Pratt & Miller Corvettes finish 3rd & 4th at 2026 12 hours of Sebring
Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone in the # 4 Z06 GT3.R Corvette reached the GTD PRO class podium the final 2 hours (and chaos as usual) on the punishing concrete and asphalt 3.74-mile circuit.
They recovered from an unlucky pass-thru penalty; and while not the fastest car, the machine came alive at nightfall with a late push from Catsburg.
Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims and Marvin Kirchhöfer in the # 3 Z06 GT3.R Corvette finished 4th, a well-earned result in the ultra-competitive GTD PRO class consisting of 13 Cars.
Thomas Preining, Klaus Bachler and Ricardo Feller won the GTD PRO class in “Grello” the # 911 Porsche 911 GT3.R of team Manthey from Germany, a powerhouse in the WEC that is also doing the longer-distance IMSA races this year.
Matt Bell, Orey Fidani and Lars Kern in the # 13 Z06 GT3.R Corvette of Team 13 Autosport from Canada finished 6th sixth in the GTD class. They advanced from 17th at the start, helped by two late full-course yellow periods in the final 90 minutes, to claim the Bob Akin Award as the top GTD entry with a Bronze-rated driver.
Charlie Eastwood, Mason Filippi and Salih Yoluc in the # 36 Z06 GT3.R Corvette of DXDT led the GTD class during the middle hours.
But they faced an uphill fight to finish 9th out of 19 cars after a costly pit lane penalty.
Henrik Hedman, Giacomo Altoe and Casper Stevensen in the # 81 Z06 GT3.R Corvette of team Dragon Speed finished 16th after getting pushed into the tire barriers by an LMP2 car just shy of the two-hour mark. Instead of folding, team principal Elton Julian rallied his crew to fix the damage and return three hours later to log data for the season ahead.
Pratt & Miller rolled out a special patriotic look leading up to the 75th anniversary of the Sebring 12-hour race next year.
With GM announcing a C8 Grand Sport edition for sale to the public in 2027, they brought back Grand Sport 001, shown above with the great Roger Penske, owner and entrant 60 years ago in 1966.
History nerds (like us) recall the car handled like a pig and DNF, even in the hands of expert racer Dick Thompson. As a limited-production front-engine car doomed to fail in the prototype class, Penske unloaded it on the cheap to Jerry "O. J" Hanna. It survived through a succession of owners and today this rare relic is valuable beyond belief.
Photo Credits: Richard Prince, Jake Galstead, Jim Levitt, Doug Bonette, David Stanley
