Sims Praises ‘Fantastic Strategy’ by Corvette for First Win of Year

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Alexander Sims has praised the “fantastic strategy” by Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports that helped propel he and co-driver Antonio Garcia to their first victory of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Sims and Garcia extended their lead in the GTD Pro points standings with a controlling win, after the Englishman emerged with a nearly ten-second lead in the second hour of Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway.

An undercut strategy by the Pratt Miller-run squad put the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R into the top position after the pair of Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVOs ran 1-2 in the opening stanza of the GT-only race.

“It was a fantastic strategy by Pratt Miller to go aggressive on the first stop and then try to make something happen, and we did,” said Sims.

“That kind of made our race. We were able to control it at the front, just about hold the gap to the BMW, who had a fuel advantage on us had it stayed green.

“The yellow gave us just a bit of breathing space I guess.”

Sims said the No. 1 BMW of Madison Snow had a “significant” fuel advantage on them, although it was erased when Danny Formal’s No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 caught fire and caused the race’s third full-course caution with 38 minutes to go.

He then had to hold off a hard-charging Albert Costa in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3, who got past Corvette teammate Tommy Milner, to prevent a 1-2 sweep for the Detroit manufacturer.

“I had Costa behind me, pushing every single lap, so that was about as hectic as it gets,” said Sims.

“The Corvette was on rails. It was working very well. Thankfully we were able to keep our Michelin tires underneath us for the stint, although they were definitely crying as the temperatures were hot.”

The No. 3 Corvette duo claimed their first WeatherTech Championship win since Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last year.

“It’s been more than a year since our last win and we’ve been chasing it forever it seems,” said Garcia. “There was always something going on or this or that.

“It was a perfect race. It played out how we wanted by jumping everyone on the first stop. I’m very, very happy.

“We called a good race and it played out how we wanted. The Corvette had really good race pace, for sure.

“I’m very glad for Team Chevy and our Corvette community. We’ve been chasing this win for more than a year. It’s great to do it again here at VIR.”

Third place finisher Catsburg, who watched co-driver Tommy Milner get passed by Costa for second with 20 minutes to go, still hailed the double podium result for Corvette.

“It was excellent execution by the team today,” he said. “I felt like we weren’t really the fastest car this weekend but the team did such an amazing job.

“It was really rough to keep the Ferrari behind. They showed some real pace there in the end. So I’m super happy with the 1-3.

“It’s very good for all of the championships involved, so I think the team can be very, very happy today.”

When asked about the late-race pace from Costa’s DragonSpeed Ferrari, Catsburg admitted it was “unfortunate” but praised the “clean” fight.

“I would have loved a 1-2,” he said. “But Albert was so unbelievably quick that I don’t think anyone could have kept Albert behind at that moment.

“What I really like is that it was a super clean fight. Of course we got passed but I rather see it like this than get people shoved off.

“It was great see and I think it was a good step forward.”

Tony DiZinno contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John