Virginia International Raceway served as the breathtaking yet punishing backdrop for yesterday’s high-stakes running of the IMSA Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. Spanning 3.27 miles of sweeping elevation changes and 18 meticulously demanding turns, this historic natural-terrain road course is world-renowned—not just for premier sports car racing, but as the home of Car and Driver’s legendary annual “Lightning Lap” track tests, which push production cars to the limit on VIR’s longer Grand Course layout. For the Corvette Z06 GT3.R, the standard race circuit presents a unique physical puzzle; sections like the blindingly fast, curb-hopping Snake complex and the notorious Climbing S curves require unmatched high-speed aerodynamic stability, while the heavy braking zones demand absolute mechanical compliance to keep the mid-engine platform settled on the limit.
Stepping into this weekend, the Z06 GT3.R had already firmly cemented itself as a global force to be reckoned with throughout its stellar 2026 campaign. Corvette Racing’s customer homologation platform has dominated paddocks across two continents, capturing an impressive 4 IMSA podiums and 3 FIA WEC podiums, alongside 3 spectacular P1 victories across both premier series. With Corvette Racing’s full, unabridged official press release detailed below, we won’t steal the thunder from the team breakdowns just yet; suffice it to say, the brutal reality of multi-class sprint racing at VIR can quickly derail even the most bulletproof race strategies in a heartbeat.
Yet, true to the resilient Bowtie legacy, a single chaotic Sunday cannot break a championship-caliber foundation. Even after weathering an incredibly disappointing and turbulent afternoon in the Virginia countryside, the big-picture damage control keeps Chevrolet squarely in the catbird seat. Corvette Racing and Chevy proudly retain their hard-earned lead in the IMSA GTD PRO Manufacturers’ Championship, while the resilient drivers of the No. 4 Z06 GT3.R firmly hold onto second place in the Driver’s Points standings. Let’s take a detailed look at that dominance before we jump into today’s full Corvette Racing coverage!
CorvSport’s Dominance Tracker: The Z06 GT3.R Kicking Butt
♦ IMSA 2026:
- 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
♦ FIA WEC 2026:
- 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
♦ What’s Inside CorvSport’s Corvette Racing Coverage:
- The Official IMSA Michelin GT Challenge at VIR Press Release From Corvette Racing: Authored by Ryan Smith
- The Post-Race CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER QUOTES From Corvette Racing
- Bonus Coverage: Join Pratt Miller Motorsports on a Heartfelt Facebook Post
- Check Out The Viral Post After Sims’ No. 3 Flies Off The Track
1 — The Official IMSA Michelin GT Challenge at VIR Press Release From Corvette Racing: Authored by Ryan Smith
CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: Championships Stay Tight
Chevrolet retains GTD PRO Manufacturers lead; No. 4 still second in Drivers points
ALTON, Va. (August 23, 2026) – Chevrolet and Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports remained in the thick of the GTD PRO championship after Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge at VIR with two rounds to go in this year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg placed sixth at Virginia International Raceway in the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R and remained second in the GTD PRO Drivers Championship with the result. Chevrolet also maintained its lead in the Manufacturers standings heading to next month’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The No. 4 team limited the damage from a slow first pit stop at the end of Catsburg’s opening stint after the drivers’ side door wouldn’t latch. Milner rejoined the race ninth in class but rebounded to sixth after making the team’s final pit stop with 62 minutes to go. A problem on the energy fill, however, during the stop forced Milner to save fuel toward the end of his stint and he had to cede a position to the championship-leading BMW in order to get to the finish.
In GTD, 13 Autosport’s Matt Bell and Orey Fidani placed sixth in their No. 13 Corvette. The pairing led the Corvette contingent in the class and stands second in the season-long Akin Award standings heading to Indianapolis. Another Akin championship would send the team to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the third straight year.
The No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette of Robert Wickens and Mason Filippi was eighth in GTD in a largely trouble-free run. Filippi drove the first 50 minutes as Wickens double-stinted the Corvette to the end of the race.
Two Corvettes saw their days effectively end almost immediately. Alexander Sims went off-track and hard into the tire barriers in the No. 3 Corvette after a side-by-side battle to bring out a full-course yellow on the opening lap. He was evaluated and released from the infield care center after IMSA’s standard post-accident checks.
In a separate incident, DragonSpeed’s Casper Stevenson and the GTD pole-sitting No. 81 Corvette were hit by the then-second place Ferrari further back down the track. The contact sent the DragonSpeed Corvette to the garage with damage to the steering system, and the team lost five laps as a result.
The next IMSA event for Corvette Racing is the Battle on the Bricks on Sunday, September 20 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
2 — The Post-Race CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER QUOTES From Corvette Racing
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:
“It’s a little bit harsh but a bit of an embarrassing day for us. We should have been probably a P2 on the road. Instead, we ended sixth and behind the BMW. So not a good day for the whole team with too many mistakes. We can’t have days like that and we have got to be better than that. And we will coming to Indianapolis and Petit Le Mans. Obviously the goal for Indy is to keep ourselves in the hunt and give ourselves a chance to win a championship and get to Road Atlanta with it all to play for.”
NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:
“Really disappointing because I think with the race being green, we would have had an easy P2 today, potentially even P1 with the pace that we had. But on both pit stops, we lost a lot of time. The first pit stop, the door didn’t close, which is a returning issue that we need to address. In WEC the team had a similar issue at Brazil. And then on the second stop, I don’t think all the energy that we needed to put in went in. That meant that Tommy’s stints were heavily compromised. He needed to save like crazy, which he did an awesome job at doing some damage control there. We could have gotten off a lot worse there, but initially we should have definitely had a very good race here and also in terms of championship. This got away from us. It is what it is. We need to get all of our heads together and try and see how we can limit those issues from happening again.”
ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:
“It was tight going up through the Esses with the cars going side-by-side. At some point coming over the small crest, I could see the left-hander coming up and Harry (King, No. 77 Porsche) was on my right and it was just tight. At some point I had to decide to go over the curb… I just lost control, unfortunately, on cold tires in a compromised place on track. It was a big hit but the tire barriers did a really good job thankfully.
“Up until that point, there were multiple cars side by side for many corners. I don’t think it was overly aggressive, honestly. We’re all racing hard but pretty fair. I put myself in that situation by having a poor qualifying yesterday. You’re in the pack and it’s racing up through the Esses, and we don’t get a chance to practice these situations. You practice on your own and try to get clear laps, then you’re just thrown into that situation and everyone’s trying to judge it. So, it’s not gone our way that time. There wasn’t a ton of room and in a half-a-tenth you have to make a decision on if he’s going to make room for me or not. I tried to take in my own hands and cut the curb a bit. It was an unfortunate situation.”
MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:
“It was a great performance from 13 Autosport again today. They gave me one of the best cars on the grid, I think, so we were able to go forward all the way through. It’s a shame it stayed green as long as it did. We just needed a yellow to bunch the field up and we could have challenged for a podium. We seemed to have good pace across the long run; tire deg is a huge factor here, and we seemed quite good on that. A huge thanks to the team. We didn’t quite get to jump the 70 as we were coming through the field, so the Akin battle goes on. We’re all pretty determined to keep that fight going and get back to Le Mans.”
OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:
“Overall, I’m really happy with our race today. The Corvette was super quick, and my stint went really well. Matt did an amazing job when he took over and drove a great stint to bring us home sixth in class and second in the Bob Akin. We were hoping for a caution toward the end to help us close the gap, but it never came our way. It was a strong day for the whole team and we got some good points in the championship.”
CASPER STEVENSON, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:
“I went into Turn One, Turn Two and Turn Three still in the lead. The Conquest car was side by side with me, and I left him space at the apex as we were told to do. On corner exit he just smashed me off the track. Unluckily at that angle, it broke the steering arm. It’s just not necessary when we have such a fast car… all of us in the top-three. We could have sorted it all out later. The first thing that the race director told us this morning was to leave space. It was literally the first thing he said at 8:30. I think 90 percent of the grid take it on, but there’s a few that don’t. It just causes so much damage and frustration.”
3 — Join Pratt Miller Motorsports on a Heartfelt Facebook Post
♦ From Pratt Miller:
“A hard-fought weekend at VIR.
We’ve tasted success here before but this weekend showed us another side of racing. Most importantly we’re thankful Alex walked away from Sunday’s incident without injury.
Moments like these are a reminder of the importance of the engineering and manufacturing efforts that go into making the Corvette Z06 GT3.R not only top performing but also the safest possible for our drivers.
The championship fight is far from over. We’ll bring the fight with us into the final rounds.
#PrattMillerMotorsports #IMSA #CRbyPMM”
Click anywhere on the post to engage with Pratt Miller!
4 — Check Out The Viral Post After Sims’ No. 3 Flies Off The Track
♦ From Corvette Racing Fans:
“Alex Sims is ok.”
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