CORVETTE RACING AT DAYTONA: GTD PRO Pole for Sims!

No. 3 Corvette leads strong effort from all five Z06 GT3.R in Daytona qualifying

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 22, 2026) – Alexander Sims sped to the GTD PRO pole position Thursday for the Rolex 24 At Daytona to lead a strong showing for all five Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs to start the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Sims set a time of 1:45.106 (121.934 mph) in Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ No. 3 Z06 GT3.R that he will share this weekend with Antonio Garcia and Marvin Kirchhöfer. A Corvette will start from class pole position in the Rolex 24 At Daytona for the first time since 2021 when Sims was part of a qualifying race win for Corvette Racing.

Prior to that, the last time a Corvette qualified on pole position was 2018.

On Thursday, three of the Corvette GT3s qualified in the top-12 of the combined GT category. Charlie Eastwood was fourth in GTD with DXDT Racing’s No. 36 Corvette that he will drive with Mason Filippi, Salih Yoluc and Scott McLaughlin. His lap of 1:45.274 (121.739 mph) was 0.161 seconds off the class pole time.

Giacomo Altoé was sixth in GTD and less than a half-second to pole position for DragonSpeed in the first team’s first race as a Z06 GT3.R customer team. He will team this weekend with Henrik Hedman, Casper Stevenson and Matteo Cairoli.

Nicky Catsburg went eighth-quickest in GTD PRO for the second Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports entry the No. 4 that he will drive with Tommy Milner and Nico Varrone.

Defending Rolex 24 GTD winner 13 Autosport qualified 16th in class, with Orey Fidani doing the honors Thursday. He will try to repeat with Matt Bell and Lars Kern plus team newcomer Ben Green in the No. 13 Corvette.

The Rolex 24 goes green at 1:40 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 24. Live coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC with full live coverage on Peacock in the United States and on IMSA.com for video outside the U.S. and global IMSA Radio coverage.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTES

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R - GTD PRO POLE-WINNER:

“It's really something special around here to be able to do a low fuel qualifying run with new tires. The car just comes alive. What a wonderful experience that was. Our Corvette was really nicely balanced, very nice lap, nice and clear with no traffic, but I had Nicky (Catsburg) up ahead, maybe punching a little bit of a hole for me. Yeah, brilliant, really, really brilliant.

(The race outlook and converting pole into a win) "There is a long time between now and then, but nevertheless, it's nice to start at the front of the field. Fingers crossed we can have a clean race because that's really the No. 1 goal at the moment - try and maintain the car in one piece, no issues through the first 23-and-a-half hours, be there in the race at the end and then be ready to fight.”

(More on qualifying) “Our Corvette was working pretty nicely in the qualifying session. It's honestly quite a privilege to be able to drive on low fuel. The car just comes alive compared to most of the states that you drive during practice where you're focusing on race prep. It was just nice conditions, I was able to get a nice gap and just focus on my own driving for all the laps and hook it all together. The Corvette is working well and hopefully we can carry that through to the race."

(Contending in this year's race after Corvette GTD win in 2025) “We had a decent race last year as well and finished second behind the Ford. It was great to see the AWA car get the class win last year. Our focus is pretty much on our program and what we're doing this year to try and optimize everything we've got. It seems like the car's in a decent spot right now. Qualifying pace versus race pace is a bit of a different story, so quite quickly our focus goes back to high-fuel runs and trying to get the car dialed in for that.”

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

"Obviously not so good. The car was pretty good, I have to say. I just feel like I didn't execute well. I had a massive oversteer moment on my first push lap and then the second left, I kind of under drove it. So it was just not a clean run. I do feel like we need to work a bit on the car, but Alex showed what it's capable of. I do not think we are far away. We are already quite similar (on setup). I was expecting a bit more for myself. We just need to look at it, see what happens tonight and tomorrow, and take it from there."

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

“For me, it's just more seat time. Every time I drive the car, I feel quicker and more familiar with it. The team's done an awesome job getting us set up and to this point. We just want to be consistent early, be in a good spot, and then watch Ben (Green) and Matt (Bell) take it to the front."

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

"What a difference a year makes. Last year's qualifying was probably one of the low points of the whole year, I would say... realizing that we were nowhere close. We're much and much better this year... barely two-tenths off pole in both GTD classes. I think we would still be second in PRO, as it were. So the Corvette felt great.
We did struggle with a few bits this morning on the new tire, but our deg was really good over a stint, so that was a bit of a surprise in that regard. We did have a really clean Roar and that translated into that qualifying session, The Corvette seems to have the best deg of the field. At the end of the session, we're still pumping in some strong times versus the competition that falls off.

So that's great when you do a lot of laps on every tire set, and you probably have to double about six sets. Yeah, we're looking good and still just chipping our way through it. I think going into it we were, and we were going to be happy with a top-eight there so top-four was a bit of a surprise, but that came together really nice, and now we're rolling off the second row for the 24."

GIACOMO ALTOE, NO. 81 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

"Today was the first time that I could actually drive the car in a low-fuel, new-tire session.
Obviously we are focusing more on our race pace with such a long day coming Saturday and Sunday.
So we didn't know what to expect, honestly, and we are really happy with that result. Of course, I always want more. So I'm not really satisfied, but we still are early on in our learning process. I'll take it as we start this project, so I'm really happy."

Last practice session Friday and then race starts at 1:40 PM ET on Saturday