Perennial IMSA GTD PRO Championship Contenders Back for 2027
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The road to an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship title often runs through Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports. Corvette by Pratt Miller is back once more to add to its sterling accolades and legacy achieved in IMSA and in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO).
It’ll be an unchanged full-season lineup once again. Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg will share the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R while Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims will share the No. 3 Corvette. It’s the fourth consecutive season with these two full-season pairings, having first been assembled in 2024, and builds on the quartet’s legacy as part of Corvette Racing’s program.
“We are proud of all the accomplishments our teams have achieved since the start of Corvette Racing,” said Ben Bode, Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports team manager. “That history is built on a combination of great people and great Corvettes. To be able to continue that with the same core group of full-season drivers gives us a lot of excitement and obviously confidence for 2027. Winning GTD PRO championships each year is always at the top of our list of goals. With the returning team we have next year and the strength of the Corvette, there’s no reason we can’t achieve that again.”
On Saturday at Motul Petit Le Mans, Chevrolet added its latest achievement with its second straight GTD PRO manufacturer championship. It’s their 16th GT class manufacturer championship since Corvette Racing began in 1999. Chevrolet has now won six GTD PRO or GT Le Mans (GTLM) Manufacturer titles in IMSA since 2014 – more than any other automotive make. It also marked the fourth manufacturer championship with the eighth-generation mid-engine Corvette. This quartet of drivers has been a key cog in that success.
In 2027, Garcia will mark his 19th year with the team, and Milner his 17th. They started as part of the program in 2009 and 2011, respectively, as Corvette Racing factory drivers.
Sims is in his second stint as a Corvette Racing factory driver, having rejoined the program in 2024 after winning the IMSA Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) title in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R in 2023. He raced sporadic IMSA and other endurance rounds in a previous era Corvette (the C8.R, Chevrolet’s last Corvette built to GTE specification) in 2021 and 2022.
Catsburg stepped up from a Corvette Racing endurance race role from 2020 through 2022 in IMSA, raced as part of the program’s FIA World Endurance Championship in 2023 (won 24 Hours of Le Mans and the last class title in LM GTE AM with the C8.R) and again with customer outfit TF Sport this year, while prioritizing his IMSA campaign in 2026 as part of the dual program.
The 2026 season was a bit of a roller coaster ride for Corvette Racing. The No. 4 car of Milner and Catsburg ascended to be championship contenders for the first time in a decade, since Milner and Oliver Gavin won the 2016 American Le Mans Series title. They sought consistency early and were regular podium finishers, but back-to-back tough endings at Detroit and Watkins Glen featuring contact with other GTD PRO cars brought others into the frame.
At Motul Petit Le Mans, Catsburg and Milner fell to third in the championship after a rough-and-tumble finale where the No. 4 Corvette ended up in the gravel trap following contact from another competitor. Nonetheless, Milner was typically reflective and insightful in looking back on their 2026 campaign.
“There certainly are positives,” Milner said. “We got first place in the manufacturer championship, which is great for the program. It’s great to have both cars all year long be very competitive all throughout the season. The 3 car was unlucky at times. But obviously it was great for them to get the win at Detroit. So that’s what you need to have… both cars being fast all year long and we had that. So that was great.
“I said a few weeks ago that we just wanted to have a chance to win a championship when we got here. There were three cars that had a good shot at it and today was not our day.
“Ultimately a championship is your full body of work for the whole season. It’s not just one race that loses you a championship. I’m super happy with all of our guys and the whole team from top to bottom. I’m excited for how strong we were all year long. We’ll tidy up little things on our end to be as good as we can be to be a bit better. And hopefully that’s enough to compete again for a championship.”
The Corvette Z06 GT3.R heads into its fourth season in 2027, which may be somewhat hard to believe. But it’s been a regular winner in IMSA competition each season.
In 2024, Garcia and Sims got the car on the board with its first IMSA win at the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The pairing won again at the all-GT IMSA Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway in 2025 en route to the championship, and then crucially, in front of the General Motors’ brass at the downtown Detroit Street Circuit encircling the Renaissance Center, next to the Detroit Riverwalk, in 2026. Add in a customer triumph by the team then called AWA (now 13 Autosport) in GTD at the 2025 Rolex 24 At Daytona, and the new Corvette has checked several key boxes.