Statesville, NC (May 12, 2025) – It took just four races for DXDT Racing to earn their first front row start in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, and it couldn’t have been in a more dramatic fashion. Alec Udell, driving the No. 36 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R missed the pole by just nine-hundredths of a second at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Rolling off second, Udell fell back to fifth when the green flag fell on the TireRack.com Monterey Sports Car Championship, but quickly rebounded into the top three and maintained position throughout the first hour.
Prepared for the first pit stop and set to include a driver change, the DXDT crew and Robert Wickens anxiously awaited Udell’s arrival in the pit box. Just as Udell pulled onto pit lane, the neighboring team mistakenly sent their Ferrari directly into Udell forcing him to halt prior to the DXDT pit box. In effort to avoid a greater disaster, Udell had to pull the #36 Corvette Z06 GT3.R back into the fast lane and past the DXDT pit box, slowly driving down the entirety of the pit lane without making his stop, while his competitors made theirs.
Quick on their feet, the DXDT engineering team changed strategies and rather than returning immediately to pit, Udell “stayed out” to go off sequence.
The caution period they were counting on didn’t happen. And the race went on, unforgiving. Relegated to the back of the field, Wickens took over driving duties with one hour and 41 minutes remaining, completing his first double stint in the GTD category. Undeterred, he executed a series of precise overtakes and worked with the DXDT engineers to maximize energy, propelling the No. 36 Corvette back inside the top-ten.
General Manager, Erin Gahagan commented, “Lady Luck was not on our side this Mother’s Day. Although the race results don’t show it, our DXDT Racing team made great strides this weekend.”
DRIVER QUOTES:
Alec Udell: “We were unfortunate to be on the back side of luck today. It was a great step forward starting on the front row and so narrowly missing the pole this weekend. I didn’t maximize the first lap as much as I wanted to, but I think we had a good car and solid pace to run up front that first hour until we were hit in the pit lane. Just some bad luck from our neighbors in the pit lane which sent us into a bit of a tailspin to recover. The DXDT crew did a good job getting creative and adapting the strategy to help us in the end, but we just really needed some yellows to fully recover. This team has a lot to be proud of, new to IMSA and running strong. It’s been a great weekend with Rob and I’m really looking forward to running the rest of the sprint races with him.”
Robert Wickens: “A really tough race for us. Alec had a good first stint and we settled into a nice rhythm. On our first stop, we got hit by one of the Ferrari’s. They were launching from their stop as we were coming in and they just drove into the side of us. It didn’t allow Alec to get into the pit box so we basically had to serve a drive-through penalty plus probably a 10-second hold. It really changed the tone of the race and the strategy to try and extend to be in a better fuel position for later in the race. We really needed a yellow to try and get us back in the fold but unfortunately the race went green the whole way. My stint ended up being more or less trying to manage the car and try to find opportunities but none of them came. I thought on the final stint our pace was strong. Although we were a lap down, I kept up with the P3 car the entire stint so that’s encouraging. It’s not what we all deserved but we also have a lot of positives to take away from the weekend, particularly with our qualifying pace. I am looking forward to CTMP.”
