Category Archives: American Le Mans Series

Corvette Racing has today announced its plans for 2012 driver pairings which will see a change for Olly.  The full details are below…quotes and more on this from Olly after Daytona and before Sebring.

A new alignment of drivers will pilot Corvette Racing’s new Compuware Corvette C6.R race cars when they make their competition debut at the season-opening 60th Anniversary Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. With additional testing following the announcement of the 2012 driver roster, the team has now finalized the lineups for the twin Corvettes. Read more →

It’s hopefully no surprise to hear that Olly will be continuing with Corvette Racing in the 2012 ALMS, but the team’s full plans have only just been announced.  Here’s the official release, as sent out by Corvette at the end of last week: Read more →

There were 9 hours and 35 minutes of long, hard racing at the 1000 Mile Petit Le Mans race today, and the three drivers of the No. 4 Corvette – Oliver, Jan Magnussen and Richard Westbrook – never gave anything less than 100% effort from start to finish.  The outright pace of the opposition, however, proved to be just a little too much for the Corvette crew who chased a podium placing throughout.  Fourth place in class (14th overall) was the eventual reward for all their hard work. Read more →

The day after his 39th birthday Olly was looking for a late birthday gift in terms of a favourable qualifying position for tomorrow’s Petit Le Mans, but the GT racing gods decided not to grant it to him on this occasion. Jan, whose turn it was to qualify the No. 4 Corvette C6.R, claimed eighth position on the GT grid – lower than the drivers and team had hoped for. Read more →

The six-hour American Le Mans Monterey proved to be a trying day for Oliver Gavin and Corvette Racing as their two Corvette C6.Rs finished fifth and seventh in the GT class. While the cars showed competitive speed, keeping a handle on the roller coaster Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca circuit throughout a stint was a challenge for the Corvettes. Read more →

Hot on the heels of front row starts by the No. 4 Corvette C6.R in both Road America and Baltimore, Oliver today secured second place in qualifying for tomorrow’s penultimate round of the 2011 American Le Mans Series at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, California. His best time of 1:23.124 was just under nine tenths of a second from the pole-winning BMW of Joey Hand. Read more →

The inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix provided incidents and accidents aplenty in yesterday’s two-hour street race.  The packed grandstands and estimated crowd of 150,000 enthusiastic fans witnessed a terrific GT battle which saw Oliver Gavin and his team mate Jan Magnussen overcome a first-lap incident and the debilitating effects of exhaust fumes to take third place and some valuable points for their championship title place. Read more →

A late start and a scant 75 minutes of practice meant that the learning curve for the American Le Mans Series Baltimore Grand Prix was a steep one. Jan Magnussen and Tommy Milner proved to be fast learners when they qualified Corvette Racing’s twin Compuware C6.Rs second and fourth respectively for Saturday’s two-hour street race through downtown Baltimore. Read more →

The fans wanted a four-hour race at Road America – one of the ALMS drivers’ favourite North American venues – and the series produced four hours of nonstop action in sixth round of the 2011 season.  Olly and Jan finished a somewhat frustrating fifth in the GT class but were never out of contention for a better result until the final part of the race.  The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia driven by Jaime Melo and Toni Vilander won the hard-fought GT category, and as some consolation the No. 4 Corvette won the Michelin Green X Challenge competition.

Olly leading the pack at Road America

In the opening laps, Olly was caught up in the GT melée but came back strongly after a spirited track battle with the Ferrari and No. 56 BMW and took the lead at just under an hour into the race. He held the point through the No. 4 Corvette’s first pit stop, but had minor contact with the Ferrari as the two cars exited the pit lane simultaneously.  After dropping to fifth, Gavin worked his way back to the front, passing the BMW again for the lead half way through the event, and completed a marathon 2 hour 16 minute stint in the hot Wisconsin sunshine before handing over to Jan.

“It certainly never got dull,” Olly said afterwards, “and I really enjoyed the race, with some great battles between us and the Ferrari and BMW, but ultimately it wasn’t a good day on the Championship front as we lost some ground to the No. 56 BMW.  I had an action-packed stint!  I was tapped at the start, got sideways, and several cars screamed by on the inside. Then there was a big scrap as we went into Turn 5, with cars everywhere. Finally things settled down a little.

“On the first pass for the lead, the BMW was pushed wide by the Ferrari and they got bottled up in Carousel,” he recalled. “I got around the BMW, and then passed the Ferrari as we came into Turn 14. After the pit stop, the Ferrari’s door was open as we went down the pit lane, Vilander was trying to get himself secured, and said he ran out of hands and we had slight contact which spun me around.

“On the next restart, I passed the Ferrari and was having a good battle with the leading BMW. When we came up behind a slower GTC car, he went left, I went right, and I managed to out-drag him on the front straight. It was great fun and great racing!”

As the track and ambient temperatures cooled, partly due to cloud cover and partly to the fact that the race was running into early evening, the balance of the Corvette changed and Jan backed off to bring the car home.   “The competition was faster at that point,” notes Olly, “and that’s something we’re going to take away and analyse for the future.  Things are getting really tight now as we get to the last few races and we can’t afford to lose any further ground.”

With thanks, as always to Corvette Racing.

In qualifying for tomorrow’s four-hour Road Race Showcase at Road America, it was Jan Magnussen’s turn to qualify the No. 4 Corvette C6.R and, despite being more than a second quicker than Olly’s pole-winning lap at Road America in 2010, and six tenths of a second under the GT qualifying record set in 2008, he just missed out on pole position.
The Dane was achingly close to GT pole, but missed out for the second consecutive year by .005 of a second. That was the razor-thin margin that favoured Dirk Mueller’s No. 56 BMW M3 GT in qualifying.

Jan held back as the 15-minute qualifying session began, seeking a gap in traffic. With a clear track ahead, he rocketed around the 4-mile circuit in 2:05.452 on his fourth lap, eclipsing his English teammate’s pole-winning 2:06.509 time from last year.  Mueller took the pole with a 2:05.447 lap.

“Five thousandths!” Jan exclaimed after qualifying. “When the session started, I made a quick decision to fall back to give myself a big gap. I was clear of traffic, set my fast time, and then did a cool-down lap to get ready for my final qualifying run. That lap was looking really good until we caught traffic. Even with a similar lap, five thousandths could have gone either way.”

Olly added:  “We are very happy with a front row starting place.  The cars have run well all weekend and it felt nice when I drove it this morning.  I did all of the morning as Jan hasn’t been very well this weekend – though he’s a lot better now!  When we saw the BMW’s lap time we were a little bit shocked but Jan worked away at it and got a really good lap together.

“Our long-run pace is pretty decent; it’s been pretty good for most of the test and practice sessions and so we’re looking forward to the race tomorrow.  Four hours means a little different strategy but we feel we’re in strong shape to fight with anyone at the front, like we’ve done for the last two races.  I’m hoping for a similar performance to Mosport and Mid Ohio but hope we don’t get the same amount of race we did at Mid Ohio!!”