Uncategorized

Corvette Racing at Road America: P3 for No. 4 Corvette

Leave a comment
CORVETTE RACING AT ROAD AMERICA: P3 for No. 4 CorvetteMilner, Catsburg edge closer to points lead; DragonSpeed just misses GTD podium ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. (August 2, 2026) – Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg returned to the GTD PRO podium in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a third-place finish at the end of a chaotic six-hour Motul Endurance SportsCar Grand Prix at Road America on Sunday.
It was the third podium finish of the season for the duo in the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R and first since the third race of the year. Milner drove the opening and closing stages with Catsburg driving the middle portion in a clean run by the No. 4 team.
The race and results had significant championship implications. Chevrolet’s lead in the class Manufacturers Championship grew to 105 points with three races and 1,155 points remaining. Milner and Catsburg remained second in the Drivers Championship but moved to within 15 points of first in the standings; the gap is the same in Teams points with the top-four within 99 points after Sunday. Contact following a restart ruined the day for Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims in the No. 3 Corvette. After Sims and Garcia split driving for the first four hours, Sims suffered contact with just under two hours left that left the No. 3 in the Turn Three gravel trap and with right-rear damage. The Corvette returned to the race after losing six laps, and the duo finished 10th in class. In GTD, DragonSpeed recorded its best result of the season – a fourth-place finish for the No. 81 Corvette of Giacomo Altoé, Casper Stevenson and Alec Udell. Stevenson qualified near the front, and the DragonSpeed Corvette stayed toward the sharp end throughout. Udell led toward the end of his stint, and Altoé challenged for a podium position late. He made what appeared to be a podium-clinching pass just before the race’s final full-course yellow flew with 10 minutes to go, but IMSA officials ruled that the pass took place after the yellow came out.
The No. 13 Autosport Corvette of Matt Bell, Lars Kern and Orey Fidani placed seventh in GTD – their best finish since the Sebring 12 Hours – as Fidani regained the lead in the Bob Akin championship standings with the result. Fidani and Kern raced the No. 13 into the top-five inside the final two hours with Bell third before contact on a restart sent him off-track and down the order. Bell drove a strong double-stint to the end and made up 11 spots, and the late-race yellow prevented from moving further up. DXDT Racing’s No. 36 Corvette also got the worst of late contact that ruined a potential podium run. After double-stints by Mason Filippi and Robert Wickens, Charlie Eastwood was hit and spun from seventh place. He was able to get the Corvette going again but fell to 14th at the end. The next race for the five Corvette Z06 GT3.R teams in IMSA is the Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway on Sunday, August 23.
CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “A great points today for us. The 77 in front of us was already close to us and is even closer to us now. But we did make some headway on the BMW. That’s racing. Some years nothing goes your way, some years everything goes your way and sometimes it’s up and down. It seems like it’s that way for a lot of cars this year… some ups and downs. You have to make the most of these weekends that are in your favor and take the points when you can get them. I’m a bit disappointed in the general driving standards across the board. The fans deserve a little bit more than that after last year and now in a six-hour race. But I was very happy with our Corvette today. We did everything right with good strategy and good pit stops. No issues today at all, so I’m very proud of the team for that.”(On the race length) “It’s so cool to do six hours here. It’s the right track for a longer endurance race like this one. The fans here are amazing. I think the number is like 31 percent more fans this year than last year. It is, in my opinion, the best IMSA racing track we go to all year long. Some events may be a little better and some tracks are more exciting in some ways. But when you think about multi-class racing, Road America is the best. You’ve got big, long brake zones, nice high-speed sections. This is a staple of sports car racing and should be for a long time.”
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I think we got unlucky with one of the yellows late because otherwise I think we would have finished P2 or in the fight for P1. But that’s just the way IMSA is sometimes. It can be a little bit of a lottery. But the main thing is that our pitlane work was amazing. The guys did great today. The car is like new! Tommy didn’t touch anyone! It’s a very good day for us and a good points haul. This is exactly how we planned to do it. We didn’t want to take big risks. It’s a bit of an eye-opener today, the way you can get results in IMSA, as well. I’m really happy and pleased with the crew work. All our stops were on it. We do need to look at some stuff to improve. It seems some of the others are able to save a lot of fuel and beat us in the pitlane. We’ll figure that out, and it’s been a great day today.”
ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “There were a lot of cars and not a lot of space. All through Turn One, it was very congested and we got through there OK. It felt even more congested going into Three. I knew I had a Porsche on the inside of me, and then I was right behind the 65. He was holding mid-track and so I braked to the outside and in hindsight that was the wrong thing to do. It was a bit messy. I also don’t sit here and think I wasn’t smart for doing it. I took a risk and it didn’t pay off this time. But I’m very pleased for the 4 car guys. They closed up so much in the points with the BMW’s troubles. It seems like we had a long list of issues in this race with refueling, with radio and whether or not we could have made it into the pitlane with Antonio on a late call. Unfortunately Road America is still a place where I haven’t had a good result. I love it but I need to get a good result here next year.”
CASPER STEVENSON, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m happy with the result even though we were close to the podium. We were in the mix all day, which was a great feeling. I feel we got a bit unlucky with so many people taking gambles that weren’t in the fight and then with all the yellows they were in the fight. We managed to still overcome that.”
ALEC UDELL, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The key in IMSA is always track position. Casper did a great job in qualifying to put the car toward the front. Being there and being able to fight there, you can control the race a lot better. There was some pit stop strategy there at the end, but the team called a great race and we were on the right strategy all the way through. We had great stops each time and a really good car. Giacomo had a couple of really awesome restarts to put us back in the fight with a couple of cars that took a gamble on strategy. That’s how it is. Sometimes you get lucky. We played a very clean-cut race and I’m really happy for the performance of the DragonSpeed guys. I know they’ve been pushing hard for this kind of result all year.”
MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “There were some positives to take away from today. We won the Akin award and retook the lead in the championship, which is our primary objective to get back to Le Mans. But there was a much better result on the table for us today. The crew did an amazing job. Lars had a fantastic stint and Orey did a great job to get us to third with two hours. Then there was IMSA carnage again on a restart. I got contact from the rear that put me into someone on the front which dropped me from third to last. I think we had the win in the cards today. 13 Autosport gave me the best GTD car today. The Corvette was on fire all weekend. It’s a result that’s gotten away. That’s bittersweet but happy to walk away with the Akin lead.”
CORVETTE RACING AT ROAD AMERICA: P3 for No. 4 CorvetteMilner, Catsburg edge closer to points lead; DragonSpeed just misses GTD podium ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. (August 2, 2026) – Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg returned to the GTD PRO podium in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a third-place finish at the end of a chaotic six-hour Motul Endurance SportsCar Grand Prix at Road America on Sunday.
It was the third podium finish of the season for the duo in the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R and first since the third race of the year. Milner drove the opening and closing stages with Catsburg driving the middle portion in a clean run by the No. 4 team.
The race and results had significant championship implications. Chevrolet’s lead in the class Manufacturers Championship grew to 105 points with three races and 1,155 points remaining. Milner and Catsburg remained second in the Drivers Championship but moved to within 15 points of first in the standings; the gap is the same in Teams points with the top-four within 99 points after Sunday. Contact following a restart ruined the day for Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims in the No. 3 Corvette. After Sims and Garcia split driving for the first four hours, Sims suffered contact with just under two hours left that left the No. 3 in the Turn Three gravel trap and with right-rear damage. The Corvette returned to the race after losing six laps, and the duo finished 10th in class. In GTD, DragonSpeed recorded its best result of the season – a fourth-place finish for the No. 81 Corvette of Giacomo Altoé, Casper Stevenson and Alec Udell. Stevenson qualified near the front, and the DragonSpeed Corvette stayed toward the sharp end throughout. Udell led toward the end of his stint, and Altoé challenged for a podium position late. He made what appeared to be a podium-clinching pass just before the race’s final full-course yellow flew with 10 minutes to go, but IMSA officials ruled that the pass took place after the yellow came out.
The No. 13 Autosport Corvette of Matt Bell, Lars Kern and Orey Fidani placed seventh in GTD – their best finish since the Sebring 12 Hours – as Fidani regained the lead in the Bob Akin championship standings with the result. Fidani and Kern raced the No. 13 into the top-five inside the final two hours with Bell third before contact on a restart sent him off-track and down the order. Bell drove a strong double-stint to the end and made up 11 spots, and the late-race yellow prevented from moving further up. DXDT Racing’s No. 36 Corvette also got the worst of late contact that ruined a potential podium run. After double-stints by Mason Filippi and Robert Wickens, Charlie Eastwood was hit and spun from seventh place. He was able to get the Corvette going again but fell to 14th at the end. The next race for the five Corvette Z06 GT3.R teams in IMSA is the Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway on Sunday, August 23.
CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “A great points today for us. The 77 in front of us was already close to us and is even closer to us now. But we did make some headway on the BMW. That’s racing. Some years nothing goes your way, some years everything goes your way and sometimes it’s up and down. It seems like it’s that way for a lot of cars this year… some ups and downs. You have to make the most of these weekends that are in your favor and take the points when you can get them. I’m a bit disappointed in the general driving standards across the board. The fans deserve a little bit more than that after last year and now in a six-hour race. But I was very happy with our Corvette today. We did everything right with good strategy and good pit stops. No issues today at all, so I’m very proud of the team for that.”(On the race length) “It’s so cool to do six hours here. It’s the right track for a longer endurance race like this one. The fans here are amazing. I think the number is like 31 percent more fans this year than last year. It is, in my opinion, the best IMSA racing track we go to all year long. Some events may be a little better and some tracks are more exciting in some ways. But when you think about multi-class racing, Road America is the best. You’ve got big, long brake zones, nice high-speed sections. This is a staple of sports car racing and should be for a long time.”
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I think we got unlucky with one of the yellows late because otherwise I think we would have finished P2 or in the fight for P1. But that’s just the way IMSA is sometimes. It can be a little bit of a lottery. But the main thing is that our pitlane work was amazing. The guys did great today. The car is like new! Tommy didn’t touch anyone! It’s a very good day for us and a good points haul. This is exactly how we planned to do it. We didn’t want to take big risks. It’s a bit of an eye-opener today, the way you can get results in IMSA, as well. I’m really happy and pleased with the crew work. All our stops were on it. We do need to look at some stuff to improve. It seems some of the others are able to save a lot of fuel and beat us in the pitlane. We’ll figure that out, and it’s been a great day today.”
ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “There were a lot of cars and not a lot of space. All through Turn One, it was very congested and we got through there OK. It felt even more congested going into Three. I knew I had a Porsche on the inside of me, and then I was right behind the 65. He was holding mid-track and so I braked to the outside and in hindsight that was the wrong thing to do. It was a bit messy. I also don’t sit here and think I wasn’t smart for doing it. I took a risk and it didn’t pay off this time. But I’m very pleased for the 4 car guys. They closed up so much in the points with the BMW’s troubles. It seems like we had a long list of issues in this race with refueling, with radio and whether or not we could have made it into the pitlane with Antonio on a late call. Unfortunately Road America is still a place where I haven’t had a good result. I love it but I need to get a good result here next year.”
CASPER STEVENSON, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m happy with the result even though we were close to the podium. We were in the mix all day, which was a great feeling. I feel we got a bit unlucky with so many people taking gambles that weren’t in the fight and then with all the yellows they were in the fight. We managed to still overcome that.”
ALEC UDELL, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The key in IMSA is always track position. Casper did a great job in qualifying to put the car toward the front. Being there and being able to fight there, you can control the race a lot better. There was some pit stop strategy there at the end, but the team called a great race and we were on the right strategy all the way through. We had great stops each time and a really good car. Giacomo had a couple of really awesome restarts to put us back in the fight with a couple of cars that took a gamble on strategy. That’s how it is. Sometimes you get lucky. We played a very clean-cut race and I’m really happy for the performance of the DragonSpeed guys. I know they’ve been pushing hard for this kind of result all year.”
MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “There were some positives to take away from today. We won the Akin award and retook the lead in the championship, which is our primary objective to get back to Le Mans. But there was a much better result on the table for us today. The crew did an amazing job. Lars had a fantastic stint and Orey did a great job to get us to third with two hours. Then there was IMSA carnage again on a restart. I got contact from the rear that put me into someone on the front which dropped me from third to last. I think we had the win in the cards today. 13 Autosport gave me the best GTD car today. The Corvette was on fire all weekend. It’s a result that’s gotten away. That’s bittersweet but happy to walk away with the Akin lead.”
ROBERT WICKENS, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The team has done an amazing job. Just to get the hand controls into the car for this weekend was a huge undertaking. My first stint was not my best product, per se. But in the second stint I was much happier with the car. The team made a setup change on the pitstop, which was amazing they could do that in the race. It really transformed the car for my second stint and I made up four or five spots so that was fun going door-to-door and racing hard out there. We were struggling a lot for rear grip, kind of entry to middle and exit of the corner. We made a change to the front end of the car and that helped a lot.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.