DETROIT — Five Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs and seven Corvette Racing factory drivers are set to kick off 2026 during the next two weeks at Daytona International Speedway.
Things kick off for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with the annual three-day Roar Before the 24 starting Friday.
It leads straight into the 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona with Corvette Racing eager to capture another class victory – or two – in the opening round of the season.
Five full-season Corvette GT3s from four teams are part of the 60-car entry across two of the four classes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Corvette collective will test Friday through Sunday on the 3.56-mile Daytona Road Course ahead of next weekend’s season-opening round.
- Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports – GTD PRO: Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims, Marvin Kirchhöfer(No. 3 Corvette); Nicky Catsburg, Tommy Milner, Nico Varrone (No. 4 Corvette)
- 13 Autosport – GTD: Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern, Ben Green (No. 13 Corvette)
- DXDT Racing – GTD: Charlie Eastwood, Mason Filippi, Salih Yoluc, Scott McLaughlin (No. 36 Corvette)
- DragonSpeed – GTD: Giacomo Altoé, Henrik Hedman, Casper Stevenson, Matteo Cairoli (No. 81 Corvette)
This year’s group matches last year’s entry of five Corvettes at Daytona; the biggest change is that all five will contest the entirely of the IMSA season.
In addition to returning teams Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports in GTD PRO and GTD customer teams 13 Autosport (formally AW) and DXDT Racing, new Corvette team DragonSpeed will debut its Z06 GT3.R at Daytona.
As a program, Corvette Racing has a deep and successful history at the Rolex 24 and includes five GT-class victories – one of those an overall win in 2001. The Corvette Racing factory team scored additional class wins in 2015, 2016 and 2021, and 13 Autosport won in GTD last year under the AWA banner for the Z06 GT3.R’s first Rolex 24 triumph.
In addition, Corvette’s successes at Daytona have bolstered Chevrolet’s impressive record of 125 wins at the circuit across IMSA and NASCAR’s national series.
This year’s factory drivers are Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims, Marvin Kirchhofer, Nicky Catsburg, Tommy Milner and Nico Varrone with the Pratt Miller Motorsportts team and Charlie Eastwood with DXDT Racing.
“It’s nice to have continuity again going into a third season with the same main team, and it’s a great addition having Marvin with us,” Sims said. “The core group of people on our car are mostly staying the same… Andy Ramsey our race engineer and obviously myself and Antonio, plus Tommy, Nicky and Nico in the other Corvette. That’s a huge bonus and should give us strength. I think that’s probably the first time in my career that I’ve had three years in a row with the same co-driver and engineer, so that’s very nice.”
