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!”
