Corvette Racing stood on the podium when the checkers fell at Laguna Seca on May 11th, 2025, compliments of a stellar drive by the No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R duo of Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims. The team finished third during the Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, earning their second podium in three GTD PRO races.
The race ran flag-to-flag with no cautions, posing a challenge to the drivers and crews, who had to make quick decisions under consistent green-flag conditions. Flawless pit stops were crucial, and at one point, the No. 3 Corvette dropped back to fifth place, bouncing off some competitors as they scrapped for position.
“With it being a green race, if you gained on the first stop then you lost it on the next on in terms of pit timing. It kind of worked out as I expected,” said Sims. “Other than [minor contact with competitors], the Corvette felt nice. That was probably the pace we had. I think we were about the third-fastest car this weekend and that’s about right. Well done to the team. Pratt Miller did a great job, and the Corvette was working well. It’s where we were.”
The result was also the No. 3 Corvette Racing team’s second straight podium in Monterey, following the third-place finish of Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg last year. Unfortunately for Milner and Catsburg, they couldn’t follow up their podium result this time around. The duo, driving the No. 4 Vette, suffered a refueling issue that dropped them in the standings.
The No. 36 Corvette Racing Z06 GT3.R, competing in the GTD division, was driven by Alec Udell and Robert Wickens, fitted with hand controls for Wickens. However, Udell made contact with a competitor in the pits after a mistake on the other vehicle’s part. After having to drive through the pits, Udell and Wickens brought it home 10th. Finally, the No. 13 Vette of Matt Bell and Orey Fidani finished 13th in their run.
The next round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic scheduled for May 30th through 31st, 2025.
Comments
Good! Good! Good!
Obviously they’re going to have to keep improving themselves because others are doing the same thing and it seems to be working for the competition as they seem to be able to stay ahead of the Corvette Teams. Sometimes though…no matter how hard you try, something “goofy” will happen and you just can’t seem catch that first place top of the podium finish.
However, the C8 Corvette Teams seem to be able to play “catch up” when ever that game plan is needed, not quite making it to the finish they’d have liked, still kudo’s to the Corvette Teams, every year it seems to get harder and harder and the ‘Vette Teams will accept that challenge and by the seasons end, damn if they haven’t improved substancially, enough to sometimes take home the Grand Prize, they’ve done it before, so they know what it’ll take to do it again! My money is on those Corvette Teams at seasons end, you just hide & watch!
Although I’ve followed Corvettes in road racing (sprints and endurance) for several years, I’m not certain I’ve got the term “pace” completely understood. Are we talking straight line speed and acceleration, or is it the overall speed through straights and corners? It’s always frustrating to hear “our” drivers talking about not having the pace of the other cars, and oftentimes we finish at the top or near because of the outstanding job of the pit crews and engineers to manage the race. The idea of balance-of-performance is understandable, but it seems the Corvettes are always the losers in the concept. Physics REALLY plays an important part in sports car racing and to hear that Corvettes are carrying additional weight (sometimes substantial) just makes it appear that the screws are being put to “our” teams.