ULTIMATE CORVETTE

Tag: Lars Kern

Corvette Leaves a Chaotic Petit Le Mans With a Championship, a Podium and a Ticket to Le Mans

Five Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs entered the 2026 Motul Petit Le Mans with championships, a race victory and a trip to Le Mans all within reach. Ten chaotic hours later, Chevrolet emerged with the GTD PRO Manufacturers’ Championship, DXDT Racing stood on the GTD podium, and 13 Autosport secured another invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans—but the night also brought heartbreak for a Pratt Miller team that had arrived at Road Atlanta leading the championship.

There are endurance races where the final result tells most of the story, and then there are races like the 2026 Motul Petit Le Mans.

By the time the field took the checkered flag Saturday night at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, ten hours of racing had produced a race-record 17 full-course cautions, a red-flag stoppage for lightning, intermittent rain, constantly changing fuel strategies, punctures, contact, cars buried in gravel traps and championship battles that remained unsettled deep into the final hour.

For Corvette Racing, it was all of those things and more.

The two Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.Rs showed genuine race-winning pace at Petit Le Mans, but both days ended in frustration. The No. 3 Corvette of Antonio García, Alexander Sims and Marvin Kirchhöfer led twice for 61 laps and remained a podium contender until a late left-rear tire puncture dropped them to eighth in GTD PRO. The No. 4 of Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone led three times for 29 laps and entered the race leading the championship. With roughly 80 minutes remaining, however, contact with the No. 64 Ford Mustang sent Catsburg into the Turn 10 gravel, costing the Corvette a lap and ultimately the Drivers’ and Teams’ championships as the No. 4 finished 12th. It was a painful conclusion to a race that demonstrated just how competitive both factory Corvettes were, although Chevrolet still left Road Atlanta as the 2026 GTD PRO Manufacturers’ Champion. (Images courtesy of the author)

Five Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs started the 29th running of Petit Le Mans across IMSA’s two production-based GT categories. The No. 3 and No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports entries were joined in GTD PRO by DragonSpeed’s No. 74 Corvette, while the No. 13 13 Autosport and No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvettes contested GTD.

Every one of them had a story to tell by the end of the night.

DragonSpeed finished sixth in GTD PRO and became the highest-finishing Corvette in the class. The No. 3 Pratt Miller Corvette finished eighth after spending significant portions of the race looking like a legitimate podium contender. The championship-leading No. 4 finished 12th after contact in the closing stages effectively ended its bid for the Drivers’ and Teams’ titles.

The three customer Corvette Z06 GT3.R programs delivered three very different but impressive performances at Petit Le Mans. DragonSpeed’s No. 74 of Giacomo Altoè, Casper Stevenson and Sébastien Bourdais led three times before finishing sixth in GTD PRO, making it the highest-finishing Corvette in the class. 13 Autosport’s No. 13 of Matt Bell, Orey Fidani and Lars Kern finished 10th in GTD after leading eight laps, but more importantly secured Fidani’s third consecutive Bob Akin Award and an automatic invitation to the 2027 24 Hours of Le Mans. Meanwhile, the No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette of Charlie Eastwood, Mason Filippi and Salih Yoluç produced one of the remarkable drives of the race, recovering from four laps down to finish third in GTD and claim the team’s first IMSA podium of the season. Together, the three customer teams demonstrated just how competitive and increasingly capable Chevrolet’s Z06 GT3.R program has become. (Images courtesy of the author)

In GTD, DXDT Racing completed an extraordinary recovery from four laps down to finish third, while 13 Autosport’s 10th-place finish was enough for Orey Fidani to claim his third consecutive Bob Akin Award and another automatic invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

And despite missing out on the GTD PRO Drivers’ and Teams’ championships, Chevrolet left Road Atlanta as the 2026 IMSA GTD PRO Manufacturers’ Champion.

It was not the ending Corvette Racing had envisioned when the weekend began, but after ten hours of some of the most unpredictable racing IMSA produced all season, it was still a weekend that added another championship to Corvette’s competition record.

Ten Hours of Controlled Chaos

The 2026 Petit Le Mans began exactly as Road Atlanta often demands—with everyone immediately facing conditions that left virtually no margin for error. A wet circuit greeted the 54-car field, forcing drivers from all four classes to manage standing water, reduced grip, spray and limited visibility while simultaneously navigating some of the fastest and most congested traffic of the IMSA season. Headlights cut through the mist as the prototypes began working their way through the GT field, setting the tone for what would become an extraordinarily unpredictable ten hours. The track would eventually dry, but the weather was far from finished—and neither was the chaos.

Petit Le Mans has never been a race that rewards impatience. At Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the fastest car alone is seldom enough. You have to survive the traffic, manage the equipment, stay out of trouble, and—perhaps most importantly—still have a competitive race car beneath you when darkness falls and the final hours begin.

That challenge is amplified by the circuit itself. Road Atlanta packs 12 turns into just 2.54 miles, with significant elevation changes, blind corners and several sections where the closing speeds between prototypes and GT cars can be staggering. For the 2026 Petit Le Mans, 54 cars took the green flag: 11 GTP prototypes, 11 LMP2 cars, 14 GTD PRO entries and 18 GTD machines. Put that many cars on a circuit barely two and a half miles long, mix four different classes with dramatically different performance capabilities, and traffic becomes every bit as important as outright speed.

Then came the weather.

Rain complicated portions of Saturday’s race before lightning in the area eventually forced IMSA officials to stop the field under red-flag conditions. Even when the cars were circulating, it was difficult for anyone to establish a rhythm. An extraordinary sequence of spins, crashes, stalled cars and other incidents resulted in a race-record 17 full-course cautions, repeatedly bunching the field and wiping away advantages that teams had spent entire stints building.

For the strategists on pit lane, it became a constantly moving target. Fuel mileage, tire life, driver rotations and track position all mattered, but so did trying to anticipate when the next caution might arrive. A perfectly timed stop could suddenly move a car into contention; a yellow moments later could undo the advantage just as quickly. As afternoon became evening and darkness settled over Road Atlanta, Petit Le Mans increasingly felt less like a conventional endurance race and more like a ten-hour elimination contest.

With 54 cars spread across four classes and dramatically different levels of performance sharing just 2.54 miles of racetrack, simply staying in contention at Petit Le Mans was an accomplishment. Yet throughout ten hours of traffic, changing weather, repeated cautions, and constant interaction with the faster prototype classes, the Corvette Z06 GT3.R remained a factor. All three Corvettes competing in GTD PRO led laps, while the two GTD entries also worked their way into contention as the race unfolded. In a field this large, competitive, and unpredictable, the Corvettes didn’t simply survive the chaos—they remained relevant virtually until the very end.

Through all of that chaos, the Corvettes remained remarkably relevant. All three Z06 GT3.Rs competing in GTD PRO spent time at the front, with the No. 3 Pratt Miller Corvette leading 61 laps, the championship-contending No. 4 leading 29, and DragonSpeed’s No. 74 also taking its turn at the head of the field. The two GTD Corvettes had stories of their own: 13 Autosport led eight laps while fighting to secure Orey Fidani’s third consecutive Bob Akin Award, while DXDT Racing somehow transformed a race in which it had fallen four laps behind into a legitimate podium run.

For much of Saturday, then, Corvette was exactly where it needed to be. The factory cars had pace, the customer cars were making themselves factors in their respective classes, and the No. 4 remained in position to leave Road Atlanta with the GTD PRO Drivers’ and Teams’ championships. After nearly an entire season of racing, however, those championships would ultimately be decided in the final hours of the final race—and for Pratt Miller, that is where an already unpredictable Petit Le Mans became particularly painful.

The No. 4 Corvette: A Championship Slips Away

For much of the 2026 Petit Le Mans, the championship fight came down to exactly what Corvette Racing had expected: Corvette versus BMW. Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg entered Road Atlanta leading the GTD PRO Drivers’ Championship, and the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R remained locked in battle with the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO deep into the race. As darkness approached, every position, pit stop and lap mattered, with the championship effectively being decided on the racetrack. That fight never received the opportunity to reach its natural conclusion. With less than 80 minutes remaining, contact from the No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3 sent Catsburg’s Corvette into the Turn 10 gravel, costing the No. 4 a lap and effectively eliminating its chance of securing the Drivers’ and Teams’ championships. The BMW ultimately prevailed, but for Corvette, a season-long championship fight ended not through a lack of speed, but through an incident in the closing stages of the final race.

Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg arrived at Road Atlanta with everything they had worked for all season still within reach. The pair led the GTD PRO Drivers’ Championship, while Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ No. 4 Z06 GT3.R sat atop the Teams’ standings. After a season of wins, podiums, setbacks and recovery drives, the championship equation for Petit Le Mans was relatively straightforward: survive ten hours at Road Atlanta, stay ahead of their primary challengers and bring the title home.

For much of Saturday, that appeared entirely possible. Joined by endurance driver Nico Varrone, Milner and Catsburg kept the No. 4 Corvette firmly in contention through the rain, changing track conditions, relentless traffic and seemingly endless caution periods. More importantly, they had genuine pace. The No. 4 led GTD PRO three times for a total of 29 laps, and as daylight disappeared over Road Atlanta, Corvette remained very much in position to finish what it had started months earlier.

But endurance racing has an unfortunate habit of compressing an entire day’s work into a handful of decisive moments, and late in the race the championship began slipping away. Following another round of pit stops, the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO moved ahead of the Corvette in the championship calculation. The situation had become more difficult, but it wasn’t over. Catsburg was still close enough to fight back on the racetrack, leaving the title to be decided during the closing stages of the season’s final race.

Then came the moment that effectively ended it.

With less than 80 minutes remaining, Catsburg and Dennis Olsen’s No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3 made contact entering the Turn 10 complex. The impact sent the No. 4 Corvette into the gravel, where Catsburg became stranded and ultimately lost a lap while the car was recovered. IMSA subsequently penalized the Ford for its role in the incident, but the penalty could not give Corvette back the time—or track position—it had lost. After spending much of the afternoon and evening fighting for a championship, the No. 4 eventually crossed the line 12th in GTD PRO.

For Milner, the disappointment afterward was understandable. This wasn’t a championship that disappeared because the Corvette lacked pace; the No. 4 had led the race and remained a legitimate contender deep into the final hours. Milner described the way their opportunity ended as “really a bummer,” but his comments also reflected considerable pride in what Catsburg, Varrone and the entire Pratt Miller organization had accomplished throughout the season. One incident may have helped determine the final points table, but it did not erase the body of work that put the No. 4 in position to fight for the championship in the first place.

And Corvette did not leave Road Atlanta empty-handed. While the Drivers’ and Teams’ titles ultimately went elsewhere, Chevrolet secured the 2026 GTD PRO Manufacturers’ Championship—an important achievement for a program that continues to develop both its factory-supported Pratt Miller effort and its expanding customer-racing operation. It wasn’t the ending the No. 4 crew had envisioned when Petit Le Mans began, but the Manufacturers’ title provided tangible evidence of just how competitive the Z06 GT3.R had become over the course of the season.

The No. 3 Corvette Was Better Than Eighth Place

The No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Antonio García, Alexander Sims and Marvin Kirchhöfer was considerably stronger at Road Atlanta than its eighth-place GTD PRO finish suggests. The Pratt Miller Corvette led twice for a total of 61 laps, spending much of Petit Le Mans in legitimate contention for the podium and, at times, the class victory. Even as changing conditions, traffic and repeated cautions reshuffled the field, the No. 3 continued working its way back toward the front. Unfortunately, a late left-rear puncture effectively ended its challenge, costing the team valuable track position when there was little time remaining to recover. It was a frustrating conclusion to an otherwise impressive performance from a Corvette that had demonstrated race-winning pace throughout much of the day.

If the No. 4 Corvette’s final result does not adequately describe its race, neither does the eighth-place finish recorded by the No. 3.

Antonio García, Alexander Sims and Marvin Kirchhöfer spent much of Saturday looking like legitimate contenders for the GTD PRO victory. The No. 3 led twice for a total of 61 laps—more time at the front than either of its Pratt Miller teammates—and repeatedly worked its way back toward the sharp end of the field as strategies, pit stops and caution periods shuffled the running order. Through the rain, traffic and interruptions that defined much of the race, the Corvette continued to put itself back into contention.

More importantly, it was still there when Petit Le Mans began entering the hours that traditionally decide the race. As daylight disappeared and the complexion of Road Atlanta changed with it, the No. 3 remained within striking distance of a podium and potentially something more.

Then came a late left-rear puncture.

It was exactly the kind of setback Petit Le Mans can inflict on a team that has spent nine hours doing nearly everything correctly. The puncture cost the No. 3 valuable track position at precisely the wrong point in the race, taking a Corvette that had spent 61 laps at the front and effectively removing it from the fight for the podium. García, Sims and Kirchhöfer eventually brought the car home eighth in GTD PRO, a finishing position that said very little about how competitive the Corvette had actually been.

Sims later described the race as the “roller coaster that we expected,” which was an appropriate summary of an afternoon and evening in which the No. 3 repeatedly moved from contender to recovery mode and back again. There was understandable frustration with the result, but Sims also pointed to Chevrolet’s Manufacturers’ Championship as an important accomplishment for the larger Corvette Racing program.

That championship was built across an entire season, and the No. 3 played a meaningful role in securing it. García and Sims may not have arrived at Road Atlanta fighting for the Drivers’ Championship, but their victory on the streets of Detroit and their competitiveness throughout 2026 helped accumulate the points Chevrolet needed to claim the manufacturer crown. Petit Le Mans did not give the No. 3 the finish its performance deserved, but its contribution to Chevrolet’s championship season was considerably greater than an eighth-place result might suggest.

DragonSpeed Takes Corvette to Sixth in GTD PRO

DragonSpeed’s No. 74 Corvette Z06 GT3.R proved that Corvette’s presence at the front of the 2026 Petit Le Mans extended well beyond the two Pratt Miller entries. With Giacomo Altoè, Casper Stevenson, and two-time Petit Le Mans winner Sébastien Bourdais sharing the car, DragonSpeed stepped into the all-professional GTD PRO category for the season finale and immediately showed it belonged there. The Corvette led three times during the second half of the race and remained within striking distance of the podium during the closing stages, with Stevenson later suggesting that another green-flag lap might have been enough to get them there. The No. 74 ultimately finished sixth, making it the highest-finishing Corvette in GTD PRO and delivering an impressive result for DragonSpeed in its first GTD PRO outing with the Z06 GT3.R.#81: DragonSpeed, Corvette Z06 GT3.R, GTD: Giacomo Altoė, Casper Stevenson

Perhaps the most interesting Corvette result in GTD PRO came from the one team that was not part of the factory-supported Pratt Miller operation.

DragonSpeed brought the No. 74 Corvette Z06 GT3.R to Road Atlanta and elected to move the car into the all-professional GTD PRO category for the season finale. Giacomo Altoè and Casper Stevenson were joined by two-time Petit Le Mans winner Sébastien Bourdais, giving the team an experienced lineup for what would be its first GTD PRO appearance with the Corvette.

There was nothing tentative about the effort. DragonSpeed immediately found itself competing against factory-supported programs representing some of the largest manufacturers in sports-car racing, yet as the race developed, the No. 74 increasingly became part of the conversation at the front. The Corvette led three times during the second half of the race and remained positioned to capitalize as strategies began converging during the closing stages.

By then, sixth place was hardly the limit of what appeared possible. Stevenson believed the team had enough pace to move farther forward and said afterward that with another green-flag lap, the No. 74 “would have been on the podium.” Instead, the final sequence of the race left DragonSpeed sixth in GTD PRO—but still the highest-finishing Corvette in the class.

That result deserves some perspective. DragonSpeed had stepped into GTD PRO against established factory and factory-supported programs and immediately demonstrated that its customer Z06 GT3.R could run at the front. The team didn’t simply circulate and collect a respectable finish; it led the race, remained relevant deep into the final stint and put itself within reach of the podium.

For Chevrolet, the performance also represented something larger. The Z06 GT3.R was conceived from the beginning as a true customer racing platform capable of taking Corvette beyond a single factory operation. DragonSpeed’s performance at Road Atlanta demonstrated exactly what that concept was supposed to produce: an independent Corvette team capable of stepping into IMSA’s most competitive GT category and immediately challenging some of the best GT3 programs in the world.

DXDT Comes Back From Four Laps Down

DXDT Racing’s No. 36 Corvette Z06 GT3.R produced one of the most remarkable recovery drives of the entire Petit Le Mans weekend. After a pair of penalties dropped Charlie Eastwood, Mason Filippi and Salih Yoluç four laps behind, the team refused to concede the race, using aggressive strategy and a succession of caution periods to methodically work its way back onto the lead lap. By the closing stages, Eastwood wasn’t simply trying to salvage a result—he was fighting near the front of GTD and briefly had a legitimate opportunity to contend for the victory. Forced to undertake an enormous fuel-saving effort during the final stint, Eastwood ultimately brought the No. 36 home third in GTD, completing an extraordinary four-lap comeback and delivering DXDT Racing its first IMSA podium of the 2026 season.

If one Corvette performance at Petit Le Mans best demonstrated why nobody should consider this race settled before the checkered flag, it belonged to DXDT Racing.

The No. 36 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Charlie Eastwood, Mason Filippi and Salih Yoluç fell four laps behind following a pair of significant penalties early in the race. At almost any other event, losing four laps to an 18-car GTD field would effectively end any realistic hope of a podium. At Petit Le Mans, however, the combination of cautions, strategy and sheer persistence can occasionally create opportunities that simply do not exist elsewhere.

DXDT recognized that there was little value in playing conservatively. With nothing to protect, the team began taking chances, using caution periods and alternative strategy to recover whatever it could. One lap became two. Two became three. As the race continued to unravel around them, the No. 36 kept clawing its way back until, almost improbably, the Corvette had recovered all four laps and returned to the lead lap.

That alone would have made for a remarkable recovery. DXDT wasn’t finished.

By the closing stages, Eastwood was no longer trying to salvage a respectable finish from a race that had gone wrong hours earlier. He was fighting for a podium, and for a period of time, the possibility of winning Petit Le Mans was suddenly within reach.

The team’s final strategic gamble required Eastwood to stretch the Corvette’s available energy through the closing stint. He later estimated that the necessary conservation approached 20 percent, forcing him to balance the temptation to attack with the much more important requirement of actually reaching the checkered flag. With competitors ahead and behind, there was little room for error.

Eastwood managed it. The No. 36 crossed the line third in GTD, giving DXDT Racing its first IMSA podium of the season and Eastwood his first IMSA podium. His post-race reaction probably summarized the improbability of the result better than anything else could: “We somehow end up on the podium from being four laps down.”

There was certainly fortune involved—there almost always is in a recovery of this magnitude—but luck alone did not put DXDT on the podium. The team repeatedly made aggressive strategic decisions because simply circulating four laps behind offered nothing. Those decisions steadily pulled the Corvette back into the race until a day that had appeared lost became one of the strongest Corvette performances of the weekend.

Eastwood admitted afterward that the result produced an unusual mixture of satisfaction and frustration. Had he possessed slightly more usable energy during the closing stint, he believed the No. 36 might have been able to fight for the victory. Considering where the Corvette had been earlier in the afternoon, however, third place was an extraordinary result.

13 Autosport Wins the Race It Came to Win

13 Autosport’s No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Orey Fidani, Matt Bell and Lars Kern arrived at Petit Le Mans with an objective that extended well beyond its finishing position. Fidani entered Road Atlanta fighting for his third consecutive Bob Akin Award, with an automatic invitation to the 2027 24 Hours of Le Mans waiting for the winner. The Corvette remained competitive throughout the race and even led GTD for eight laps as the battle with Brendan Iribe tightened during the closing hours. Although the No. 13 ultimately finished 10th in GTD, Fidani secured the Akin Award by just 10 points, earning his third straight invitation to Le Mans. For 13 Autosport, it was a reminder that endurance racing is not always about where you finish a single race—the team came to Road Atlanta with a season-long objective, and it accomplished exactly what it needed to do.

On paper, the No. 13 Corvette finished 10th in GTD. For Orey Fidani, Matt Bell, Lars Kern and 13 Autosport, however, the most important result of their weekend would never appear beside the car’s finishing position.

Fidani arrived at Road Atlanta attempting to secure his third consecutive Bob Akin Award, IMSA’s season-long recognition for the highest-performing eligible Bronze-rated driver in GTD. Beyond the prestige of winning the award, there was an enormous prize attached to it: an automatic invitation to the following year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The championship fight had narrowed to Fidani and Brendan Iribe in the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari, and as Petit Le Mans unfolded, the margin between them became increasingly uncomfortable. The No. 13 worked its way forward and even led eight laps late in the race, briefly creating the possibility that 13 Autosport might leave Road Atlanta with both the Akin Award and a Petit Le Mans victory.

The class victory eventually slipped away, but the objective that mattered most did not. Fidani finished the season 10 points ahead of Iribe, effectively a single finishing position at Road Atlanta, and secured the Bob Akin Award for the third consecutive year. With it came another automatic invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Fidani admitted afterward that the closing stages had him pacing the pit lane as the championship permutations changed around him. Bell described the Le Mans invitation as the team’s primary objective for the season, while Kern characterized this year’s Akin Award as the most difficult of the three they have secured.

There is unfinished business attached to that invitation as well. 13 Autosport showed competitive pace at Le Mans in 2026 before contact ended its race, and Bell made clear afterward that the experience only strengthened the team’s desire to return and demonstrate what the Corvette can accomplish there.

Now they will get another opportunity.

Aston Martin Wins GTD PRO; BMW Takes the Championship

The GTD PRO podium at Road Atlanta reflected just how unpredictable the 2026 Petit Le Mans had become. Mattia Drudi, Valentin Hasse Clot and Marco Sørensen delivered the class victory for the No. 68 CarBahn—Car Blanche Aston Martin, while the championship battle ultimately went to Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen of Paul Miller Racing after their No. 1 BMW finished third. For Corvette, it was a bittersweet conclusion: neither Pratt Miller entry reached the podium after both demonstrated front-running pace, and the Drivers’ and Teams’ titles slipped away in the closing hours. Yet Chevrolet still emerged from the chaos as the 2026 IMSA GTD PRO Manufacturers’ Champion, ensuring that Corvette Racing left Road Atlanta with one of the season’s most important championships.

While Corvette’s championship fight supplied much of the drama from our perspective, the GTD PRO race ultimately belonged to an Aston Martin that arrived at Road Atlanta without being part of the season-long title battle.

The No. 68 CarBahn—Car Blanche Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Mattia Drudi, Valentin Hasse Clot and Marco Sørensen emerged from a constantly changing final hour to win GTD PRO. It was the team’s first IMSA victory, made all the more impressive by the fact that it came during its first Michelin Endurance Cup appearance in the class.

The closing stages featured the Aston Martin battling among entries from AO Racing, Manthey and Vasser Sullivan as fuel conservation, traffic, cautions and incidents continued reshuffling the order. Drudi eventually emerged at the front and survived the final restart to secure the victory.

Behind that fight, the championship Corvette had pursued all season was being decided. Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen finished third in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO they shared with Dan Harper, giving De Phillippi and Verhagen the GTD PRO Drivers’ Championship and Paul Miller Racing the Teams’ title. After arriving at Road Atlanta leading both championships, the No. 4 Corvette ultimately finished the season third in the Teams’ standings.

The IMSA Manufacturers’ Championship rewards the performance of each marque rather than any individual car or driver pairing. At each event, only the highest-finishing eligible car from each manufacturer scores manufacturer points, preventing brands with multiple entries from gaining an advantage simply by fielding more cars. That distinction proved critical at Petit Le Mans: while the late incident involving the No. 4 Corvette allowed BMW to capture the GTD PRO Drivers’ and Teams’ championships, Chevrolet’s season-long performance had already built a strong manufacturer points position. With the best-finishing Corvette contributing Chevrolet’s points at each round throughout 2026, the collective performance of the Z06 GT3.R program was enough for Chevrolet to finish the season as the 2026 IMSA GTD PRO Manufacturers’ Champion.

But Chevrolet did leave Road Atlanta with one of IMSA’s major GTD PRO championships. Its season-long results were enough to finish ahead of Ford and BMW and secure the 2026 GTD PRO Manufacturers’ Championship, ensuring that the Z06 GT3.R program ended its third IMSA season with championship hardware.

GM Vice President of Global Motorsports Competition Eric Warren praised the development of the program afterward, describing the Z06 GT3.R as “just incredible.” Considering the depth of competition Chevrolet faced throughout the season—and the fact that both factory and customer Corvettes contributed to the program’s success—the Manufacturers’ Championship represented an important measure of just how far the car has progressed.

Winward Completes a Remarkable GTD Season

Winward Racing completed a remarkable 2026 GTD campaign at Road Atlanta, with the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje converting pole position into victory at Petit Le Mans. The win provided a fitting conclusion to the season and secured a third consecutive GTD championship for Ward, Ellis and Winward Racing, reinforcing the consistency that has made the team one of the class benchmarks. Behind them, however, the fight remained intense until the end, with the No. 912 Manthey Porsche taking second and DXDT Racing completing its extraordinary four-lap recovery to put the No. 36 Corvette Z06 GT3.R on the podium in third.

The story in GTD extended well beyond the two Corvettes, with DXDT’s remarkable recovery and Fidani’s Bob Akin Award unfolding against another championship-winning performance at the front of the class.

The No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje started from pole and ultimately won Petit Le Mans, completing an impressive second half of the season for the team. The victory also secured a third consecutive GTD championship for Ward, Ellis and Winward Racing.

The No. 912 Manthey Porsche finished second, followed by DXDT’s No. 36 Corvette in third. Yet from a Corvette perspective, the significance of the GTD race extended beyond DXDT’s podium. With 18 cars entered in the class, both customer Z06 GT3.Rs still had meaningful objectives alive late Saturday evening. DXDT was fighting its way toward the front while, elsewhere on the circuit, 13 Autosport was simultaneously protecting the slender points margin that would ultimately secure Fidani another Bob Akin Award.

That is the kind of depth Chevrolet envisioned when the Z06 GT3.R program was created. Corvette’s presence in professional GT racing is no longer dependent upon the fortunes of two factory-supported cars. Customer teams are increasingly building their own programs, pursuing their own championships and, as Road Atlanta demonstrated, creating their own Corvette stories.

Porsche Wins Petit Le Mans Overall

Porsche Penske Motorsport finally conquered Petit Le Mans in 2026, with Laurens Vanthoor, Kévin Estre and Matt Campbell driving the No. 6 Porsche 963 to the overall victory after ten hours of some of the most unpredictable racing Road Atlanta could produce. The Porsche remained in contention through changing weather, a red flag and a record 17 full-course cautions before emerging at the front during the decisive closing stages. Vanthoor brought the No. 6 home just 1.205 seconds ahead of the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8, giving Porsche its first overall Petit Le Mans victory since 2015 and delivering Team Penske its first overall win in the event. For a Porsche Penske program that has won on some of endurance racing’s biggest stages, Road Atlanta had remained an important omission from the résumé—until 2026.

While the GT battles unfolded deeper in the field, an equally dramatic fight was developing at the front of the race.

The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 of Laurens Vanthoor, Kévin Estre and Matt Campbell ultimately won the 2026 Petit Le Mans after Vanthoor made the decisive move past Earl Bamber’s Cadillac during the closing stages. The victory marked Porsche’s first overall Petit Le Mans win since 2015 and delivered Team Penske its first overall victory at the event.

There was little breathing room at the finish. The No. 24 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor, Sheldon van der Linde and Robin Frijns crossed the line just 1.205 seconds behind after ten hours of racing, while the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Jordan Taylor, Louis Delétraz and Colton Herta completed the overall podium.

The championship picture produced another set of winners. Jack Aitken secured the GTP Drivers’ Championship aboard the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, with Cadillac claiming the Manufacturers’ Championship and Whelen capturing the Teams’ title.

LMP2 produced another comeback story. George Kurtz, Alex Quinn and Toby Sowery brought the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA home first in class, with Kurtz and Quinn also securing the LMP2 championship.

Taken together, the four classes provided a fitting reminder of what makes Petit Le Mans such a compelling endurance race. There is never really one race taking place at Road Atlanta. There are several of them happening simultaneously, each with its own strategies, traffic, rivalries and championship calculations—and in 2026, remarkably few of those stories were settled until the final minutes.

Five Corvettes, Five Very Different Stories

#36: DXDT Racing, Corvette Z06 GT3.R, GTD: Mason Filippi, Charlie Eastwood, Scott McLaughlin, Salih Yoluc, #3: Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports, Corvette Z06 GT3.R, GTD Pro: Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims, Marvin Kirchhöfer, #4: Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports, Corvette Z06 GT3.R, GTD Pro: Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg, Nico Varrone, #13: 13 Autosport, Corvette Z06 GT3.R, GTD: Orey Fidani, Matthew Bell, Lars Kem, Ben Green, #81: DragonSpeed, Corvette Z06 GT3.R, GTD: Henrik Hedman, Giacomo Altoė, Casper Stevenson, Matteo Cairoli

Looking only at the finishing order does not adequately describe Corvette’s 2026 Petit Le Mans. The results sheet records sixth, eighth and 12th in GTD PRO, along with third and 10th in GTD. Those numbers are accurate, but they tell only a fraction of what happened during ten hours at Road Atlanta. Pasted markdown

The No. 4 arrived leading a championship and remained capable of winning it until contact sent Catsburg into the Turn 10 gravel. The No. 3 led 61 laps and demonstrated podium-level pace before a late puncture changed the trajectory of its race. DragonSpeed moved its Corvette into GTD PRO for the first time, led three times and finished as the highest-placed Z06 GT3.R in the class. DXDT somehow turned a four-lap deficit into a podium. And 13 Autosport accomplished precisely what it came to Road Atlanta to do, securing Orey Fidani’s third consecutive Bob Akin Award and another invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Above those individual performances sits the accomplishment that belongs to the Corvette program as a whole: Chevrolet is the 2026 IMSA GTD PRO Manufacturers’ Champion.

That championship represents more than the outcome of one chaotic Saturday in Georgia. It reflects the combined competitiveness of the Z06 GT3.R throughout an entire IMSA season and demonstrates how much the program has evolved since the car first entered competition. Pratt Miller remains at its center, but increasingly it is joined by customer organizations capable of taking the same basic platform and competing against some of the strongest GT3 programs in international motorsports.

Three seasons into the Z06 GT3.R era, Corvette is no longer simply developing the GT3 successor to the factory C8.R that preceded it. The car has matured into the global customer racing platform Chevrolet intended it to become: one capable of winning races, fighting for championships and putting multiple independent Corvette teams into meaningful positions on the biggest weekends of the season.

Petit Le Mans did not deliver every championship Corvette came to Road Atlanta hoping to win. Instead, it produced a Manufacturers’ Championship, a podium recovered from four laps down, another ticket to Le Mans and three GTD PRO Corvettes that each spent time leading one of the most competitive GT fields in the world. Across both classes, all five Z06 GT3.Rs found a way to become part of the story during ten of the wildest hours IMSA produced in 2026. Pasted markdown

There will undoubtedly be frustration within Corvette Racing over the championship that slipped away Saturday night. There should also be considerable pride in everything that did not: the pace demonstrated by both Pratt Miller cars, the emergence of DragonSpeed in GTD PRO, DXDT’s extraordinary recovery, 13 Autosport’s return ticket to Le Mans and, ultimately, another IMSA championship for Chevrolet.

The 2026 IMSA season may be over, but Corvette leaves Road Atlanta with something perhaps more important than any single result: clear evidence that the Z06 GT3.R program continues to grow stronger, deeper and more competitive.

And its story is far from finished.

Five Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs entered the 2026 Petit Le Mans chasing championships, victory and a trip to Le Mans. Ten chaotic hours later, Corvette emerged with a Manufacturers’ Championship, a GTD podium and another Le Mans invitation—but also the heartbreak of a Drivers’ Championship that slipped away.
2024 Corvette Z06 GT3.R Overview: Built to Race the World

For nearly a quarter century, Corvette Racing operated according to a familiar and enormously successful formula. Chevrolet developed purpose-built racing Corvettes with Pratt Miller Engineering, surrounded those cars with some of the best engineers and drivers in sports-car racing, and then took them to Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans and virtually every other important endurance venue on the planet. The C5-R, C6.R, C7.R and eventually the mid-engine C8.R accumulated victories, championships and class wins while establishing Corvette as one of the most successful and recognizable names in modern GT racing.

The Corvette Z06 GT3.R represented something fundamentally different. Instead of building a racing Corvette primarily around Chevrolet’s own factory effort, the new program was conceived from the outset as a true customer-racing platform—one that could be purchased, campaigned and supported by independent teams anywhere in the world. It was Corvette’s entrance into the global GT3 marketplace and, perhaps more significantly, the beginning of a customer-racing program unlike anything Chevrolet had previously attempted with the modern Corvette.

Parked outside Pratt Miller’s Michigan headquarters, four generations of Corvette race cars tell the story of one of the most successful partnerships in modern sports-car racing. From the C5-R through the C6.R, C7.R and C8.R, each generation pushed Corvette engineering forward while adding victories, championships and endurance-racing credibility that ultimately laid the groundwork for the Z06 GT3.R. (Image credit: Pratt Miller Motorsports)

Chevrolet publicly unveiled the Z06 GT3.R at Daytona International Speedway on January 27, 2023, almost exactly one year before its planned competition debut in the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona. It was the first Corvette race car designed from the beginning to comply fully with the FIA’s international GT3 technical regulations, making it eligible for championships ranging from IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship to the various SRO-sanctioned GT World Challenge series around the world.

Although the car carries Chevrolet badges, its creation continued one of the longest and most productive technical partnerships in American motorsports. General Motors Competition Motorsports Engineering worked directly with Pratt Miller Engineering on the design and development of the GT3.R, with Pratt Miller serving as the car’s constructor and assuming responsibility for chassis preparation, assembly, development, and much of the competition engineering. Chevrolet and General Motors remained deeply involved through propulsion development, simulation, aerodynamic work, design, and building the customer-support structure needed once the cars began entering competition worldwide.

First introduced at the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Corvette Z06 GT3.R was still a year away from making its competition debut, but Chevrolet was already putting its next-generation race car in front of the fans. Wearing the No. 03 development livery, the car offered an early look at the machine that would soon carry Corvette into the global GT3 era. (Image courtesy of the author)

That partnership was hardly new. Pratt Miller had already spent decades developing and operating Corvette’s factory racers, but the GT3.R changed the scope of the assignment. The company was no longer simply building race cars for the team charged with representing Chevrolet at the factory level. It now had to build cars that would perform for a wide variety of customers across different continents, under different sanctioning bodies, and with drivers ranging from seasoned professionals to Bronze-rated gentlemen competitors. In that respect, the GT3.R had to be more than fast. It had to be adaptable, serviceable, supportable, and durable.

A Race Car That Really Begins as a Corvette

The Corvette Z06 GT3.R begins its life in the same place as every production Corvette: Bowling Green, Kentucky. Its aluminum chassis is assembled at the Corvette plant before being sent to Pratt Miller, where it is transformed into a fully developed GT3 race car with its roll cage, competition suspension, aerodynamics, electronics, and racing systems. That shared starting point gives the GT3.R a direct structural connection to the road-going Corvette, even before Pratt Miller begins the work that turns it into an international race machine. (Image credit: Tommy Milner)

One of the most interesting aspects of the Z06 GT3.R is just how direct its relationship is with the production C8 Corvette. Every GT3.R begins with an aluminum chassis originating from Chevrolet’s Bowling Green Assembly Plant, the same facility responsible for production Corvettes. From there, the structure is transported to Pratt Miller in Michigan, where the car is transformed into a full competition machine with a purpose-built steel roll cage, racing suspension, safety systems, bodywork and all of the equipment required for international GT3 competition.

The suspension retains the production Corvette’s basic double-wishbone architecture at both ends, although virtually every meaningful detail is optimized for racing. Springs, dampers, geometry adjustment and related hardware are all designed to provide the range of setup required for everything from tight street circuits to high-speed endurance venues. As with any GT3 car, the challenge is not merely producing maximum mechanical grip, but giving teams enough adjustability to work within the constantly changing Balance of Performance environment that defines the category.

The Z06 GT3.R retains the production Corvette’s basic double-wishbone suspension architecture, but virtually every component has been reworked for competition. Racing-specific dampers, springs, uprights, anti-roll bars, and extensive geometry adjustments let teams tune the car for dramatically different circuits, tire conditions, and Balance of Performance requirements. The result is a suspension package that preserves a genuine mechanical link to the road-going Z06 while providing the precision and adjustability demanded by international GT3 racing.

Aerodynamically, Chevrolet Motorsports engineers worked closely with GM Design to preserve the production Z06’s recognizable shape while delivering the downforce, cooling, and stability modern GT racing demands. Carbon-fiber bodywork, a large rear wing, an aggressive front splitter, and a competition-specific underbody diffuser separate the GT3.R from the road car, but the silhouette remains unmistakably Corvette. Even the large side openings ahead of the rear wheels trace directly back to the production Z06, where they serve as part of the cooling strategy for the mid-engine layout.

The engine creates an even stronger connection between road car and race car. Mounted behind the driver is a 5.5-liter naturally aspirated DOHC V-8 using the same flat-plane-crank architecture found in the production Z06’s LT6. In fact, development of this engine family began in competition with the C8.R before the production Z06 reached customers, making the relationship between the street and racing programs unusually circular. Racing informed the road car, and the road car then became the foundation for the next generation of racing Corvette.

At the heart of the Corvette Z06 GT3.R is a 5.5-liter, naturally aspirated, flat-plane-crank V-8 closely related to the production Z06’s LT6. Built from the same basic architecture and sharing more than 70 percent of its components with the road-car engine, the racing version is adapted for the demands of international GT3 competition. Under Balance of Performance regulations, output varies by series and event, but the engine typically operates in the 500- to 600-horsepower range.

The GT3.R engine originates from Chevrolet’s Performance Build Center in Bowling Green, the same facility responsible for production Z06 engines, and shares more than 70 percent of its components with the street-going LT6. Among the common pieces are the crankshaft, connecting rods, cylinder heads, fuel injectors, ignition coils, gaskets and numerous sensors. Racing versions are then prepared with competition-specific components and calibrations appropriate for GT3 use.

Under Balance of Performance regulations, output varies according to the series, event and sanctioning body, but the engine generally operates in the 500-to-600-horsepower range. Power is sent through an Xtrac six-speed sequential transaxle, while Bosch motorsport electronics and ABS, AP Racing brake components, 18-inch racing wheels and a competition-specific suspension complete the basic package. Different endurance, lighting, telemetry, cooling and safety configurations allow customers to tailor the same basic platform for IMSA, WEC, SRO and other championships.

That flexibility is central to understanding what Chevrolet and Pratt Miller were trying to accomplish. GT3 racing is not about creating a car specifically for one championship. It is about producing a platform that can be shipped virtually anywhere, adapted to local regulations and put into competition against the best customer racing cars built by Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes-AMG, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, McLaren, Ford and others.

The Z06 gT3.R Corvette’s First Season: Learning in Public

The 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona marked the competition debut of the Corvette Z06 GT3.R and the beginning of a new era for Corvette Racing. Pratt Miller Motorsports fielded the factory-backed Nos. 3 and 4 Corvettes in GTD PRO, while AWA introduced two customer cars in GTD, giving Chevrolet four GT3.Rs on the grid for the car’s first race. The weekend quickly showed both the promise and the growing pains of an all-new program, but it also established the foundation for what would become a rapidly expanding global customer-racing effort. (Image credit: Richard Prince for Corvette Racing)

The Z06 GT3.R made its competition debut at the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona. Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports entered two cars in IMSA’s GTD PRO category, while Canadian team AWA became the first true customer operation to receive GT3.Rs and entered two additional cars in GTD. AWA’s early driver roster included Orey Fidani, Matt Bell and Lars Kern in one entry, while Anthony Mantella and Corvette factory driver Nico Varrone were among those associated with the second.

For Pratt Miller, the familiar yellow Nos. 3 and 4 Corvettes remained the center of the North American program. Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims formed the primary pairing in the No. 3, while Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg shared the No. 4, with additional factory drivers rotating through the endurance events. The speed of the new car was apparent almost immediately, but so were the growing pains. Reliability and durability were not yet where Chevrolet and Pratt Miller wanted them to be, and the first season became as much about learning how the GT3.R behaved over long races as it was about collecting trophies.

That was not entirely unexpected. Unlike the mature C8.R, the GT3.R was a brand-new platform being operated simultaneously by factory-supported and customer teams, and every race generated more information about cooling, electronics, driveline durability, setup windows and serviceability. AWA would later characterize much of 2024 as a season devoted to improving reliability and learning the car. Even so, the GT3.R began proving its potential well before that first year was complete.

The Corvette Z06 GT3.R earned its first-ever victory at Circuit of The Americas in May 2024, when DXDT Racing’s No. 63 Corvette, driven by Tommy Milner and Alec Udell, broke through in GT World Challenge America. The win was more than an early milestone; it was the first proof that Corvette’s new customer GT3 platform could win outside the traditional factory-backed IMSA environment. From there, Milner and Udell went on to build one of the strongest runs of the season, turning COTA into the starting point for the GT3.R’s rapid rise.

The breakthrough came from outside traditional Corvette Racing. DXDT Racing introduced the GT3.R to GT World Challenge America in spring 2024, and its No. 63 Corvette, driven by Tommy Milner and Alec Udell, won at Circuit of the Americas on May 18, giving the car its first victory anywhere in the world. What followed was remarkable. Milner and Udell won their first eight GT World Challenge America races together, setting a Pro-class record for consecutive victories and quickly showing the new Corvette could compete in sprint-oriented GT racing as well as endurance competition. Despite missing the opening portion of the championship, they ultimately finished second in the Pro standings, while DXDT’s second Corvette also collected Pro-Am victories with Bryan Sellers and Bryson Morris.

The first IMSA victory came two months later at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, where Garcia and Sims controlled the GTD PRO race in the No. 3 Corvette and led Milner and Catsburg home in the No. 4. The result gave Chevrolet a Corvette 1-2 and provided further confirmation that the car’s early developmental problems were beginning to give way to repeatable race-winning performance.

Taking Corvette Racing International

The TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R combines unmistakable C8 proportions with the aggressive aero, cooling, and competition hardware required for international GT3 racing. Seen from above, the No. 82 car’s wide bodywork, large rear wing, sculpted airflow channels, and race-specific detailing make clear how far the production Z06 architecture has been pushed for endurance competition.

At the same time, TF Sport assumed responsibility for Corvette’s FIA World Endurance Championship effort. That arrangement illustrated Chevrolet’s new philosophy perfectly. Rather than operate its own factory WEC organization, Chevrolet supplied the cars, engineering support and technical infrastructure while an experienced independent team handled the day-to-day racing program.

The first season required patience, but TF Sport ended 2024 with meaningful momentum. At the season-ending Eight Hours of Bahrain, the team placed its Corvettes second and third in LMGT3, with the No. 81 of Tom Van Rompuy, Rui Andrade and Charlie Eastwood heading the Corvette contingent. The result did not erase the challenges of the first season, but it showed that the platform was becoming increasingly competitive as the teams and engineers learned how to extract performance from it.

The No. 81 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R earned its second FIA World Endurance Championship victory of 2025 at the 6 Hours of Fuji, with Tom Van Rompuy, Rui Andrade and Charlie Eastwood sharing the car. Eastwood brought the Corvette home just 1.990 seconds behind the leading Ferrari on the road, but a five-second penalty assessed to the Ferrari for a pit-stop infringement elevated TF Sport to the LMGT3 victory. The result gave the No. 81 crew its first win of the season, delivered Corvette’s second WEC LMGT3 victory of 2025, and kept both TF Sport Corvettes firmly in the championship fight heading toward the season finale.

In 2025, the program took another significant step forward. TF Sport won twice, beginning with the season-opening race in Qatar and adding another victory at Fuji. The two Corvettes eventually finished fifth and sixth in the LMGT3 team standings. The driver lineup mixed established Corvette professionals with customer racers and included Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar, Daniel Juncadella, Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom Van Rompuy.

Across the Atlantic, the Z06 GT3.R achieved an equally important milestone. AWA returned to the Rolex 24 in 2025 with Orey Fidani, Matt Bell, Lars Kern, and Marvin Kirchhöfer and won the GTD class. After the frustrations and developmental headaches of the first season, a customer-entered Corvette had captured one of the most prestigious endurance races in North America.

The 2025 IMSA season delivered the championship breakthrough the Corvette Z06 GT3.R program had been building toward. Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims captured the GTD PRO Drivers Championship in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R, while Pratt Miller secured the Teams Championship and Chevrolet claimed the Manufacturers Championship, completing a sweep of all three major GTD PRO titles. Garcia and Sims finished the year with six podium results, including a victory at Virginia International Raceway, and sealed the title with Daniel Juncadella at Petit Le Mans. The result gave Corvette its first GTD PRO championship, Chevrolet its 15th IMSA GT-class manufacturers title, and confirmed that the Z06 GT3.R had evolved from a promising new platform into a proven championship-winning race car in only its second full season of competition.

Pratt Miller’s 2025 IMSA campaign proved even more significant. Garcia and Sims won the GTD PRO Drivers Championship in the No. 3 Corvette, Pratt Miller captured the Teams Championship, and Chevrolet secured the GTD PRO Manufacturers Championship. It was the first IMSA GTD PRO championship for the Z06 GT3.R and Chevrolet’s 15th IMSA GT-class manufacturers title. Across the season, the two Pratt Miller cars accumulated nine podium finishes, turning the GT3.R from an ambitious new project into a proven championship-winning platform in only its second season.

The Z06 GT3.R Corvette Goes Global

The 2026 season has underscored just how far the Corvette Z06 GT3.R program has come in only three years of competition. In the FIA World Endurance Championship, TF Sport delivered Corvette’s tenth class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the No. 33 Z06 GT3.R, while the sister Racing Team Turkey by TF entry followed with another LMGT3 victory at São Paulo. In IMSA, Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports has remained at the center of the GTD PRO championship battle, with Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg leading the standings in the No. 4 Corvette heading into Petit Le Mans and Chevrolet also leading the manufacturers’ championship. What began as a new customer-racing platform in 2024 has matured into a race-winning, championship-contending program competing at the highest levels of GT racing worldwide. (Image credit GM Media, LLc.)

Other teams were already expanding the car’s footprint. Johor Motorsport Racing brought two Z06 GT3.Rs into GT World Challenge Asia in 2025, and Prince Jefri Ibrahim and Alexander Sims scored the team’s first victory at Sepang in only its second race with the Corvette. Ibrahim added further victories during the season, demonstrating that the car could compete successfully in the heat, humidity and circuit characteristics found across the Asian championship.

By 2026, Corvette’s GT3 customer roster had grown to include Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports, TF Sport, 13 Autosport, DXDT Racing, Steller Motorsport, Johor Racing and Chouest Povoledo Racing. The lineup gave Chevrolet representation across North America, Europe and Asia and showed just how far the concept had traveled from the traditional factory-only Corvette Racing model.

Chouest Povoledo Racing carried the Corvette banner in the 2026 GT World Challenge America championship with Ross Chouest and Aaron Povoledo, while the former AWA operation evolved into 13 Autosport with Orey Fidani, Matt Bell and Lars Kern continuing with the platform. Each program approached the car from a slightly different angle, but collectively they provided Chevrolet and Pratt Miller with the breadth of real-world competition experience necessary for a serious global customer-racing operation.

The 2026 season has underscored just how far the Corvette Z06 GT3.R program has come in only three years of competition. In the FIA World Endurance Championship, TF Sport delivered Corvette’s tenth class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the No. 33 Z06 GT3.R, while the sister Racing Team Turkey by TF entry followed with another LMGT3 victory at São Paulo. In IMSA, Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports has remained at the center of the GTD PRO championship battle, with Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg leading the standings in the No. 4 Corvette heading into Petit Le Mans and Chevrolet also leading the manufacturers’ championship. What began as a new customer-racing platform in 2024 has matured into a race-winning, championship-contending program competing at the highest levels of GT racing around the world.

The largest achievements of 2026, however, again came through Pratt Miller and TF Sport. In June, TF Sport delivered one of the defining victories of the entire Z06 GT3.R program when Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Jonny Edgar drove the No. 33 Corvette to victory in the LMGT3 category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The win gave Corvette its tenth class victory at Le Mans and carried enormous significance because it was achieved not by the old factory Corvette Racing operation, but by a customer-style program using the very model Chevrolet had created to take Corvette racing around the world.

The No. 33 had started only 17th among 25 LMGT3 entries before working its way into contention over the course of the race. Keating completed the critical Bronze-driver running early, while Catsburg and Edgar took over much of the professional driving load as the event progressed. By the finish, the Corvette had delivered the sort of result Chevrolet envisioned when the GT3.R program was first announced: an internationally homologated customer race car capable of winning the biggest GT race in the world.

The sister Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette subsequently won at Interlagos, and by late summer Corvette remained heavily involved in the WEC LMGT3 championship fight. At Fuji in September, the No. 34 Corvette finished third and the No. 33 fifth, maintaining the program’s position among the leading contenders in the category.

Back in IMSA, Pratt Miller entered the closing phase of 2026 in another title fight. Garcia and Sims won on the streets of Detroit in May, while Milner and Catsburg built their championship challenge around a season of consistent results. Their No. 4 Corvette finished second after a dramatic late battle with the Ford Mustang GT3 at Indianapolis in September. Heading into the season-ending Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, Milner and Catsburg lead the GTD PRO standings by 47 points, giving Corvette an opportunity to add another championship to a résumé that has grown rapidly since the GT3.R first appeared in competition.

A Different Kind of Corvette Racing

The No. 81 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R earned its second FIA World Endurance Championship victory of 2025 at the 6 Hours of Fuji, with Tom Van Rompuy, Rui Andrade and Charlie Eastwood sharing the car. Eastwood brought the Corvette home just 1.990 seconds behind the leading Ferrari, but a five-second penalty assessed to the Ferrari for a pit-stop infringement elevated TF Sport to the LMGT3 victory. The result gave the No. 81 crew its first win of the season, delivered Corvette’s second WEC LMGT3 victory of 2025, and kept both TF Sport Corvettes firmly in the championship fight heading toward the season finale.

The Z06 GT3.R may ultimately be remembered as one of the most consequential racing Corvettes ever built, not simply because of what it has won but because of what Chevrolet designed it to do. Previous generations carried Corvette Racing around the world as a factory program. The GT3.R allows Corvette Racing itself to spread around the world.

A Canadian organization can race one at Daytona. A British team can take one to Le Mans. An American SRO team can win eight consecutive races with one. A Malaysian organization can race Corvettes at Sepang and Fuji. The same basic car can compete in IMSA, WEC, GT World Challenge America and GT World Challenge Asia while receiving engineering and technical support from the same Chevrolet and Pratt Miller organization responsible for its original development.

The Corvette Z06 GT3.R has already proven itself on some of the biggest stages in sports-car racing, and its trajectory continues to point upward. At the time of this article’s publication, Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports is one race away from potentially securing a second consecutive IMSA GTD PRO championship as the team prepares for the 2026 Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg enter the season finale leading the GTD PRO Drivers Championship by 47 points in the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R, with Pratt Miller also leading the Teams Championship and Chevrolet holding a 68-point advantage in the Manufacturers Championship. A year after Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims, Pratt Miller, and Chevrolet swept those same three titles, the GT3.R arrives at Road Atlanta with a chance to do it again.

Beneath all of that racing hardware remains an unusually strong connection to the Corvette customers can actually buy. The aluminum structure begins in Bowling Green. The 5.5-liter flat-plane-crank V-8 shares its architecture, and more than 70 percent of its components, with the production Z06 engine. Its proportions remain unmistakably C8 Corvette. Yet wrapped around those production roots is a racing machine engineered to survive Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans while competing against the best GT3 automobiles produced anywhere in the world.

Its first season exposed the inevitable difficulties that accompany an entirely new racing program. Its second produced a Daytona class victory and an IMSA championship. Its third has already delivered a Le Mans victory and championship fights on both sides of the Atlantic. For Chevrolet and Pratt Miller, the Z06 GT3.R represents the next evolution of a partnership that began more than a quarter century ago. For Corvette, it represents something larger still: the factory team is no longer the only face of Corvette Racing. The program has become global, customer-driven and considerably broader than anything that came before it.

Developed by Chevrolet and Pratt Miller Motorsports, the Corvette Z06 GT3.R transformed Corvette Racing into a true global customer program. Since its 2024 competition debut, it has won at Daytona, Le Mans and across multiple championships—while carrying the engineering DNA of the production Z06 onto the world stage.