ALTON, Va. – The season-long wait for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports to break through for its first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win of 2025 finally ended in Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway.
The Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) championship-leading pairing of Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims broke their yearlong duck in their No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R to end a winless run that dated to July 2024 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The pair had four podium finishes in the first five races of the season, but GTD PRO championship rivals from DragonSpeed and AO Racing have pursued the No. 3 Corvette atop the standings since. Indeed, Garcia and Sims entered VIR with only a 30-point lead ahead of Albert Costa in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3.
DragonSpeed enjoyed an excellent VIR weekend, pacing both practice sessions with Costa’s teammate Giacomo Altoè securing the Motul Pole Award and leading most of the race.
But with the two-hour, 40-minute race nearing its conclusion, strategic vibes entered the fray as Costa fought back to get within a second of Sims inside the final 15 minutes.
Sims held off Costa’s charge to return Corvette Racing to VIR victory lane for the seventh time in the team’s history. Garcia and Jordan Taylor won Corvette’s most recent IMSA race at the track in 2023.
It’s also the 25th different year that Pratt Miller Motorsports has earned at least one win.
Adding to the great day for Corvette Racing, the sister No. 4 car with Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg finished third on the podium.
Continuing the theme of championship leaders winning races, Winward Racing followed form in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class with its third win of the season.
Russell Ward and Philip Ellis started second in their No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3, fell down the order at the start, but methodically moved forward.
The key move came in the final pit stop sequence with the No. 57 car jumping the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 before the final yellow.
Ellis was poised to lead Mario Farnbacher home in the No. 78 Lamborghini. But that didn’t hold with race officials assessing a drive-through penalty for blocking to Farnbacher inside the final two minutes.
That promoted Road America GTD winners Kenton Koch and Onofrio Triarsi to second in the No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, followed by the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Casper Stevenson and Tom Gamble.
