Category Archives: American Le Mans Series

Known as being one of Britain’s most successful international sports car drivers, Olly is gearing up for an 11th consecutive season with the hugely successful Corvette Racing team.  The three-time American Le Mans Series GT1 champion is chasing his first GT class title, after finishing runner up in 2011, and will this year be teamed in the No. 4 Corvette C6.R with American driver Tommy Milner. Read more →

Here’s Corvette Racing’s official press release following the Sebring test this week:

This was only a test – but as the final shakedown before the season-opening 60th Anniversary Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the two-day ALMS Winter Test at Sebring International Raceway was crucial for Corvette Racing. Read more →

There hasn’t been much down-time since Daytona and now it’s time for the pre-season Sebring test – the ‘Wheels Down’ test for teams and drivers in preparation for the 60th anniversary running of the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring.  All six of Corvette Racing’s drivers are present, and the following is a snippet from the ALMS PR notebook from yesterday (Wednesday).

Corvette’s Youth Movement: Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner are Corvette Racing’s newest – and youngest – members. Milner is in his second year with GM’s factory road racing team, and Taylor is readying for his rookie season. They already have the respect of their more experienced team mates.

Team talk...

“It takes me back to 2002 when I first came to Corvette Racing,” said Oliver Gavin, Milner’s full-season teammate in the No. 4 Corvette C6.R. “I was very green in sports car racing and was paired with a couple of legends in Ron (Fellows) and Johnny (O’Connell). They taught me a lot and looking back, it’s amazing the amount I learned. Both Tommy and Jordan are mature beyond their years and aren’t fazed by the pressure of driving for Corvette. This is a large manufacturer – in fact it is THE American manufacturer. There are millions of kids their age who would do anything for the chance to drive for a team like Corvette Racing. But they aren’t fazed by the pressure.”

Source (and image):  ALMS PR.

As well as post race news and views which are to be found here on the official Oliver Gavin website, in 2012 there will also be two blogs/columns posted after each race.  As last year, SPEEDtv.com will run an ‘In The Cockpit’ from Olly after each race weekend and, new for this year, will be a different look at what has happened over a race weekend for a new and exciting website launched by Motor Sport magazine (www.motorsportmagazine.com).  The first of these new columns was posted on 31st January and can be found under the Race subheading.  Happy reading!

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 →