CORVETTE RACING CLAIMS FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON AT VIR
Miller Motorsports Park, Virginia – Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims secured their first victory of the season at the Michelin GT Challenge, held at Virginia International Raceway (VIR). The duo piloted the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R to victory, significantly enhancing their position in the IMSA WeatherTech GTD PRO championship standings.
Garcia and Sims now lead the championship race, extending their advantage to 53 points over DragonSpeed’s Albert Costa. The win marked a crucial turnaround for the team, which had not been able to clinch a win despite four previous podium finishes.
The race’s pivotal moment occurred during the first round of pit stops, with Garcia being the earliest GTD PRO driver to pit. This strategy allowed Sims to inherit an 8-second lead after all leaders completed their stops. Sims made his pit stop with just over an hour remaining when a turbo failure on the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW prompted a full-course yellow, effectively cycling the Corvettes to the front.
A brief green period followed the caution until the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini caught fire approaching the Roller Coaster chicane, resulting in driver Danny Formal evacuating without serious injury. Following a precautionary hospital visit, Formal was released.
The final restart came with 28 minutes left in the race. Costa displayed impressive pace, overtaking Tommy Milner’s No. 4 Corvette for second before closing the gap to Sims. However, Sims maintained his composure to secure the win by a margin of 1.5 seconds. Milner finished third, with the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3 and the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R rounding out the top five.
The race also saw significant competition in the GTD class, where Winward Racing’s Russell Ward and Philip Ellis claimed their third win of the season. The pair executed a masterful strategy that included recovering from a poor start when they were boxed out by the two Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus cars.
In a dramatic turn of events, the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini, driven by Mario Farnbacher, received a drive-through penalty for blocking on the final lap, dropping them to 12th in class and allowing the No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari to finish second. Tom Gamble and Casper Stevenson secured third place in their No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
Ward and Ellis now lead the GTD points standings with a 171-point advantage, with Stevenson and Koch following in second and third, respectively. The No. 66 Gradient Racing Ford achieved a season-best fifth place, while a compromised strategy left the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, piloted by polesitter Jack Hawksworth and Parker Thompson, in ninth place.
All classes of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will resume on September 21 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks, a six-hour endurance race.
Race Results (Top Finishers)
-
GTD PRO:
- 1st: Antonio Garcia / Alexander Sims (Corvette)
- 2nd: Albert Costa (BMW)
- 3rd: Tommy Milner (Corvette)
- GTD:
- 1st: Russell Ward / Philip Ellis (Mercedes)
- 2nd: Onofrio Triarsi / Kenton Koch (Ferrari)
- 3rd: Tom Gamble / Casper Stevenson (Aston Martin)
