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CORVETTE RACING AT INDY: Six-Hour Brickyard Battle

First of back-to-back endurance rounds to close Corvette Z06 GT3.R’s first IMSA season

DETROIT (September 18, 2024) – Of all the things that the Corvette Racing program has accomplished in more than a quarter-century of IMSA competition, one significant achievement is missing: a kiss on the bricks.

Three of the first-year Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs are set to contest Sunday’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks from historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After returning last year to the Brickyard road course in a sprint race the first time since 2014, both Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and AWA are part of a huge 56-car grid in what is now a fifth race for the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup – this one six hours – on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship calendar.

In GTD PRO, Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports will seek its second victory of the season with a pair of Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs – the No. 3 for Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims (class winners at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park) and the No. 4 for Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg.

The Pratt Miller Corvettes showed strong performance at each of the three previous endurance rounds this season – Daytona, Sebring and Watkins Glen. Chevrolet leads the Endurance Cup Manufacturers Championship with just Indianapolis and the 10-hour Petit Le Mans left in the season. Points at Indianapolis will be awarded at the three- and six-hour marks.

Fidani and Bell also scored maximum points for the Bob Akin Award in the last round at VIR to grow Fidani’s lead in that championship. If he can hold that position for the next two races, Fidani and AWA will earn an automatic invitation to the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMGT3 class. 

    
CORVETTE Z06 GT3.Rs IN 2025 WEATHERTECH CHAMPIONSHIP

Although there still are two races remaining in the 2024 season, fans of the Corvette Z06 GT3.R program can expect to see familiar names and faces in the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Both Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and AWA have confirmed their full-season entries into next year’s series with identical efforts to what will be on-hand at Indianapolis this weekend.

The two-car, Pratt Miller-run Corvette team will return with the same core lineup of Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims, Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg in the No. 3 and No. 4 Z06 GT3.Rs in GTD PRO. 

For GTD, AWA’s duo of Matt Bell and Orey Fidani will return in the No. 13 Corvette with Lars Kern joining for the 2025 long-distance races as part of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup.

The TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks is scheduled for 11:40 a.m. ET on Sunday, September 22. The final three hours will air live on NBC starting at 3 p.m. ET with live streaming at 11:30 a.m. on Peacock inside the United States and IMSA.com outside the U.S. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions beginning with Friday afternoon’s opening practice at IMSA.com with the race call also on XM 206 and SiriusXM Online 996.

CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS PRE-EVENT DRIVER QUOTES

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Indianapolis being more of an endurance round is a nice change from the last couple of times I was there. I think that plays into the strength of our team with race strategy and execution being a big part of it. So I hope we are up there fighting at the front. The Corvette has been really strong throughout the summer. Even at VIR when we had our issue, the car was fast and we could be near the front. It’s been awhile since we had a long-distance race win. This would be a great time to fix that, so let’s see.”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “You tend to get on top of things at Indianapolis quite quickly. It should be pretty straight-forward for us. But any six-hour race always throws up surprises. So the length of the race will add a decent amount of strategy into the mix, which should make things interesting from that point of view. I would hope that it’s a track where we’re fairly strong. Our Corvette is pretty decent in low speeds – to be honest it’s good in all corners! – but in low speed we generally seem strong as well, which is nice.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It will be three endurance races in a row for me with six hours at Indy this week, eight more in SRO and then ramping up for Petit Le Mans. It’s certainly helpful, as I’ve already seen this year, to use lessons learned from the SRO event to the IMSA event. We will be able to do the same between the Six Hours and the Eight Hours. Endurance racing is what this car has been designed for. It will be a good test of all of the work that these guys have done over the year to get the car as reliable as it can be and prove the reliability of the car of a nice, long stretch of endurance races.” 

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The last time I was at Indianapolis, we won it. So I have some very good memories of the circuit. I do like the track. Drivers are like that! When they do well they like the track, and when they don’t do well they hate the track. We aren’t really objective! So I really enjoy Indy and I’m looking forward to this event. It’s a bit longer than our normal sprint races. I’m looking forward to going there. It’s a fantastic place and hopefully we can kiss the bricks at the end.”

AWA PRE-EVENT DRIVER QUOTES

MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m really looking forward to this race. We are arriving off the back of a strong result in VIR, and a productive test at Indianapolis recently, so we are feeling confident. There are a few unknowns with this race being the first IMSA endurance event at Indy. Last year's sprint race was already pretty chaotic and that was less than half the length! We feel confident that we have a good car, and now we just need to focus on adapting to whatever the race throws at us.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m excited to see what Indianapolis Motor Speedway has in store for us. We’re heading into the final stages of the season and it would be amazing for us to get another strong result. I think we’re all curious to see how an endurance event will shake out at this track, but we’re feeling good and we know we have the ability to be successful here. It will be great to have Lars returning with us as well.”

2024 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Points

GTD PRO Drivers Standings

1. Laurin Heinrich – 2519

2. Ross Gunn – 2502

3. Bryan Sellers/Madison Snow – 2408

4. Ben Barnicoat/Jack Hawksworth – 2358

5. Alexander Sims/Antonio Garcia – 2318

6. Nicky Catsburg/Tommy Milner – 2217

 
GTD PRO Teams Standings

1. No. 77 AO Racing – 2519

2. No. 23 Heart of Racing Team – 2502

3. No. 1 Paul Miller Racing – 2408

4. No. 14 Vasser Sullivan – 2358

5. No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports – 2318

6. No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports – 2217

 
GTD PRO Manufacturers Standings

1. Porsche – 2579

2. Aston Martin – 2540

3. Lexus – 2427

4. Chevrolet – 2426

5. Ford – 2329

GTD Drivers Standings

1. Philip Ellis/Russell Ward – 2718

2. Patrick Gallagher/Robby Foley – 2434

3. Mikael Grenier – 2178

4. Parker Thompson – 2114

5. Albert Costa Balboa/Manny Franco – 2060

9. Matthew Bell/Orey Fidani – 1826

 
GTD Teams Standings

1. No. 57 Windward Racing – 2718

2. No. 96 Turner Motorsport – 2434

3. No. 32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsport – 2178

4. No. 34 Conquest Racing – 2060

5. No. 12 Vasser Sullivan – 1921

8. No. 13 AWA – 1826

 
GTD Manufacturers Standings

1. Mercedes-AMG – 2882

2. Lamborghini - 2300

3. BMW – 2296

4. Lexus – 2276

5. Aston Martin – 2255

9. Chevrolet – 2078

CORVETTE RACING AT INDIANAPOLIS: By the Numbers

• 2: Previous starts at Indianapolis in IMSA competition for the Corvette Racing program – 2014 and 2023

• 2: Races at the Indianapolis Road Course in the next three weeks for Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs – this weekend’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Indianapolis Eight Hours in GT World Challenge America.

• 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001

• 27: Manufacturer victories for Chevrolet in 47 races at Indianapolis races at IMS across its stock car, open-wheel and sports car programs. It includes wins this year in the Indianapolis 500 (Josef Newgarden) and Kyle Larson (Brickyard 400). In IMSA competition, Action Express Racing won the last time the series raced at Indy in a Corvette Daytona Prototype. A Chevrolet Camaro also won at IMS in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge in 2012 and 2014.

• 28: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Barber Motorsports Park, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Monza, Portimão, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen

• 51: Number of drivers in Corvette Racing entries since 1999. DXDT Racing’s Bryson Morris joined the list at Road America in GT World Challenge America

• 71: Years since Corvette was introduced to the world on Jan. 17, 1953 in New York City. A total of 300 cars were produced that year

• 138: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 116 in IMSA, nine at Le Mans, three in the FIA WEC and 10 in GT World Challenge America

• 305: Event starts by Corvette Racing entries since 1999, starting with that year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona. No. 300 came in early August at Road America in IMSA

• 391,312.14: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon and more than halfway back!

 
Corvette Racing at Indianapolis

2014

No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen – 4th in GTLM

No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM

2023

No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 5th in GTD PRO

Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick

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