After a bumpy start to the two-hour, 40-minute sprint at Road America on August 4th, 2024, the Corvette Racing teams surged back to salvage decent finishes during the IMSA SportsCar Weekend event.
Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims split duties behind the wheel of the No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R during the hectic race, finishing fifth, while Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner drove the No. 4 Corvette to a sixth-place finish. Meanwhile, the No. 13 Vette of Matt Bell and Orey Fidani finished fifth in the GTD class. The race was riddled with caution periods due to various on-track incidents.
But it didn’t start out all that great for the Vette teams. The No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R, driven by Sims at the time, spun from second place after contact from a competitor. Thankfully, the race car only sustained minor damage and was able to continue without issue. Catsburg, meanwhile, held steady at the front of the field, keeping his No. 4 Vette ahead of the pack, leading the first 10 laps and taking advantage of pit strategy to stay ahead. Fuel mileage became critical as the race neared its zenith, but two full-course cautions gave the Vette teams room to pit and breathe, eventually slotting in fifth and sixth.
“The first lap led to our whole race,” said Garcia. “The opening contact damaged the car somewhat, and from that point on we had to gamble on a different strategy, save fuel and do something different. In a way, it got us some positions but when it came time to fight at the end, the car wasn’t where it needed to be. We definitely tried to squeeze as much as we could out of it.”
In GTD, Bell and Fidani put on a show in their No. 13 Corvette Racing machine, picking up 16 positions overall and 10 in their class. Fidani continues to lead the Bob Akin Award standings, which will go to the season’s top Bronze-rated points-eligible driver.
“That was absolute chaos and a proper IMSA race!” said Bell. “There was some seriously dicey, proper GT racing going on and I loved every bit of it, to be honest.”
Subscribe to GM Authority for more Chevy Corvette news, Chevy news, Corvette racing and motorsports news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
At a time of year when luxury car ATP usually rises.
Sales decreased 5.6 percent to 16,670 units during the first ten months of 2024.
Specifically critical minerals supply chain development.
Scheduled for a Spring 2025 launch.
View Comments
Maybe some proper post-race fist fights would slow some of that crap down.