Past-the-Mid-Season-Mid-Season GTD Pro Recap: Best team, biggest storyline, biggest disappointment

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It's Part II of our Past-the-Mid-Season Mid-Season recap, GTD Pro style.

As we head into Road America this weekend the GTD Pro title chase is arguably the best fight we have going on in all of the four WeatherTech classes. Corvette still maintains the lead, but the No. 77 is trying to pull off back-to-back championships while a newcomer is making waves.

Let's get into it.

Best Team - Corvette Racing By Pratt Miller 

The No. 3 sits atop the Pro standings as things stand going into Road America, and the No. 4 currently sit P6 right on the heals of the No. 65 Mustang and No. 48 Paul Miller BMW. The 3 car has been amazingly consistent with four podium finishes in six races, and although an overall victory hasn't come yet, three P2 finishes will go a long way towards keeping your title chances alive as the season goes along. The No. 3 of Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims have fared much better than the No. 4 duo of Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner,, although the duo of Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner did just snag their first podium of the year at Mosport. Corvette/Pratt Miller haven't won a GT title in four years when they went five out of six from 2016-2021. I know, what a drought right? They're primed to climb back to the top step of the championship podium this season, but the consistency will have to continue because the margins are thin at the top; AO Racing sit just 39 points behind. Things would become much more clear with a class victory at either Road America or Indy. Easier said than done.

Best Car/Driver - No. 3 Corvette Racing - Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims

A great argument can be made for Rexy and AO Racing, however we're giving the edge to Garcia and Sims due to the fact that they're slightly ahead of average finishing position this season, even though AO have wins at Sebring and Laguna Seca. Four podiums out of six races is an amazing run in the first 60% of the season, but as was said above it's playing with fire trying to stretch a championship run to the end of the line without winning a race. It can be done, sure, but we bet Costa and Sims would rather not keep that streak going. 

Is another Corvette GT title in the cards?

Biggest Story - The Clean, Professional, Hard Racing Throughout the Season

It's not just you - the racing this season in the Pro class has been absolutely stellar since the green flag waved at Daytona. There have been battles across teams and drivers at the Rolex, Sebring, the streets of Detroit, the Glen, etc. you name it. The highlight moments have come in the fist fight between Corvette and BMW at the Rolex, the door-banging and straight-up brawling that went down at Detroit and the final laps of the Glen. The driver talent has never been better with teams loading up on their full-season pairings and enhancing them for the endurance rounds. Overall, yes at some points things have spilled-over and gotten out of hand, like Paul Miller's shenanigans at the Rolex. We never want to see things cross the line and turn into sim lobbies, yet even then those moments have been rare. This class is full of top-tier drivers and teams that have championship experience. They want to win and they'll push the boundaries to make it happen. In the end, us fans are the real winners through all of it.

 

Biggest Disappointment - No. 65 Mustang Stumbles After Rolex 24 Win 

The 65 Mustang pulled off an amazing, program-defining win in the season opener at Daytona, holding off some tough-ass competition in the Corvette, the sister car and a Paul Miller BMW. The win was the first of its kind for the Mustang GT3, and the double podium highlighted what the car is capable of after a so-so first season on the grid, which is always to be expected for a new machine going through the first season of competition. However since that victory, the #65 has yet to find another podium finish or class win, while back-to-back nut punches have come in the form of a race retirement at Detroit due to damage and a post-race DSQ after the Glen, putting a large dent into their championship hopes. They currently sit 7th in the Pro standings and would need a lot to go their way to climb back into the fight, however that Rolex victory gave them a huge boost in the Endurance Cup standings where they sit fourth. 

A program-defining win at the R24 hasn't been followed up with another win or podium

Biggest Surprise - Pfaff Motorsports Struggling Again, This Time with Lamborghini 

It's better than the experiment with the McLaren, right? Pfaff again have ran into struggles with their new Huracán GT3 Evo 2 after their one-and-done run with McLaren last season, and anything would've been better than what the Canadian boys went through in 2024, so a change to the solid Huracán was certainly welcomed. But, the results haven't come and Pfaff have just one P3 finish on the campaign to show for their efforts, coming from the streets of Detroit. They were unable to convert pole position at the Glen into something tangible due to a retirement, and their attempts to push for a podium on home soil at Mosport were cut down as the race finished under yellow. Pfaff currently sit 9th in the full-season standings in the Pro class and don't have a real path towards the championship fight, and for one of the most popular teams on the grid, a return to consistent winning ways is eagerly anticipated by many. Just goes to show how deep and competitive the Pro class is at the end of the day. 

When will Pfaff find victory lane again?

Best Newcomer - DragonSpeed Ferrari 

For the only Ferrari on the Pro grid, the DragonSpeed boys have put on quite a show as a full-season entry after making the jump into the class at last season's finale at Petit Le Mans. They're more than a formidable contender for the championship as Albert Costa currently sits P3 in the standings, and what makes things even more impressive is the fact that due to different circumstances here and there, he's shared the No. 81 with three other co-drivers in Rasmus Lindh, Davide Rigon and Giacomo Altoè. The yellow flag that ended Mosport early came as a huge boon for the car, giving the team their first GT win since their debut. Costa and Co. have previously managed to bag a P2 finish at Laguna and a P3 at Watkins Glen, and to go along with all that Costa's worse finishing position all season has been a P8 at Detroit. Simply put, they've ran consistent all season long and with four races to go they've put themselves in a strong position to contend for the Pro title. 

DragonSpeed's liveries have been top-notch this season too

Best Moment - Tommy Milner Flipping the No. 1 Sign To BMW

Talk about recognizing great moments not just in motorsport history, but in the history of all mankind. Tommy Milner showing off his incredible finger talent while driving 150+ mph down the front stretch at Daytona was a moment that'll live on in racing history until the end of days. It was one of those great times where as it happens and you see the screenshot/replay of it you just know it's an all-timer. For us, we were standing at the bleachers coming out of international horseshoe when it happened so we caught it on our phones after the fact and just burst out laughing, all while the 50+ remaining cars on track were still duking it out with time running out. Again, just an all-time moment. And perhaps the best part of all, Milner took the opportunity to put together those custom T-shirts and raise money in support of the American Eagles Foundation - flip that bird to support the birds!

 





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