Pratt Miller Explains Transition to Factory Supported Team

Photo: Eric Klauser/Corvette Racing

Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ GTD Pro effort will be bolstered by new commercial partners as part of its move to a factory supported operation according to Pratt Miller Motorsports Vice President Brandon Widmer, who has outlined the changes to the program for next year.

Announced last week, the longtime full-factory squad will transition into a works-supported effort with a pair of new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The multi-year deal, which will feature a full factory driver lineup, will complement Corvette’s customer program with the new-for-2024 car that Widmer said would be a “huge benefit” to all involved.

“For us it’s definitely a new chapter,” he said. “We’ve been quite happy being the name behind the scenes and Corvette Racing being in the forefront.

“We spent a lot of time working with the Chevrolet folks on what should this team name be?

“It sounds pretty simple but ‘Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ actually took a lot of time.

“For us it’s important to have the continuation and heritage of Corvette Racing and all of the success we’ve had collectively for the last 25 years, but also put the Pratt Miller Motorsports name out there as well in the headlines.

“We’ll be bringing on commercial partners to help with the program as well.

“That’s a great opportunity for our company directly, for partners that have shown interest in the past and maybe those opportunities weren’t just quite there with the way the program was structured.

“For us it’s not only a new chapter with a new GT3 car but it’s a new chapter in our business as well. We’re excited how it’s structured and how we’ll move forward.”

Widmer told Sportscar365 that the program will have a similar look and feel but with some key changes under the hood.

“We still expect to be heavily engaged in Corvette corrals and with the fans and really still be the official IMSA GTD Pro team for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing,” he explained.

“The differences in how we come to the market in terms of our partners that we bring on to help support the program and how we use the team, Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports, to benefit their businesses as well.

“Expect to see more partners at the track, maybe in our garage. Expect to see similar liveries but a little bit different with some partner names on them.

“We fully expect to continue the heritage of what Corvette Racing is. We have a lot of very passionate fans. I feel like we have the best fans in the paddock, and probably in the world.

“With that they take a lot of ownership in what the car looks like, how we perform and where they may be able to interact with us.

“We want to keep all those solid elements about the history of Corvette Racing very similar to what they’ve been but you will see some new names on the car in our new partners.

“We’ll have some announcements coming in the relatively near future as we bring on new partners.”

When asked how its interaction will be with customer teams, Widmer likened it to the way other GT3 manufacturers operate.

The most recent examples of constructors that also operated a GT3 team was M-Sport, which built and campaigned Bentley Continental GT3s from 2012-20, as well as JAS Motorsport with the Acura/Honda NSX GT3 Evo22.

“What we’re doing is somewhat similar to what’s been done by some other companies,” Widmer said.

“The fact that we engineered the car, we construct the car, we race the car and we support those teams, we think that’s a triple threat that’s a huge benefit to the customer teams.”

Bagne: Multiple Teams Considered for GTD Pro Effort

Corvette GT3 program manager Christie Bagne revealed that the GM brand had conducted extensive research in evaluating potential works-supported teams before deciding on its longtime partner Pratt Miller Motorsports.

“Moving into this program we tried to consider multiple options and multiple scenarios,” Bagne told Sportscar365.

“The team laughs a little bit, but I put together a whole scoring system for teams, looking at results potential, brand heritage, brand representation, collaborative culture, things like that.

“I can honestly say that Pratt Miller Motorsports came out at the top of that scoring system.

“We tried to take a very objective approach to determining who the teams would be, both in IMSA [GTD] Pro and [GTD] and WEC and SRO.

“Pratt Miller Motorsports was shining at the top.”

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