IMSA Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on Saturday, June 22.

[teamzr1]

It’s the turn of Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and AWA to put the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R through its endurance paces this weekend for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen – the third long-distance race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The trio of Corvette GT3 entries are part of a 32-car field of GTD PRO and GTD cars 11 in the GTD PRO class for all-professional teams and 21 in GTD, featuring a mix of professional and non-professional drivers. Despite its status as an endurance race, drivers and cars often approach the Sahlen’s Six Hours as a long-distance sprint.

All three Corvette Z06 GT3.R teams will look to add the list of successes for the Corvette Racing brand at The Glen to three victories, including a pair in the Six Hours with two previous versions of the Corvette.

Those wins came with Pratt Miller running the factory Corvette Racing program. With the team moving toward a factory-supported effort, hopes are high for an elusive first win for the Z06 GT3.R in IMSA after starting the last two races Laguna Seca and Detroit from pole position in GTD PRO.

The lineups in the three Corvettes remain the same from previous IMSA rounds:

• Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims in the No. 3 Corvette for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports

• Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg in the No. 4 Z06 GT3.R, also for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports

• Orey Fidani, Matt Bell and Lars Kern in AWA’s No. 13 Corvette for GTD.

Of note, Fidani leads the WeatherTech Championship’s Aiken Award standings entering the season’s second half. The winner as the top Bronze-rated driver in GTD receives an automatic invitation to the following year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In addition to season championship points, The Glen also is the third round of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup a championship-within-a-championship made up for the five long-distance races on the IMSA schedule.
At Watkins Glen, points will be awarded at the three-hour mark as well as the race’s end. Entering the Six Hours, Chevrolet leads the GTD PRO Manufacturers standings by three points; a maximum of five points per segment are available at IMEC events.

The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen is scheduled for 11:10 a.m. ET on Saturday, June 23.
The race will air live on USA Network from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with full streaming coverage on Peacock. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions at IMSA.com along XM 206, SiriusXM Online 996.

CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS PRE-EVENT DRIVER QUOTES

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.

“The Six Hours is a great event for a few reasons. One is that I really enjoy the track. There are excellent sections where you have a lot of mid- and high-speed cornering and some nice changes of direction. It requires a car that is compliant with all these things to be successful.
And of course I enjoy the longer races where strategy and trying different things can pay off. It has been a long time since Sebring when we did our last long race as I didn’t do Le Mans, so I think this will mean a little bit more than in years past.”

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

“These circuits that are coming up are all brilliant to drive at, which is a great thing about IMSA. There are so many good circuits. To go to places like Watkins Glen is something I am looking forward to. There is always good racing, even if it is tough to overtake on. There are long, flowing corners where you can set up a corner four to five corners away from where you actually make it, which is always a nice feeling.
I’m sure the Corvette will feel superb around there.

“It will be nice to use the curbing at the Bus Stop again because it was always pretty sketchy in the GTP. There are so many good points to Watkins Glen. I really enjoy the Laces corner, Turn Six is a really nice, long corner that is really tough to get right. There is always a lot of good racing at Watkins Glen and a lot of good overtaking spots. It’s tough to have the GTP cars come past you in a way that doesn’t affect your laptime.
It’s a complicated racetrack with so many types of corners. It’s just a great, great circuit.”

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

“I’m excited about Watkins Glen and excited to get another opportunity to show what this Corvette is capable of in IMSA. To get a good result and podium at Laguna Seca, and it looked like we were poised for another good result at Detroit before some bad luck. Everyone is working as hard as they can to get a win for this program in IMSA for Chevrolet and Corvette.
The six-hour format at Watkins Glen is fun for drivers and teams. It’s one where every single stint in the car makes a difference. It’s also one where strategy comes into play. Teams that may or may not have the fastest car can do some things at certain points in the race to potentially improve their position. It makes things exciting on that front.
The track is amazing. We’re fortunate in the U.S. to have some very challenging and exciting tracks, and Watkins Glen is definitely one of those.”

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

‘Watkins Glen is one of my favorite places. It has been a long time since I have been there, although I do know it from the simulator. It is one of those very high-speed, flowing tracks with a bit of risk to it. You need to have commitment and confidence in the car. These are always tracks that I really love. So I cannot wait to get there. The surface is great with a lot of grip available, and we are all looking forward to that.”

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

"I love Watkins Glen. It's one of those iconic racetracks in the world. There are super high speeds. There isn't really a low-speed corner anywhere. It's super-high commitment, and drivers always love those corners. It's basically 3.5 miles of that and one of the highlights of the IMSA season for me. Of my top 10 tracks in the world, eight of them are in IMSA.
I love the combination of the old-school nature of the racetracks with one of the best - if not the best - racing series in the world. I love the way IMSA goes about the racing, and the level of competition is so high. You have the best drivers in the world in all categories. It's basically like Le Mans every race weekend in terms of quality of competition. I've always loved IMSA, and all the drivers love the old-school nature of these circuits.
It's a nice little run we're getting ready to go on."

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

“We’re feeling confident going into this race. Watkins Glen is a track that we know very well, and we recently completed a couple of days of testing there just last month. We’ve been showing good progress throughout the season and are continuing to learn more and more about the Corvette, and we’re aiming to keep that momentum going. I’m looking forward to another endurance race. This track is very fun to drive.”

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

“The team has made big steps with the car, and it showed great potential in the last sprint rounds.
The progress has been really promising, and it was very helpful for me to jump back in for some laps a few weeks ago during testing just to get a feel for the car again since it has been a little while since I’ve been in our Corvette. There’s a great atmosphere within the team, we have a great working racecar and we all can’t wait to hit the track.”

 

[teamzr1]

After first practice

AO Racing got off to a good start in its attempt to take three consecutive GTD PRO victories in the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R, as Laurin Heinrich topped all the GT cars with a 1m45.242s (116mph) lap.
He was followed in the GT ranks by the GTD-class No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes AMG, Scott Andrews putting in the best lap at 1m45.402s.

Bryan Sellers put the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M 4 GT3 into second in GTD PRO at 1m45.590s, 0.174s quicker than Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.
Antonio Garcia (No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R) and Daniel Serra (No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3) rounded out the top five in GTD PRO.

Canada team sucking again in GTD class:-(

 

[teamzr1]

Alexander Sims will start on the front of the GTD PRO class and led the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R effort in qualifying Saturday ahead of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International.

Sims posted a best lap of 1:44.317 (117.334 mph) in Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ No. 3 Corvette that he will share in Sunday’s endurance race for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It marks the third straight front-row start in class for the first-year Z06 GT3.R after pole runs at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the Detroit street course.

Sims will team with Antonio Garcia and was just 0.114 seconds off the class pole-winning team.
The 15-minute session was a typical tight fight in GTD PRO with the fastest seven cars within 0.531 seconds.

Among them was Nicky Catsburg in the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R, also from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports. He will team with Tommy Milner on Sunday and set a best lap of 1:44.561 (117.060 mph) – only 0.358 seconds from pole position.

In GTD, Orey Fidani qualified 19th in the AWA’s No. 13 Corvette. He will start the race and drive with full-season teammate Matt Bell and Lars Kern. Fidani enters the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen leading the Bob Akin Award standings, which goes to the top-scoring, Bronze-rated driver in GTD.
The winner receives an automatic invitation to the following year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Glen is the third round of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup – a championship-within-a-championship made up of the five long-distance races on the IMSA schedule. At Watkins Glen, points will be awarded at the three-hour mark as well as the race’s end. Entering the Six Hours, Chevrolet leads the GTD PRO

Manufacturers standings by three points; a maximum of five points per segment are available at IMEC events.
The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen is scheduled for 11:10 a.m. ET on Sunday. The race will air live on the USA Network from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with full streaming coverage on Peacock. IMSA Radio also will stream audio coverage at IMSA.com along XM 206, SiriusXM Online 996.

CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTES

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – QUALIFIED SECOND IN GTD PRO:

“Under the circumstances, I’m pretty happy. That was really our last chance of doing that lap time because the tires were just starting to lose their peak.
Once they’re gone here, that’s it; there’s no change of setting any representative times.
The gap ahead of me closed too much on the first lap, then one of the Ferraris slowed on the second lap and I thought that was it. Thankfully the third lap was clear, and then we had the puncture on the last lap. The Corvette was really nice. You never know what it’s going to be like on low fuel and in qualifying trim, but it felt really nice and was a pleasure to drive. Qualifying was a nice experience.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – QUALIFIED FIFTH IN GTD PRO:

“Honestly, I’m very pleased with that lap. This morning in practice, the car was a bit of a handful, so when I saw the first timed lap in qualifying, I knew it was pretty good. The guys did a very good job of turning the car around because it was really a lot better than it was in practice.
We softened up the rear a little bit to make it more compliant on corner entry, and we also had some entry oversteer in practice.
So we made the right decisions to make the Corvette really nice. But in qualifying, we really nailed the car. It was very good, and I’m very happy.”

AWA QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTES

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

“Qualifying 19th was a tough break for us, but the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen is a long race, and anything can happen.
We’re focused on strategy and consistency, aiming to make significant gains and put the Corvette where it belongs by the end of the race.”

 

[teamzr1]

Corvette’s Final Lap Heartbreak as Heart of Racing Picks Up GTD Pro Win

Heart of Racing Team claimed GTD Pro class honors after Tommy Milner dashed to the pits for fuel on the final lap in the then class-leading No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo finished 1.340 seconds ahead of the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Marvin Kirchhofer in second, with Antonio Garcia completing the podium in the No. 3 Corvette.

Garcia was the highest-placed of the GT cars to pit when the race resumed behind the safety car with 40 minutes to go, with the class-winning Aston, No. 4 Corvette and No. 9 McLaren all gambling on fuel.
Gunn shared top class honors with Alex Riberas.

The No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, which also didn’t pit upon the resumption of racing, came out on top in GTD, continuing Russell Ward and Philip Ellis’ hot streak in the class.

It was the duo’s fourth class win in five races, having shared Sunday’s winning Mercedes-AMG with Indy Dontje.
Ellis held off the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Jan Heylen for the class win, although, like the No. 04 CrowdStrike Oreca, was penalized post-race for a drive-time infringement.

It promoted the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Albert Costa Balboa, Manny Franco and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli to second, with the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin completing the GTD podium.

The No. 64 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 of Harry Tincknell, which had been leading GTD Pro at the red flag, finished fifth in class after a slow final pit stop.
Paul Miller Racing’s BMW M4 GT3, meanwhile, was handed two drive-through penalties on the final restart for failure to adhere to the minimum refueling time and for passing under yellow, dropping the No. 1 car to an eighth place class finish after running second at the red flag.

Canada GT3.R Z06 team performed poorly

 

[teamzr1]

Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims scored the season’s second podium finish for the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a third-place result at the Six Hours of The Glen on Sunday.

The No. 3 Corvette from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports ran up front in GTD PRO, fell down the order following an early-race brake change, and then challenged for the win late in a topsy-turvy enduro at Watkins Glen International that was severely impacted by rain.
It was the first podium finish for the Garcia/Sims duo, following a similar finish for the No. 4 Corvette at WeatherTech Raceway, Laguna Seca.

While luck went the way of Sims and Garcia at the end, it was the opposite for Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg in the No. 4 Z06 GT3.R, which had to pit for a fuel splash from the lead on the final lap. The duo ended up sixth in the final GTD PRO standings.

In GTD, AWA’s No 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Matt Bell, Orey Fidani and Lars Kern finished 13th in class following a similarly chaotic race.
The trio fought from deep in the field and briefly ran in the top-five before the Corvette was caught out on-track in a heavy downpour on slick tires and went off-track. The trio’s result did, however, unofficially grow Fidani’s lead in the Bob Akin Award standings, which goes to the highest point-scoring Bronze driver in GTD.

Three separate periods of rain had increasing impacts on the race. The first significant shower hit just shy of halfway and resulted in a crash for two GTD cars that brought out the third full-course yellow of the day. All three Corvettes had elected to stay on dry tires and jumped up the order as the pit closed, the No. 4 to second and No. 3 to third in GTD PRO, and the No. 13 to ninth in GTD.

More rain meant more chaos nearly 30 minutes later, as the No. 4 Corvette pitted during a brief but heavy shower on the front straight for rain tires. Another full-course yellow neutralized the field again, and Milner was left on grooved tires with the track drying quickly. Once the race went green, he had to stop for slick tires and fell down to 10th.

The biggest downpour arrived with a little less than two hours to go. Garcia, the No. 77 Porsche and No. 14 Lexus were the only GTD PRO cars to make it into the pitlane for rain tires before the pits closed for the sixth time. After 25 minutes behind the safety car with standing water on the track, officials red-flagged the race.

It resumed with 35 minutes left and the field behind the safety car. With the three leading cars in class having to pit for slick tires, Milner assumed the lead and drove a stunning final stint to keep the No. 4 Corvette out front before having to make the last-lap stop.

All three Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs will be back in action for the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Sunday, July 14.

CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS POST-EVENT DRIVER QUOTES

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – THIRD IN GTD PRO:

“I’m happy with this. Considering we were on the front row the last two races and didn’t convert, it feels like today we got one back. It was an amazing job by Corvette Racing and Pratt Miller guys to change the brakes. They had the skills to almost keep us on the lead lap.
Yes, we lost some track position, but after that, the car was good, and every single strategy call was the right one.
I had one of the scariest half-stints in my life when a whole set of our tear-offs on the windscreen came off and then came back on.

So I had a triangle in front of me and I couldn’t see to my left. Somehow I made up several positions on the restart, but it was very scary to just keep the car on track. I just couldn’t see anything.
Fortunately, we got it fixed after the yellow, and it was made better when we were on the same strategy as the Porsche and Lexus to go on wet tires. It was the right call, and it would have been nice to run four or five laps in the rain, but we couldn’t take advantage of that.

It’s also a shame for the No. 4 guys. With all the flag sequences, I think they deserved it. But it’s nice that we were able to get the first podium for Alex and me, and for the Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports team. Now we need to keep the momentum.
We know we are fast; we just need to convert, and hopefully a win is around the corner.”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – THIRD IN GTD PRO:

“To be honest, with the weather forecast coming into this weekend, it kind of exactly panned out how we expected with a mayhem-filled race.
We started up front and had a nice, comfortable stint before we had to change the front brakes.
The guys did an amazing job to change everything, and we almost got out without falling off the lead lap, which was pretty impressive.

So our race went south for a little while but as with IMSA you’re able to get back in the race and we did. The guys made some great calls and the car was fast. It’s great to get a podium; it felt like we came back into contention where we should have been. It’s cool to get our first podium with the No. 3 Corvette.
Antonio did a brilliant job in the end to almost get second. It was really tight out there, and I enjoyed it.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – SIXTH IN GTD PRO:

“Nicky was right in that it was a bit of a lottery race for a lot of people with tire calls and things like that. We did well with the tire choice, except for when we snuck in just before a yellow to put wets on. I agreed with Tyler (Neff, No. 4 race engineer) that it seemed like the right call at the time because Turn One was undriveable.
At the end, we had to take them back off because the track was drying too quickly. But we also got stuck from getting into the pitlane before the red flag, I was happy that it came. But at the end of the day, the result is what matters. And seventh place is not where we want to be. We did some things really well today and some things not so well. We’ll analyze those things that didn’t and be better for the next time when we go to Canada and try again.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – SIXTH IN GTD PRO:

“First off, Tommy did an amazing job late in the race in holding off the Aston Martin. I knew he had it, and we were hoping the fuel would work out, but then that got snatched away. It’s tough. This style of racing makes some of these races a lottery.

At the start, I didn’t think we would be in a position to go for a win because our car was great everywhere except on a straight line. So that was a frustration. The car felt good toward the end of the stint, so we could get around some people. It was good on a long run, and we saw that at the end with Tommy’s drive. It’s a tough way to end, though. Hopefully we can be on the right end of it the next time out.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – 11TH IN GTD:

“I’m pleased with our result. It was a tricky race as we were lacking a little bit of speed this weekend, but I’m happy with how my stint went. The team has been working so hard all year long, and today they really delivered for us with strategy calls in what were very challenging weather conditions.
They kept us in the fight, and Lars and Matt drove a great race as always.”

LARS KERN, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – 11TH IN GTD:

“I’m happy with the result we were able to achieve today. When looking at our outright pace, we were just a bit off the mark throughout the whole weekend, and we are actively working on figuring out the reason behind it.
We executed well in the race, the team made no mistakes and were perfect as always. We as drivers kept it clean and were able to make up ground, I think we maximized our performance today.”