Group of five Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs wrap up three days of Roar testing
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 19, 2025) – The group of five Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs set for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona completed their three days of testing at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday with the four teams focused ahead to next weekend’s twice-around-the-clock classic.
The Rolex 24 marks the start of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the second season of the Corvette Z06 GT3.R program. After claiming 11 race wins and the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Manufacturers Championship in GTD PRO during 2024, optimism is high heading into Daytona.
The five Corvettes combined to complete 980 laps for nearly 3,500 miles – valuable track time considering there are only three practice sessions and qualifying across Thursday and Friday of the coming week before the green flag falls Saturday.
The gaps in both GTD PRO and GTD were razor-thin with all five of the Z06 GT3.Rs well entrenched in the top-10 of their respective classes.
Antonio Garcia set the pace among the GTD PRO Corvettes with the fourth-fastest time across the weekend – 1:48.242 (118.401 mph) during Saturday afternoon’s running.
In GTD, AWA’s Matt Bell put the No. 13 Corvette fifth class with a 1:48.169 (118.481 mph) in Friday’s opening test for the quickest Corvette lap of the weekend.
GTD PRO Corvette Z06 GT3.R Weekend Fast Times
- No. 3 Corvette – Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports – Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims, Dani Juncadella – 1:48.242 (118.401 mph) – fourth-fastest in class
- No. 4 Corvette – Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports – Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg, Nico Varrone – 1:48.515 (118.103 mph) – 10th-fastest in class
- No. 91 Corvette – Trackhouse by TF Sport – Ben Keating, Scott McLaughlin, Shane van Gisbergen, Connor Zilisch – 1:48.435 (118.190 mph) – ninth-fastest in class
GTD Corvette Z06 GT3.R Weekend Fast Times
- No. 13 Corvette – AWA – Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern, Marvin Kirchhöfer – 1:48.169 (118.481 mph) – fifth-fastest in class
- No. 36 Corvette – DXDT Racing – Charlie Eastwood, Pipo Derani, Alec Udell, Salih Yoluc – 1:48.389 (118.240 mph) – 10th fastest in class
This year’s group marks the largest number of production-based racing Corvettes in the race since 2007. The Corvette Racing brand has a deep history at the Rolex 24 and includes four GT class victories – one of those an overall win in 2001. In addition, Corvette’s successes at Daytona have bolstered Chevrolet’s impressive record of 122 wins at the circuit across IMSA and NASCAR’s national series.
Corvette Racing performance and powertrain engineers made significant improvements to the Z06 GT3.R throughout its first season of competition. Much of the work focused on optimizing performance and enhancing the Corvette’s reliability. The outright pace of the Corvette GT3 is evident with 12 pole positions across three series in 2024, and the reliability took huge steps forward in the second half of the year.
The Rolex 24 goes green at 1:40 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 25 with qualifying on Thursday, January 23. The race will feature live television segments on NBC and USA and flag-to-flag coverage on Peacock in the U.S., and IMSA.com for international viewers.
JESSICA DANE, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER: “From our side, things throughout the Roar were as positive as we could have hoped. All five Corvettes ran without any significant issue during the three days in a variety of conditions. The feedback from the teams has been good and valuable for our collective group. Our goal now is to take that input and what we saw in the data to help the group be in the best possible spot for Thursday’s practice and qualifying, and then ultimately the race.”
SELECT CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER QUOTES
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 OSHKOSH / MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The most important thing from this weekend is definitely miles. You need miles and go toward your program for the race. For this race as always, it doesn’t really matter where you start. At some point, you’re going to cycle to the back of the field and then back to the front with the yellows. Unlike Le Mans where you have to be up front from Lap One, here you can sit back a little bit and stay out of trouble. But you need to know as much as possible your setups, how to react to track changes and different approaches. That was the goal last year, and we learned more about that this year.
“The GT class splits will be something that helps the overall racing this year. It was always a strange feeling where you were mixing fights in two different classes. I don’t think the GTD cars wanted us in that, so it’s nice that we are split now so we can have our own race and not interfere with each other. This is a good step forward.”
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 OSHKOSH / MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “This is the first opportunity in the offseason after the guys have had a chance to look at everything, to come with some new setup options and ideas. There were things that can be tidied up through the experience of last year. It’s the first chance to prove those things. Then it’s about miles, getting all three guys in the car and getting new guys who are on the team comfortable in their positions. You try to get yourself as prepared as possible not just for the Rolex but for the season. With Nico joining the team, it gives him a good chance to get comfortable again with the team and engineers, do some driver change practices and all that kind of stuff. It’s all a little bit of housekeeping things that you need to do and an opportunity to work on the car to make sure we have our Corvette as strong as we can have it coming into the race.”
MATT BELL, NO. 13 SABELT / SONIC / PROJEKT CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It’s like a different planet compared to last year. The team is a better spot, the Corvette is in a better spot and the team is in a better spot with the car. It’s hugely positive on that side of things. I feel like we feel as well-prepared as we have been coming here, even the year we won it. From a preparation standpoint, I think we are as good as you could possibly get going into the Rolex 24.”
MARVIN KIRCHÖFFER, NO. 13 SABELT / SONIC / PROJEKT CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m still figuring out the car a little bit because it is still new to me. But I’m generally quite impressed with it. The team is really helping me along, and my teammates are giving great advice to help me get up to speed. Overall I’m very impressed by AWA. They are doing a great job giving me all the information and also from the operational side. From Corvette Racing and Pratt Miller, I’ve found it very interesting and very professional. I’m not really used to that, having these kinds of meetings. It’s very good for the teams, very good for the brand and very good to have everyone on the same page. Obviously this gives you the best ingredients to have a strong Rolex 24.
“Confidence is one of the most important things – feeling confident with the car, feeling confident with the procedures. This race is about minimizing mistakes and errors. So it’s not ultimately about having the fastest car and fastest drivers. It’s about minimizing those errors and mistakes. I can see here that this is down to Chevy as the manufacturer, Pratt Miller and obviously the team side with AWA. All these three are working very, very well together and the communication is very good.”
CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 36 MOBIL 1 / SuCo CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “We’re on-track with things. DXDT Racing, although its their first full-season IMSA race, they’ve got a lot of great people that have done a lot of IMSA races, especially this one. One of our guys, this is his 42nd Daytona! But then we also have the likes of Bryan Sellers, who has been amazing to work with and is teaching us a lot. We’re on top of the strategy side and are trying to put us on the right side of all the scenarios of what can potentially go wrong in the race or lose you the race… whether that’s doing tricky pit stops, managing the tires and managing the race itself. Twenty hours of the race will be making sure we have a clean car for the end. Hopefully we have enough pace to be there at the end.
“You definitely wouldn’t think this their first race in IMSA, I’ll guarantee you that. It’s a really, really nice bunch to work with, which helps because there are no egos or wrong-doings within the team. To have that attitude in that we’re all still learning in individual ways. Everything is going as well as it can at the minute.”
PIPO DERANI, NO. 36 MOBIL 1 / SuCo CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Having the test in November was very useful for me so I got here knowing what to expect. It had been more than five years since I last drove a GT car. You don’t know what to expect. Then you have your first day in the car, then you second day and then things start coming back. You tweak your driving a little bit and start getting better and better. We’ve gone through that phase now. The team has been very supportive and especially Charlie with his experience in the Corvette. I got up to speed quicker than I thought I would, so that’s positive. It’s all about learning the maximum amount for next week.”
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN, NO. 91 WEATHERTECH CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Things have been pretty simple so far. Learning the ABS and electronics has been the biggest thing. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve driven a car with electronics like this. Understanding and putting your trust in those is difficult, especially for myself. But you get into a flow reasonably quickly. So yeah, it’s all been good.
“The simulator session (before the Roar) was incredible. Having that opportunity to do that work, I’m very thankful for that now. The way that Chevrolet has integrated us from a part-timers perspective, they’ve treated us like we are full-time. They’ve been great and the Corvette drivers have been great. I’ve texted back and forth with Dani Juncadella a couple of times, and he’s been awesome. It’s what I’m used to in IndyCar. The Team Chevy family is full of good people.”
SHANE VAN GISBERGEN, NO. 91 WEATHERTECH CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “This event hasn’t changed a lot since I was here last. It’s still the same and has got a nice vibe. It’s awesome to be here with such a cool car. The Corvette is really easy to drive, but of course we want to make it faster which makes it harder to drive. So it’s been great to be back here. I wouldn’t say the race is about luck. It’s about getting all the little things right… preparation, making sure all the drivers are comfortable, making sure the team gets everything right. There are so many factors that go into getting a good result at a race like this. We just have to make sure everything is right.”
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