWA and Team Chevy what they deserve. We haven’t had a single team penalty or car failure all season long, which is magnificent and rare in endurance racing. It’s a testament to the top-tier work everyone has been putting in all year, and I know we have the potential to do something big and achieve what we’re setting out to accomplish.”

DXDT RACING PRE-EVENT DRIVER QUOTES

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“I’ve never done Petit Le Mans and did my first two-day test at Road Atlanta about a month ago. It was a really cool experience. The track is unbelievable. I’ve done a fair bit on the sim in the past but when you are there you realize how steep the undulations are on the track. It’s a great circuit to drive in the Corvette, especially that first sector through Turn Five.

It’s very fast and right on the edge. I’m looking forward to it. This is always a race I’ve wanted to do for quite a few years now. It looks like a really tricky race going into the night with almost 60 cars on a pretty short lap. Things will be really packed up but it’s just another element to the race.

“We’ve been super unlucky this year not getting the results we’ve wanted this year. For the whole DXDT Racing team, I hope we can get a solid result to finish out the year on a high. All the team have put in some much work but haven’t had the trophies to show for it. We’ll be going hard to make sure we finish the season getting them a trophy.”

ALEC UDELL, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“Coming into the last IMSA race of the season, it’s a bittersweet feeling. On one hand, we’ve had a very strong team, great performances and execution. For a first-year team, I’m extremely proud of everyone’s efforts. On the other, we are missing that result and one of our team members still. As we go into Road Atlanta, it’s the last opportunity to bring everything together.

We’re all gunning for that podium and that breakthrough result to give the hard-working guys and gals at DXDT Racing the satisfaction for all the effort through the year. Our hearts are still with Colten and it’s good to see him making progress in his recovery. I’m excited to get on-track with our Z06 GT3.R and show what we can do.”

SALIH YOLUC, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“Testing at Road Atlanta was beneficial. This is going to be a really busy race as we saw at Indianapolis. The biggest challenge that everyone will face is getting to the final two or three hours and in the dark.
I think we have a good chance to do that based on the testing we did there last month.
There was a lot we can take from that and Indianapolis to give us the best chance of success at Petit Le Mans.”

AWA Racing’s Orey Fidani & Brendan drivers of Corvettes Iribe of Inception Racing head into this weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans in a dead heat for the Bob Akin Award and its automatic invite to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, in what both teams have called a “healthy battle” for the coveted entry to the French endurance classic.

Both are previous Akin Award winners. Iribe ended up victorious in 2023, which propelled the Bas Leinders-led Inception squad to a Le Mans berth the following year, where Iribe scored LMGT3 pole for the race.

Fidani, who ended up as the highest-placed Bronze-rated driver in the WeatherTech Championship GTD class last year, took the entire Canadian squad to Le Mans for the first time on the heels of its breakthrough class victory in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Both Fidani and Iribe enter Saturday’s ten-hour enduro at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta tied on 2,930 points apiece, which means whichever car places higher in the race will bag the coveted title and guaranteed place on the Le Mans grid next June.

“It’s a slightly different picture to last year where we just had to start the race in order to get our ticket to Le Mans,” said Fidani’s season-long co-driver Matt Bell. “This year we’ve got to finish it ahead of the guys in the 70 [car].
“It’s been a real back and forth competition all year.
There’s some races [that have] definitely gone in our favor. Some got in theirs and it’s ended up we are dead tied going into the last race.

“It’s healthy competition; we enjoy competing against each other.
I think there’s a good relationship between the two teams. But both of us want to go to Le Mans and only one of us can win the invite.”
Ollie Millroy, who serves as Iribe’s driver coach and third driver in the No. 70 Inception Ferrari 296 GT3 added:
“We’ve had a fun battle with the 13 car again, and obviously with the guys there.

“It’s been really enjoyable. They’re really good guys as well so it’s been a nice, healthy battle, and it’s obviously going down to the last round, which is really exciting.
“It makes Petit Le Mans a bit more exciting. It also affects how both teams approach the race from like a strategy point of view. We’re also leading the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup as well. So we’ve got to kind of weigh up [our strategy].

“Luckily this isn’t my department too much, but someone’s got to weigh up, whether we target those Michelin Endurance Cup points or focus solely on the Akin Trophy and the end of the race.”
Millroy, Iribe and Frederik Schandorff are coming off their long-awaited first WeatherTech Championship class victory in last month’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which put Iribe back level with Fidani in the Akin title race.

However, as Millroy alluded to, the British team also leads the Michelin Endurance Cup standings, in GTD another title that’s on the eyes of the Ferrari squad.
“It’s a difficult one (juggling both title pursuits), but then at the same time, it isn’t,” said Millroy.
“We had this discussion before every race, and that is absolute priority is to keep it clean.
“IMSA as we know, especially at Petit, can be chaotic with all the restarts.

“People often lose their head and try and win the race with five hours to go, and you just have to stay mature or stay calm, try and keep the thing as clean as possible to the end of the race, and that’s obviously important for the Endurance Cup and for the Akin trophy, but it’s important if you want to win any endurance race.

“Even if we’re going for the outright win, we’re not going to do it with a broken front splitter or something. I think our approach for Petit will be exactly the same, and that would be just to go in [and] keep it clean.

“I think there’s probably more pressure on the guys on the pit wall with the strategy and making the right calls during the race. Then there is what’s on us as drivers, really. Our job is to just go there, drive as fast as we can without the hitting anything, basically.”
Bell, who shares the No. 13 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R with Fidani and third driver Lars Kern, said the team has extra motivation to return to Le Mans after a disappointing debut in the race this year.

“We definitely felt like we left a little bit on the table at Le Mans,” he said. “So that is our priority to get there and go back and achieve and compete properly for a podium there on that side of the pond as well.
“But I do really like the Petit Le Mans trophy as well.

“If it’s a case of a ten out of ten risk to win the race, I might lose the Akin award, I think I would be shot if I went for it!
“But you are always trying to manage risk as a driver. We all want the top step. That’s the end of it. So going into the race, it’s Akin first and let’s see what happens in the last hour.

GTP-Pro Class for qualify

A last-ditch effort by Dan Harper in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO earned him his second straight GTD PRO pole to close out the season.

Aaron Telitz in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 was denied his first career IMSA pole; he’d leapt to the top of the board with a 1m18.690s, which stood as the top time until, with less than two minutes left, Harper used a new set of Michelin tires to his advantage, laying down a 1m18.672s.

Harper improved to a 1m18.523s and secured the pole position, but not the fastest time in GTD PRO qualifying.
That belonged to title contender Albert Costa, who set a 1m18.430s with the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 in the closing seconds. But the No. 81 Ferrari carried a penalty from Practice 2 when its fuel pump failure was deemed the cause of an avoidable red flag, and thus it lost its fastest lap.

Costa fell back to a 1m18.763s to qualify fourth, behind Telitz and
the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R of Nicky Catsburg in third.

Laurin Heinrich was fifth in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, followed by Neil Verhagen (No. 1 Paul Miller BMW) and Sebastian Priaulx (No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3).

Championship leader Antonio García qualified eighth in the No. 3 Corvette Racing Z06 GT3.R, four positions behind title rival Costa’s Ferrari.

The 2 Corvettes in GTD class did poorly, both near the end of the class

Bob Akin Award rivals Brendon Iribe (No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari) and Orey Fidani (No. 13 AWA Corvette) qualified 15th and 19th respectively.

The 28th annual Motul Petit Le Mans starts tomorrow at 12:10pm ET.

US viewers can watch the first three hours of the race coverage on their local NBC affiliates, and the entire race on the Peacock streaming platform. Viewers in over 230 other countries can watch the race on the official IMSA YouTube channel and IMSA.TV.

Corvette Racing by Pratt, Miller Motorsports’ No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R will start on the second row in GTD PRO on Saturday after Nicky Catsburg’s qualifying effort ahead of the 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway, Road Atlanta.

Catsburg was third-fastest in Friday’s 15-minute GTD PRO session in the Corvette that he will drive with Tommy Milner and Nico Varrone. His lap of 1:18.747 (116.118 mph) around the 2.54-mile, 12-turn road course extended Chevrolet’s lead in the season-long GTD PRO Manufacturers Championship heading into the final race of the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship season.

Unofficially, Chevrolet’s lead in the Manufacturers standings grew by two points to 48 over Ferrari.
Chevrolet is aiming for its 15th IMSA Manufacturers title with the Corvette Racing program.

Antonio Garcia was eighth in class behind the wheel of the No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R that he shares with Alexander Sims and Daniel Juncadella. Garcia and Sims lead Albert Costa and the No. 81 Ferrari by 13 points going into Saturday, which means the car that finishes ahead of the other in the 10-hour enduro will claim the GTD PRO Drivers and Teams championships.

Although the No. 3 Corvette was down the order, Garcia was only 0.599 seconds from pole and 0.359 seconds to the Ferrari over a single lap. However, all six Corvette drivers remarked during practices that the Z06 GT3.R should perform better during a race stint.

In GTD, Salih Yoluc will start DXDT Racing’s No. 36 Corvette from 17th in GTD. He, Charlie Eastwood and Alec Udell are aiming to regain their form from Sebring and Watkins Glen as DXDT led in class at both races before finishing down the order.

Orey Fidani qualified AWA’s No. 13 Corvette GT3.R 19th in class as he chases a second consecutive Bob Akin Award and trip to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Fidani and the No. 13 Corvette are tied for the season championship lead with the No. 70 Ferrari, which will start 15th.

AWA is hoping to bookend the 2025 GTD season with victories, having scored a landmark win in class at the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

The 10-hour Petit Le Mans is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. ET on Saturday.
The race will air live on NBC from noon to 3 p.m. ET and with live-streaming on Peacock in the United States and IMSA.com outside the U.S. from noon to 10:30 p.m. ET. IMSA Radio will provide the audio call at IMSA.com, XM 206 and SiriusXM Online 996.

POST-QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTES

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

“Not great. I would say that we did another test session in qualifying.
We changed the car drastically in order to have more performance, but it didn’t work.
It didn’t feel right, but at least now we know.
In a way, it’s good to know that the No. 4 is up there, and we can go in that direction, which is pretty easy. We’ll go from there.
There’s still 10 hours to go.”

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

“Petit Le Mans is a very big and very important race every year, and this year is no different. We saw a little bit at Indianapolis how crazy the traffic can be and how easy it is to have contact that can alter your race.

So we need to be mindful of that as there is still a lot to race for my first Petit Le Mans win, the first for the team in many years and the Manufacturers Championship as well as helping Antonio and Alex in the Drivers Championship.
It’s going to be a busy and hectic race. I can’t wait for it.”

With 9 hours completed of the 10 hour race

In GTD PRO, the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R of Nico Varrone was leading at the interval, but is off-sequence, and will make its pit stop soon, handing the lead back to the dominant No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Dan Harper is continuing where co-driver Max Hesse left off before him, with the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Kyle Kirkwood in third, taking over from Ben Barnicoat.

The battle for the championship between the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R and the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 has taken two big swings in the last two hours alone.

With 3h45m left, Kirkwood in the Lexus overtook Daniel Juncadella in the No. 3 Corvette, up the inside of Turn 1. As he left the door ajar for Kirkwood, Juncadella also allowed Giacomo Altoè in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 to slip past him into third.

Co-driver Albert Costa took over the No. 81 Ferrari after a driver change, but then had to serve a drive-through penalty for an unattended tire in its pit stall. Making matters worse, Costa served the penalty, but only after tangling with the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi, the GTD class leader, at the Turn 10 chicane.

Costa has now fallen to seventh in GTD PRO, while Antonio García is now in fourth place in the No. 3 Corvette.

Despite the collision, Pier Guidi and the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari still lead the GTD class in a Ferrari 1-2 over the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione 296 GT3 driven by Kenton Koch in second.

Jack Hawksworth is running a solid third in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus – both RC F GT3s are having a good race – with Tom Gamble running fourth in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

At nine hours

Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Connor de Phillippi delivered the GTD Pro class victory for Paul Miller Racing at Motul Petit Le Mans, while Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims captured the championship in class by finishing third.

The No. 48 BMW M4 GT3 EVO crossed the line with a margin of a lap after ten hours of racing, with the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone second.

After starting the race from pole position, the No. 48 crew delivered a largely commanding run to their second victory of the season, following on from a breakthrough win at the Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Harper completed what would turn out to be the race-winning pass when he fought his way past Catsburg’s off-sequence Corvette at Turns 3 and 4 with just over an hour remaining.

The No. 3 Corvette finished third in class, which was enough for Sims and Garcia to take the GTD Pro championship.
Notably, Garcia took a fifth WeatherTech Championship title, adding to previous GTLM crowns secured in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021.
The Anglo-Spanish pairing came into the finale with a small lead over DragonSpeed driver Albert Costa.

However, Costa saw his bid for the title apart fall under the cover of darkness.
He first suffered a significant setback when the No. 81 Ferrari 296 GT3 was given a drive-through penalty as a wheel was left unattended in the pits.

Moments later, Costa was spun round at Turn 10 after contact with the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi, although the Spaniard was able to continue.
However, DragonSpeed’s title bid received what was effectively the final hammer blow when a second drive-through was handed out due to an incident involving Sebastian Priaulx’s No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3.

Priaulx, Mike Rockenfeller and Ben Barker finished the race in fourth ahead of the No. 65 machine of Christopher Mies, Frederic Vervisch and Dennis Olsen.

It’s García’s sixth IMSA Championship as a Corvette Racing factory driver & fifth since the reunification of American sports car racing.
Chevrolet also clinched the GTD PRO manufacturers’ championship.

Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports capped an incredible day at Michelin Raceway, Road Atlanta with a pair of podium finishes to go along with a GTD PRO championship sweep at the 10-hour Petit Le Mans on Saturday.

Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone placed second in class with their No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, just ahead of the GTD PRO Drivers Championship pairing of Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims plus Daniel Juncadella in the No. 3 Corvette.

It marked the first double-podium for the Pratt Miller Corvette squad since 2008. The result didn’t just secure the class Drivers Championship but also the Manufacturers Championship for Chevrolet and the Teams’ title for the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports group.

The No. 4 Corvette raced back into contention following an early-race bad break when Catsburg had to stop for a splash of fuel when the pits were closed under a full-course yellow. He stopped a couple of laps later still under yellow and handed off to Milner, who stopped again a lap later behind the safety car for a top-off and what the team hoped would be a fuel advantage later in the race.

It came to fruition after Milner’s stint as Varrone cycled through to the lead during a long green-flag run past the halfway point.
More caution-free laps helped the No. 4 Corvette’s cause as Catsburg drove the final two hours to the finish.

On the No. 3 Corvette side, the focus was to finish ahead of the No. 81 Ferrari the closest competitor for the class championship.
Garcia began eighth but couldn’t gain much ground on the No. 81 given nearly 30 minutes of full-course yellow in the race.

Garcia drove the first three hours and handed over to Sims with the Corvette in the top-five but still behind the Ferrari. That changed just after the four-hour mark when the No. 3 Corvette team got Sims in and out of the pitlane quicker than their championship rivals.
The two cars ran close together for the next two-and-a-half hours before the Corvette moved ahead for good with three hours to go.

In GTD, AWA celebrated winning both the season-long Bob Akin Award and taking the race’s Akin trophy with the No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R as the highest-finishing GTD car with a Bronze-rated driver. Orey Fidani, who teamed with Matt Bell and Lars Kern, won his second straight Akin championship and a return trip to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The trio finished ninth in class after starting 19th to cap a season that began with a class victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
DXDT Racing’s trio of Charlie Eastwood, Alec Udell and Salih Yoluc likewise raced through the field to finish seventh in GTD. Their No. 36 Corvette began 17th but Yoluc drove a triple-stint at the front same as Fidani to open up the strategy options. Udell and Eastwood split the mid-race driving before Eastwood went to the end and wrapped up the team’s first season in IMSA.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES

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

“This was really tight. I would have liked a more relaxed fight with not around 10 points between us! It was a very tight race. We turned things around between qualifying and now. I knew the car was there since Lap One. We just needed to stay focused and keep getting places.

We didn’t have the pace to pass people on track, but we did a fantastic job saving fuel, doing everything right, gaining positions and taking every opportunity where we could. So six championships! It’s a group effort.
That doesn’t happen without Corvette Racing and all the teammates I’ve had over the past 16 years.”

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

“It’s incredibly intense here at Petit Le Mans every single time I do it. But it’s so thrilling. The track is just amazing, such a nice sequence of corners and so many cars means that all the traffic keeps you on your toes. Our Corvette was working well all day and all season.
We’ve had a phenomenal year. Pratt Miller has executed a fantastic championship.

We optimized pretty much everything we could every single time. Full credit to the whole team. Amazing to do it with Antonio and Dani. We had a good year last year finishing third in the championship. To go to first place this year is absolutely phenomenal.”

DANIEL JUNCADELLA, NO. 3 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“This is mega. I’ve only been a small part of this season. But it’s nice to play a role in the last race. It’s a big race for everybody.
Finishing on the podium and helping these guys clinch a championship was the big goal. It’s been great to be a part of that.”

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

“It’s a great day for Corvette Racing, Pratt Miller and Chevy. It went about as well as it could have for us. I’m super happy for Antonio and Alex, and Dani as well, helping with that. Those guys were basically perfect all year long. That’s what it takes in this championship.

Congrats to those guys. It’s a whole team effort, though. You look at it and all the 4 car guys celebrate it just as much as the 3 car guys. It’s a great morale booster for everyone. For us, the race today was good. P2 was about as good as it was going to get for us. The BMW had a little too much pace on us. But overall, a really great day.”

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

“We achieved everything we wanted to achieve. It would have been great to finally have a Petit win, but the BMW was one size too big for us today. I had some really cool and clean fights with Dan Harper. I’m very pleased with the job that the team did. We had a cool season. We won everything we wanted as a team. So I’m looking forward to next year already.”

NICO VARRONE, NO. 4 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“This was a great weekend for everyone. I was really looking forward to coming here and racing again with Corvette. This is like a family for me. Finishing with both cars on the podium is great. We had a great race for P2 and had great pace. Not enough to fight with the BMW, but we executed well and maximized our potential.

A big thank you to all the team and all the crew. Our Corvette was really flying. Tommy and Nicky did a great job as always in setting up the car. It was superfast in the race. Overall this is a great day for Corvette, Chevy and the team. Sure we wanted to win the race, but today it wasn’t possible so we’re happy to finish second. Hopefully next year we can finish in a better spot.”

MATT BELL, NO. 13 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“Fantastic end of the season for AWA. I’m really proud to be heading back to France. That was our goal coming into this year and this race. It was a shame for the No. 70 that they were taken out of contention the way they were; they’ve been great competitors all season, and we have huge respect for each other, and we wanted to go toe to toe all the way to the end.

But of course we wanted to go back to France, so I’m super happy about achieving that. It was a really good race and we had excellent pace. It was a nice way to finish with the top-10, and now I guess I need to learn a bit of French!”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“I couldn’t be happier or prouder of the way we performed this season. We knew from the get-go that we wanted to go back to Le Mans, and we knew we would have to work incredibly hard to achieve it, but that’s exactly what we set out to do.
We all have an immense amount of respect for everyone at Inception Racing, and we had a great time going up against them this season.

I’m thrilled that we’re going back to France, and now with some extra knowledge and experience on our side, we’ll be ready to put up a good fight with Chevy.”

LARS KERN, NO. 13 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“Winning the Bob Akin Award is a great way to end the season. We worked for this all year. Though it’s not the way we wanted to win it.
We always said we wanted to win it on track. I feel really sorry for the No. 70 car and the whole Inception Racing group.

“We went all-in in the race and had a great time. We needed a full-course yellow within the last five hours, but there wasn’t any, which was a testament to the clean racing. It was good racing, but in the end, we were just always running behind the gap.
I am really happy for Orey and the team. We are going back to Le Mans, which was the target of the season.
We’ll finish on the podium of this race next year!”