The Pratt Miller Motorsports team earned their first win of the 2024 season and their first victory with the new Forgeline-equipped Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R platform, thanks to a dominating 1-2 finish at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
Pratt Miller Motorports led the practice and qualifying sessions and earned the pole position for the start of Sunday's race (July 14) with the No.3 Corvette, driven by Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia. Their speed throughout the weekend was not surprising, given the historical success of the Corvette racing program at CTMP.
At the start of Sunday's GTD race, the pair of Pratt Miller Corvettes virtually dominated the field, with the No.3 car leading the team's other car, the No.4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R driven by Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg. Both cars had a comfortable 15-20 second lead over the third place No.77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, driven by Seb Priaulx and Laurin Heinrich, when a full course caution bunched up the field with only 16 minutes remaining in the race. At the restart, the Corvettes proved to be too fast for any serious challenge from behind. When the checkered flag finally dropped after two hours and forty minutes of racing, the No.3 Corvette took the win with a 0.408 margin of victory over the No.4 Corvette in second place. The Porsche eventually claimed the third spot, 1.064 second later.
Sunday's win for Pratt Miller Motorsports was their 13th win at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and their 128th win throughout the team's history.
“It’s always special to have a first win for the car,” said Garcia. “I’m really proud of that, and proud of the Pratt Miller guys. It was really important to get the Corvette GT3.R its first win in IMSA; that’s what we really wanted. And we had a perfect weekend. We led both practices, amazing pole position by Alex, and then we just ran P1 all the way through.”
Sims concurred. “It’s a big thing, honestly, and it was great to get the Corvette 1-2 here at Mosport, which is such a big event for Chevrolet,” he said. “We’ve had good pace in qualifying this season so far, but haven’t quite been able to convert it. Today we executed well, and were fast when we needed to be, had pace in the car. Just a really, really nice race.”
Based on the Chevrolet C8 Corvette Z06 and sharing the road car’s aluminum chassis, the Corvette GT3.R is powered by a version of the Z06’s 5.5L DOHC LT6 V8 engine mated to a 6-speed sequential transmission. It rides on a motorsports-specific double-wishbone suspension system that was engineered for optimal performance at lower racing ride heights and a motorsports-specific 6-piston front/4-piston rear braking system with unique cooling and quick-change capabilities.
Pratt Miller Engineering worked with the team at Forgeline Motorsports for several years to develop an application-specific version of Forgeline’s center-locking one piece forged monoblock SS1R-GT wheel that was engineered to deliver optimized performance metrics (in terms of mass, deflection, strength, and durability) specifically for the new Corvette GT3.R. Each Chevrolet C8 Corvette Z06 GT3.R sold by Chevrolet anywhere across the globe will compete on 18×12.5/18×13 Forgeline one piece forged monoblock SS1R-GT wheels finished in Gloss Black.
Congrats to Team Chevy and the entire Pratt Miller Motorsports team, and thank you for the trust that you’ve placed in Forgeline!
Pratt Miller Motorports led the practice and qualifying sessions and earned the pole position for the start of Sunday's race (July 14) with the No.3 Corvette, driven by Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia. Their speed throughout the weekend was not surprising, given the historical success of the Corvette racing program at CTMP.
At the start of Sunday's GTD race, the pair of Pratt Miller Corvettes virtually dominated the field, with the No.3 car leading the team's other car, the No.4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R driven by Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg. Both cars had a comfortable 15-20 second lead over the third place No.77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, driven by Seb Priaulx and Laurin Heinrich, when a full course caution bunched up the field with only 16 minutes remaining in the race. At the restart, the Corvettes proved to be too fast for any serious challenge from behind. When the checkered flag finally dropped after two hours and forty minutes of racing, the No.3 Corvette took the win with a 0.408 margin of victory over the No.4 Corvette in second place. The Porsche eventually claimed the third spot, 1.064 second later.
Sunday's win for Pratt Miller Motorsports was their 13th win at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and their 128th win throughout the team's history.
“It’s always special to have a first win for the car,” said Garcia. “I’m really proud of that, and proud of the Pratt Miller guys. It was really important to get the Corvette GT3.R its first win in IMSA; that’s what we really wanted. And we had a perfect weekend. We led both practices, amazing pole position by Alex, and then we just ran P1 all the way through.”
Sims concurred. “It’s a big thing, honestly, and it was great to get the Corvette 1-2 here at Mosport, which is such a big event for Chevrolet,” he said. “We’ve had good pace in qualifying this season so far, but haven’t quite been able to convert it. Today we executed well, and were fast when we needed to be, had pace in the car. Just a really, really nice race.”
Based on the Chevrolet C8 Corvette Z06 and sharing the road car’s aluminum chassis, the Corvette GT3.R is powered by a version of the Z06’s 5.5L DOHC LT6 V8 engine mated to a 6-speed sequential transmission. It rides on a motorsports-specific double-wishbone suspension system that was engineered for optimal performance at lower racing ride heights and a motorsports-specific 6-piston front/4-piston rear braking system with unique cooling and quick-change capabilities.
Pratt Miller Engineering worked with the team at Forgeline Motorsports for several years to develop an application-specific version of Forgeline’s center-locking one piece forged monoblock SS1R-GT wheel that was engineered to deliver optimized performance metrics (in terms of mass, deflection, strength, and durability) specifically for the new Corvette GT3.R. Each Chevrolet C8 Corvette Z06 GT3.R sold by Chevrolet anywhere across the globe will compete on 18×12.5/18×13 Forgeline one piece forged monoblock SS1R-GT wheels finished in Gloss Black.
Congrats to Team Chevy and the entire Pratt Miller Motorsports team, and thank you for the trust that you’ve placed in Forgeline!