Britain’s Oliver Gavin completed his first ever V8 Supercar event at the Armor All Gold Coast 600 at the Surfers Paradise street circuit on Australia’s Gold Coast this weekend and brought home two top six results for the Kelly Racing Pepsi Max team.
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Olly ready for V8 debut
Britain’s Oliver Gavin, more usually known as an American Le Mans Series GT star, will this weekend be partnering V8 legend Greg Murphy in the invitational Armor All Gold Coast 600 event on the temporary 2.96km street track at Surfers Paradise in Queensland.
Olly will be driving with Murphy in the No. 11 Kelly Racing Pepsi Max Holden Commodore and is one of 28 international drivers who regularly compete in the world’s leading motorsport series. Each international driver is partnered with a regular in the V8 Supercar series for this 600km event. Read more →
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Olly’s personal tribute to Dan Wheldon
Olly knew Dan Wheldon from the age of 6 or 7, competing against him in karting and, following the tragic events at Las Vegas last Sunday, paid this personal tribute to him.
“It’s obviously tragic for everyone in motorsport, a very sad day. Dan was massively passionate about motorsport and got a huge amount from racing in the USA – something I can relate to very much.
“I’ve known Dan since a very young age when we raced against each other at Kimbolton Kart Club. We’d be parked up next to him and his dad, Clive, for many a weekend and we got to know all the family; his mum was a scorer at the club. He comes from Emberton which is only about 5 miles from where I live and the family are well known.
“I feel desperately sorry for Susie and his two young sons. You feel most for the people left behind.”
Olly is currently in Australia where he will be taking part in this weekend’s Armor Gold Coast 600 Aussie V8 Supercar race, an event that Wheldon was also due to participate in. Oliver and fellow British Racing Driver Club members, including 3-times WTCC champion Andy Priaulx, Richard Westbrook and Marino Franchitti, will be honouring the memory of Dan at the race with black armbands and a message on their race helmets.
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Olly to race in V8 Supercars
Hot on the heels of his latest GT win in the American Le Mans Series at Mosport in Canada, comes the announcement that Olly will complete Kelly Racing’s driver line-up for the Armor All Gold Coast 600 in Surfers Paradise, Queensland this October 21-23.
He will partner Greg Murphy in the team’s #11 Pepsi Max Holden Commodore at the Surfers Paradise event, which sees international drivers paired with full-time V8 Supercar drivers in the third endurance event of the season.
A three-time winner of the GT class in both the American Le Mans Series and the Le Mans 24 Hours, Olly will be up against a field of big names which includes his Corvette team mates Jan Magnussen and Richard Westbrook. Westbrook will drive for Kelly Racing alongside Todd Kelly on the Gold Coast this October.
Olly also drives a Camaro for Banner Racing in the GT Class in the Grand-Am Sportscar Series, meaning he will race a trio of GM-powered V8 race cars in 2011 when the Pepsi Max Crew’s Holden Commodore V8 Supercar is added to his illustrious racing CV.
Todd Kelly, Racing Director of Kelly Racing said of his latest signing: “We’re really pleased to have a driver of the calibre of Oliver Gavin join Kelly Racing for the Armor All Gold Coast 600. Oliver drives for Corvette Racing, as does Richard Westbrook, who will be driving with me on the Gold Coast. Oliver is another of the world-class GT sportscar drivers who are so versatile when it comes to racing different kinds of cars week in, week out.
“We are all really pleased to have Oliver teaming up with Murph in the Pepsi Max Commodore for the Gold Coast and we think we’ve got a top notch line-up of internationals for our team for October.”
Q & A with Oliver:
What do you think about the Gold Coast event and ‘international’ co-driver concept?
“I think it’s a brilliant idea and just wish there were more of these kinds of races around the world. The fact that they’re also in V8-powered, rear wheel drive cars that look a huge amount of fun to drive and are somewhat similar to what I’m racing in at the moment makes it even better. I’m really looking forward to going down under and competing against some big star names in the series.”
What do you think about V8 Supercars?
“It’s a very exciting series, which has got the formula absolutely right in terms of what people want to see in touring cars. They want to hear the roar of an engine and drivers battling wheel to wheel and that’s what it has in spades; what I feel touring cars should be like.
“I think there’ve been some great races at the Surfers Paradise circuit itself and it lends itself to this close kind of racing. The series appears to me to be exciting, dynamic and fan friendly. You feel it works hard to engage the fans and people to come to the races, just like the American Le Mans Series does, so think I’ll feel right at home.”
How excited are you to be a part of the Gold Coast event this year?
“I can’t wait! I’m going to be down there racing with, and against, some of the V8 stars plus many other drivers who I compete against or with currently, including my Corvette Racing team-mate Richard Westbrook.
“It’ll be time to show them who’s who and what’s what! There are also others out there that I’ve raced against before. I hope Dario Franchitti comes back again this year as I used to race against him in karts when I was about 11 or 12 years old.”
Do you think experience in rear wheel drive V8s (Corvette) will help at all as you try to learn a V8 Supercar?
“Every car and tyre is different and you probably need to have a certain style of driving to get the most out of it. The basic layout of the V8 is similar to the Corvette, but until you get your bum in the seat you’re never really sure what it’ll be like to drive. I’m relishing the challenge – it will be fantastic fun.”
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Olly Relives The Past At Goodwood
Olly with the Austin A40 he drove in the St Mary's Trophy
Olly went back in time to the 1950s and 1960s this weekend at the prestigious historic racing event, the Goodwood Revival meeting and got a sharp reminder of how much motor sport has progressed in the last half century – as well as having a huge amount of fun. Read more →
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I Say, Old Chap, Fancy A Spin In The E-Type?
Oliver has been a GM Corvette driver for the past nine seasons and rarely has an opportunity, or time, to drive cars produced by other manufacturers.
The one glorious exception in his, and many other professional drivers’ schedules, is Goodwood. The championship-winning sports car driver last year made his debut at the Goodwood Revival meeting with outstanding results, winning the St Mary’s Trophy in a pre-1966 Mini Cooper S with the car’s entrant, Nick Swift. Read more →
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Oliver Gavin joins SRT for SPA 24 hours
Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin has agreed a deal with leading Belgian FIA GT sportscar entrant, Selleslagh Racing Team (SRT), to be part of its driver line-up for the Spa 24 Hours on 26/27th July.
For his second outing at the Spa classic, round four of the 2009 FIA GT Championship, the 36-year-old from Yardley Hastings, Northamptonshire will be taking to the wheel of the SRT Corvette C6.R with highly experienced Belgian Bert Longin, the reigning FIA GT3 Champion, James Ruffier of France, and former Belgian GT Champion, Maxime Soulet. Read more →
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Engine Woes Cause Heartbreak For Gavin At Spa
It seems that 2009 is not destined to offer up victory for Oliver Gavin in a 24-hour race, unlike in so many other years in the racing driver’s illustrious career. After being in contention for the lead for nearly 22 of the 24 hours at the Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium this weekend, engine failure prevented the Briton and his Belgian SRT team from seeing the challenge through to the chequered flag. After a very lengthy stop in the garage, the Corvette C6.R was able to complete one lap at the end of the race in order to be classified in xx place.
The 36-year-old Corvette Racing driver was undoubtedly a star of the Spa show – not just within the SRT team, but within the race as a whole. After taking the start from 5th place on the grid, it took Oliver just 15 laps to get into the lead. Whenever on the track, the Northamptonshire-based driver was consistently quickest, and set fastest lap of the race in the 14th hour.
Oliver commented afterwards, “I’m desperately disappointed for the whole SRT team who made such a fantastic effort this week. They are a very small, family-run operation but they did a really great job here running the Corvette C6.R which is an unbelievable car. Before the race I think a lot of people were looking at them and asking if they were sure they could run a front-running car but they’ve proven they can run at the front with the best. Their pit stops were excellent and they did an awful lot within the confines of their resources.
“Despite the result , I really enjoyed the race and had a lot of fun. Spa’s a fast track so you really had to work at getting past people, and had to think hard about where you were going to do it. I kept finding spots and places to pass, then would think “oh, that worked well, I’ll try that again”. Strategy came into it all the way, the different weather conditions, fuel loads, whether you had new tyres on or not and so on. It’s good to have to think that hard and then see the right results!
“Up until the 22nd hour there were three of us all racing against each other for the lead and it was really close. I was in the car for a double stint as Saturday turned into Sunday and up against Pedro Lamy in the #2 Maserati for quite a while and then we raced again in the morning. We’d have newer, fresher tyres and would catch up with him and pass, then he’d pit and we’d be dicing again for the lead; it was great battling, very close and fair.
“If SRT couldn’t win, then I’m pleased that the all-Belgian Peka Racing Corvette won. Well done to them. It’s a great way to sign off the GT1 Corvette into the endurance racing history books.”
26th July 2009
For further media information contact Fiona Miller on +44 7770 371332 or email to f.miller@btinternet.com
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