IMSA at Laguna Seca: Pratt Miller Pulls Off Another Podium Finish For Corvette Z06 GT3.R

The proven GT3 warriors are back in California. This past weekend, the Z06 GT3.R Corvettes returned to the iconic WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for IMSA’s latest showdown through the rolling hills of the Monterey Peninsula. Laguna Seca has never been a place where reputation alone earns results. The circuit’s dramatic elevation changes, relentless braking zones, and unforgiving technical sections force even the most seasoned Corvette Racing drivers to fight every lap for grip, rhythm, and survival. With championship points already becoming critical early in the season, the pressure entering Monterey was impossible to ignore.

A Corvette Grid Hit Before The Green Flag

The weekend was originally expected to feature all five Z06 GT3.R Corvettes charging through Laguna Seca’s legendary Corkscrew, but one Corvette Racing team experienced an unexpected hit before the race even began. Following a season-best sixth-place finish during last week’s 100-minute Grand Prix of Long Beach, DXDT Racing was forced to withdraw from Laguna Seca after suffering a devastating transporter fire. The setback removed one of the growing Corvette contenders from the grid and instantly shifted additional pressure onto the remaining Pratt Miller-backed entries to carry the momentum forward against one of the toughest GT fields in IMSA competition.

Momentum Building Inside The Corvette Camp

Despite the adversity, confidence surrounding the Z06 GT3.R program continues to build. At Daytona, Corvette Racing survived a brutal 24-hour war where just 18 seconds separated two Z06 GT3.R entries from a podium finish in one of the closest endurance battles of the season. Sebring then delivered the breakthrough many inside the paddock felt was coming, as Pratt Miller Motorsports secured a hard-fought third-in-class podium at the legendary Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Now the focus shifts to Monterey, where Corvette Racing arrived looking to convert growing momentum into another statement finish. As today’s racing coverage unfolds, we break down exactly how Pratt Miller captured its second podium of the season and emerged from Laguna Seca with the early championship lead firmly in hand.

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The Official IMSA At Raceway Laguna Seca Press Release From Corvette Racing: Authored by Ryan Smith

CORVETTE RACING AT LAGUNA SECA: P2 Finish and Championship Lead

Milner, Catsburg take runner-up in GTD PRO; Chevrolet and No. 4 team take title leads

MONTEREY, Calif. (May 3, 2026) – Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner raced from eighth at the start to second in GTD PRO at the end of Sunday’s Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – a result that proved important for the early-season IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship standings.

With the second straight podium finish for the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R, the pairing moved into the lead of the Drivers Championship after three races, as did Chevrolet in the Manufacturers standings. The No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports team made a strategic call early in the race stand up to move into first in Teams points, as well.

Milner and Garcia bettered their third-place result from the most recent GTD PRO race at Sebring and finished on the Monterey podium for the second time in three years.

The No. 3 Corvette of Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims placed fourth in class and just off the podium after a late-race push for what they were hoping would be their first victory in defense of the 2025 GTD PRO championship.

The two GTD PRO Corvettes went on a split strategy early in the race. Milner, who started eighth, hit the pitlane first just after the 30-minute mark following a couple rounds of contact on the opening laps. Contact came from both GTD PRO and GTD competitors, and the No. 4 Corvette lost pace for a short bit coming down the hill but without lasting impact.

Catsburg went the rest of the way and moved into the race lead just past the one-hour mark as the class leaders went deep into their first fuel stint. The race’s full-course yellow flew 10 minutes later when 13 Autosport’s No. 13 Corvette of Matt Bell and Orey Fidani pulled off-track with a mechanical issue that resulted in the team’s retirement from the race.

The entire GTD PRO field stopped during the safety car period, which shuffled back the No. 4 but elevated the No. 3 and others who needed a shorter fuel stop. Catsburg made his final stop with an hour to go with the team making sure the Corvette could make it to the end of the race.

Sims, who took over Garcia during the No. 3’s first stop, stayed out along with four other GTD PRO cars that tried to save fuel and with hopes for another yellow to allow them to make the end. Sims did gain a position late in the race to move into second before the four lead cars all stopped inside the final five minutes.

Elsewhere in the GTD class, the No. 81 DragonSpeed Corvette of Henrik Hedman and Giacomo Altoé had their best run and result of the season with a 11th-place finish. After suffering contact and incidents in the first three races, the DragonSpeed team finally enjoyed a clean race heading into a long break for the GTD class until June.

The next race in IMSA for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R program is the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic on the streets of Detroit on Saturday, May 30.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“You plan for lots of different options and opportunities and things like that. And obviously today, starting where we started and with the start of the race that I had, it was pretty clear that we were gonna go pretty far off-strategy, as most cars in this class do. If you’re not up front, you try something different to see if it’s going to work out for you. Today it worked out very well for us. At times it didn’t look very good. Then it looked okay, and then maybe not so good, and then it went back in our favor at the end there. I’m really, really proud of the Corvette Racing and Pratt Miller team. Nicky drove an absolutely amazing race. Really no mistakes. He drove it as hard as he could, which is what he had to do. The margins here are so slim. To have the race that we had at the start and then to claw it all back at the end certainly feels good. It’s a good example of you never, never give up and always try to maximize whatever you have. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t. Today it kind of went in our favor.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“We found the strategy that worked. Well not us as drivers but it was the guys on the pit stand that found the one that worked. We just had to drive around, make no mistakes and we came back with a P2 finish. In some ways it was unexpected, but inside you never know. We always have a good strategy from the team so it’s really great. I was hoping I could pass the 65 and I felt like I was a little inconsistent there. Sometimes as soon as you get close, you start making mistakes. So I feel like I need to up my game a little bit there. We could have won, I think, but still P2 is super nice and very good to put us in first for the championship.”

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“It was good execution by both our teams. It’s a shame we didn’t have track position from the start, but it’s nice that we have two cars and could cover both strategy scenarios. On our side, we had to fight all the way through because it wasn’t easy to pass. I’m glad that as a team we came up with the most points we could. No matter the strategy it would have been P2 regardless of which car. Next time I need a better qualifying effort to be in control of the race. Overall we can be happy as a team.”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“That was really good fun. I think a lot of us were in no-man’s land of trying to work out what to do. It was too much of a save to make the end without a yellow but we needed to save because we committed to the strategy. No one wanted to break away from that strategy first and risk a yellow coming up. We were saving quite a lot while still racing really close with each other. We had decent pace and I was really happy with our Corvette. It was working really well, and I think we did a great job with the strategy that we were on. Full credit to the 4 car for making theirs work pretty darn well. Starting the race fifth and eighth, we would have been very happy to settle with second and fourth. I think both of us might feel a little frustrated that we weren’t first in our respective battles – me with the 77 and Nicky with the 65 – but nevertheless a decent result and the Manufacturers championship lead.”

GIACOMO ALTOE, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“For sure the results we are having don’t show the effort and quality of the work the team is doing. We have changed a lot and have improved massively since the beginning of the season. This is still only our fourth race with the Corvette and I feel already we are at a high level of performance. We’ll keep working to improve even more as a group and a package. The only thing we are missing is some competitiveness to bring home some good results. We’ll regroup, hopefully do one or two tests and then be back stronger at Watkins Glen.”

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