The grueling 2026 Motul Petit Le Mans served as the high-stakes IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale, a legendary 10-hour endurance test that always pushes drivers and machines to their absolute limits. Contested at the iconic Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta—a notoriously punishing 2.54-mile, 12-turn natural-terrain road course—the race presented a unique set of challenges for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R platform. While the car’s aerodynamic prowess excelled through the high-speed sweeping elevation changes, the brutal braking zones and heavy compression of the infamous Turn 12 required impeccable chassis balance and durability. Entering the weekend with a powerful presence, a formidable fleet of five customer and factory-backed Z06 GT3.Rs flooded the grid across both GT classes, each hungry to write the final, defining chapter of the car’s historic 2026 campaign.
The IMSA Season To Remember
Dominance in the 2026 season began with a hard-fought P3 podium finish in sunny Sebring, Florida, at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring for the No. 4 Pratt Miller Motorsports crew. The momentum quickly shifted to the West Coast, where the No. 4 machine captured a brilliant 2nd-place finish at the Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The highlight of the summer came on home turf at the Chevrolet Detroit SportsCar Classic, where the No. 3 Corvette Racing entry stormed to a spectacular P1 victory on the downtown street circuit. The podium streak rolled on at the Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America with another P3 finish for the No. 4 car, followed by a dual-class masterclass at the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks, where the No. 4 secured P2 in GTD PRO and the No. 13 13 Autosport entry claimed P3 in GTD.
The End Result
The season culminated in a dramatic display of resilience at Road Atlanta, where DXDT Racing’s No. 36 Corvette fought back from four laps down to secure a phenomenal P3 GTD podium, their first! This relentless season-long onslaught yielded the ultimate prize: Chevrolet captured its second consecutive GTD PRO Manufacturer Championship. Adding to the weekend’s historic haul, the No. 13 from 13 Autosport officially secured the prestigious 2026 Bob Akin Bronze Cup Award, granting driver Orey Fidani an automatic invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans—a crown he has proudly claimed for three consecutive seasons. Dive into our complete package below, featuring our updated Z06 GT3.R dominance tracker, the full official Corvette Racing press release, raw post-race driver quotes straight from the paddock, and exclusive bonus coverage so you can celebrate right alongside the podium-placing team. Even better, we have an opportunity for you to join in on the viral Facebook post from Team Chevy announcing the Manufacturer Championship, plus additional social media coverage!
♦ What’s Inside CorvSport’s Corvette Racing Coverage:
- The Z06 GT3.R Taking Names: CorvSport’s 2026 Dominance Tracker
- The Official 2026 Motul Petit Le Mans Press Release From Corvette Racing: Authored by Ryan Smith
- The Post-Race CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER QUOTES From Corvette Racing
- BONUS COVERAGE: Join The Viral Team Chevy FB Post Celebrating The Championship
- Meet The 2026 Bob Akin Award Winners!
- Celebrate With The Podium-Placing DXDT Racing!
1 — The Z06 GT3.R Taking Names: CorvSport’s 2026 Dominance Tracker
♦ IMSA 2026 Is In The Books:
- Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring | 3rd Place (P3) | No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports
- Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca | 2nd Place (P2) | No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports
- Chevrolet Detroit SportsCar Classic | 1st Place (P1) | No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports
- Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America | 3rd Place (P3) | No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports
- TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks | 2nd Place (P2) GTD PRO | No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports | 3rd Place (P3) GTD | No. 13 13 Autosport
- 2026 Motul Petit Le Mans | 3rd Place (P3) GTD | No. 36 DXDT Racing
- The End Result: Chevrolet is your 2026 IMSA GTD PRO Manufacturer Champion!
♦ FIA WEC 2026: Let’s not forget about the Z06 GT3.R’s global dominance!
- 6 Hours of Imola | 2nd Place (P2) | No. 33 TF Sport
- 24 Hours of Le Mans | 1st Place (P1) | No. 33 TF Sport
- Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo | 1st Place (P1) | No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette
- 6 Hours of Fuji | 3rd Place (P3) | No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette
2 — The Official 2026 Motul Petit Le Mans Press Release From Corvette Racing: Authored by Ryan Smith
Corvette Racing at Road Atlanta: What a Race!
GTD PRO Manufacturer title, Akin Award and a GTD podium highlight the day
BRASELTON, Ga. (October 4, 2026) – The GTD PRO Manufacturer Championship, another Akin Award and a GTD podium were among the highlights from Corvette Racing at the end of a chaotic and unpredictable 10-hour Petit Le Mans for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ two Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R and DragonSpeed’s entry all led laps at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. At the end of a wild Saturday – which featured a race-record 17 full-course yellows and a red-flag stoppage for lightning – the No. 74 DragonSpeed Corvette of Giacomo Altoé, Casper Stevenson and Sebastien Bourdais placed sixth in GTD PRO as the highest-finishing Z06 GT3.R in the class.
It was the first race in GTD PRO for the DragonSpeed Corvette, which led three times in the race’s second half.
The two yellow Pratt Miller Corvettes were contenders throughout. The No. 3 of Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims and Marvin Kirchhöfer placed eighth in class after it led the race twice for 61 laps. The trio appeared headed for a podium finish – if not better – before a flat left-rear tire late ended their challenge.
The No. 4 Corvette of Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone were 12th due to multiple rounds of late-race contact. Milner and Catsburg arrived at Road Atlanta leading the Driver Championship and were in position at dusk to convert that lead to the class title having led three times for 29 laps. The No. 4 Corvette’s championship chase came to an end when Catsburg was pushed off-track and into a gravel trap by another GTD PRO contender, which received a penalty.
In GTD, a 10th-place class finish for 13 Autosport netted Orey Fidani his third straight Bob Akin Award championship, which includes a third automatic invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2027. Fidani, Matt Bell and Lars Kern marched up the GTD field and weathered chaos within the class as well to lead eight laps late.
DXDT Racing climbed the GTD podium for the first time this season in a remarkable drive back from four laps down early. Charlie Eastwood, Mason Filippi and Salih Yoluc placed third in the No. 36 Corvette Z06 GT3.R and led late in class, as well.
Chevrolet and Corvette Racing will return to IMSA competition at the 2027 Rolex 24 At Daytona on January 30-31.
ERIC WARREN, GENERAL MOTORS VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL MOTORSPORTS COMPETITION:
“It’s been exciting. The Corvette Z06 GT3.R really has come into its own the last year across IMSA, WEC. Really proud of that championship. Came down to the wire there, as well. It’s great to have another championship. That car is just incredible. Couldn’t be more proud.”
MARK STIELOW, DIRECTOR, GM MOTORSPORTS COMPETITION PROGRAMS:
“Congratulations to Orey Fidani and 13 Autosport on securing Orey’s third consecutive Bob Akin Award championship. The competition has been close and competitive all season, and this prestigious award is a testament to the commitment, consistency and execution of the entire 13 Autosport team. This is another strong result for Chevrolet and our customer racing program, which continues to represent the brand at the highest level of endurance competition. We’re proud of everyone who contributed to this achievement and look forward to seeing 13 Autosport back at the 24 Hours of Le Mans next June.”
3 — The Post-Race CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER QUOTES From Corvette Racing
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:
“There certainly are positives. First place in the Manufacturer Championship, which is great for the program. It’s great to have both cars all year long be very competitive all throughout the season. The 3 car was unlucky at times. But obviously it was great for them to get the win at Detroit. So that’s what you need to have… both cars being fast all year long and we had that. So that was great. Obviously, it’s unfortunate for us in the Driver Championship and the Team Championship. I said a few weeks ago that we just wanted to have a chance to win a championship when we got here. There were three cars that had a good shot at it, and today was not our day. We were taken out at the end by a competitor, which is pretty poor. Really a bummer to lose it like that or lose an opportunity like that. But ultimately a championship is your full body of work for the whole season. It’s not just one race that loses you a championship. But it is frustrating. To have our race end like that was pretty poor. Ultimately I’m super happy with all of our guys and the whole team from top to bottom. I’m excited for how strong we were all year long. We’ll tidy up little things on our end to be as good as we can be to be a bit better. And hopefully that’s enough to compete again for a championship.”
ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:
“To get the Manufacturer title is a big thing for Corvette Racing and for Chevrolet. I’m very pleased that we were able to wrap that up. However the emotions of Petit Le Mans were the roller coaster that we expected. I don’t know how you summarize that race, honestly. So many things happened. We cycled to the front, cycled to the back, had some great racing and we were on the receiving end of some not so great racing, as well. I got spun around and had a puncture at one point near the end as well. To be able to finish in the position we did is honestly something that I have to take. We were never fighting for the Driver title or the Team title. It’s a real, real shame for the 4 that they were at the receiving end of others’ behavior that basically ruined their chances. Although today’s a bitter filter swallow, there’s also plenty of other positive moments during the year. We need to just review things in the offseason and see where we can improve. We’re always wanting to learn from what we can and try again next year.”
MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:
“It’s great to go back to Le Mans. We’ve had fantastic competition with the 70 three years in a row and the 16 though they had a little bit of a less lucky year. So we’ve always appreciated the competition for the Akin Award, and it’s good with such strong competition to do the three-peat and get the Le Mans entry again, which was the main goal of the season. Everybody’s super happy to go back. We’re really motivated to go and have a good, strong run at Le Mans. We felt really, really competitive this year and contact took us out of the race. So it made us all even hungrier to go back and clinch the Bob Akin Award. Really, really happy about the outcome of that side of the championship.”
OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:
“Everyone’s been working really hard for this and we’re already excited to go back to Le Mans. I’d have to say this more satisfying than a year ago. But it was very close between our two teams. This was a tough one for sure and very close between us and them. But we came on top and made it happen once again. I probably did about 10,000 steps in the last hour, walking all over down the pit lane because it could stand in one spot anymore. But now that it’s over, it’s incredible how all this work paid off.”
LARS KERN, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:
“Throughout the season, winning the Akin Award at some points looked a bit difficult. So yes, I’m very, very happy that we can go back to Le Mans because this was always the given target for the season. It’s definitely been the toughest one to get. I feel like this was the hardest we have worked for it and the hardest to earn. So it feels good. I think it’s going to feel better tomorrow because today it feels like we lost something because we could have won this race. But again, we had a greater plan and a greater plan was to win the Akin in the first place and then see if we can win this race as well. This didn’t work out, but yeah, still, I think we can be pretty proud of the season. I already can’t wait to get next year started.”
CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:
“It’s very deserved for the team, you know, from the amount of unluckiness they’ve had over the last couple of years. And we’ve got incredibly lucky today. We somehow end up in the podium from being four laps down, but it’s not also by chance. We rolled the dice so many times. We went off-strategy, did some crazy things just to try and get those laps back and then… we were back on the lead lap and then we were in 11th and then it was like, hold on a minute. We could maybe go forward here and win this thing. The Corvette was unbelievable. It was a pretty wild fuel-save at the end. We obviously went for the strategy of boxing and trying to hang on to it. It was nearly basically a 20 percent save at the end. So if I did it for a full stint, it would have been like an extension of like seven laps. It’s so hard when you can see that you’ve got the chance to win Petit Le Mans. All you’re trying to do is literally cross the line with enough fuel in the car. So it’s a weird feeling at the minute. If I had five more mega-joules, I probably could have won Petit and I didn’t. But again, we were fuel-saving during the whole last stint and did everything we could. We clearly made it much better than most others who went for that strategy. My first podium in IMSA, which I’m super happy about, and a great way to wrap up the season for DXDT.”
CASPER STEVENSON, NO. 74 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:
“What a race. I think that we definitely needed one more green flag lap and we would have been on the podium because we had a great energy situation. But I’m happy that we helped a little bit for Corvette and Chevrolet to win the Manufacturer championship. It was really cool to race in GTD PRO and there was a lot that I learned. Seb was amazing. Giacomo was really good as usual. So you can’t help but end the race with a smile.”
4 — BONUS COVERAGE: Join The Viral Team Chevy FB Post Celebrating The Championship
♦ From Team Chevy:
Championship secured. 🏆
Chevrolet is your 2026 IMSA GTD PRO Manufacturer Champion!
♦ Click anywhere on the post to join the community fun!
- 4,700+ Reactions
- 176+ Comments
- 590+ Shares
♦ Mark Reuss, President, General Motors, on Cadillac and Corvette winning IMSA manufacturer championships:
“What a tremendous accomplishment for General Motors, Cadillac Racing and Corvette Racing. Both Cadillac and Chevrolet winning manufacturer championships shows the strength of our racing programs, and the talent and execution of our drivers, engineers and crews. These championships represent the hard work of everyone across GM Motorsports, Cadillac Racing and Corvette Racing, and they showcase the culture of winning taking root on their teams and across General Motors, every day. We’re proud of this achievement and of the teams who made it possible.”
5 — Meet The 2026 Bob Akin Award Winners!
♦ From 13 Autosport:
🏆 BOB AKIN AWARD CHAMPIONS 🏆
Oui oui, we’re going back to LE MANS.
For the third consecutive year, Orey Fidani and the entire 13 Autosport team has earned their place on the grid at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
An incredible season, a mega team effort, and another ticket to the biggest endurance race in the world.
Three years. Three trips to Le Mans. 👊
♦ Mark Stielow, Director, GM Motorsports Competition Programs, on 13 Autosport winning the Bob Akin Award:
“Congratulations to Orey Fidani and 13 Autosport on securing Orey’s third consecutive Bob Akin Award championship. The competition has been close and competitive all season, and this prestigious award is a testament to the commitment, consistency and execution of the entire 13 Autosport team. This is another strong result for Chevrolet and our customer racing program, which continues to represent the brand at the highest level of endurance competition. We’re proud of everyone who contributed to this achievement and look forward to seeing 13 Autosport back at the 24 Hours of Le Mans next June.”
6 — Celebrate With The Podium-Placing DXDT Racing!
♦ From DXDT Racing:
From a five-minute stop-and-go penalty to the podium. 🏆
An incredible team effort, strategy calls, and a massive fuel-save in the closing stint brought us all the way back to P3 at Petit Le Mans.
What a way to close out the season.
♦ Our favorite pictures from the celebratory post
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