"This is the second year we've visited the temporary street circuit at St Petersburg and I have to say that I really enjoy it.  Street circuits give you no room for error but that makes them all the more challenging.  I liked the circuit last year and maybe that's one of the reasons why we had a very strong weekend. 

"Right from the first practice on Friday we were on the pace.  The car felt really good and, if anything, the new E85 cellulosic ethanol gave it a little bit better performance.  Of course, it's easy to forget just how well prepared a car the Corvette Racing team give us and we soon found a setup that suited both Olivier and I.  We were lucky it all went to plan because there was a very tight race schedule this weekend and not much track time - made worse by the fact that the final practice session before qualifying was cut short due to an accident by one of the prototypes.

"It was Olivier's turn to qualify the car and he did a fantastic job, finding a really quick lap, the first of the weekend under 1 minute 10 seconds.  Whilst the aim is to win the race, getting pole ahead of our sister Corvette is always a good feeling!  The slower car in qualifying is always starting on the back foot.

"Olivier also started in the car and soon built up several seconds advantage.  However, with the traffic and with safety car periods, something you can expect more of on a street circuit, the lead was constantly growing and reducing.  The No.3 car pitted first and Olivier did a really quick 'in lap'.  That combined with some great team work by our pit crew got me out still in the lead.  From then on it was a case of keeping out of trouble and maintaining our advantage.

"I don't know what happened with the timing and scoring but just as the final safety car period was called our car suddenly appeared a minute behind on the timing screens!  On the track we were still ahead and thankfully the officials sorted it out just before we went green again and crossed the line.  It led to some strange questions in the post race press conference about being passed and re-passing again which at the time I didn't understand!!

"It's great to get our first win of 2008 under our belt and we go to Long Beach in a couple of weeks time looking to repeat the success on another street circuit.  It was the first win for our new crew chief, Mike West, who has settled into the team well.  It was also the first win with the E85 cellulosic ethanol, one of many I hope as the series continues to address some of the green issues we are all facing.  With the race being 50 minutes shorter than usual we did the race on one pit stop.  There were question marks about that from some people ,but we're proving that it's a great fuel to run with.

"So now it's back to the UK and the build up to the London Marathon on Sunday.  I've been delighted with the response to my running for Cystic Fibrosis and many thanks to all those who have sponsored me.  If anyone else would like to support the cause there is still time and you can do it online at www.justgiving.com/olivergavin."