The Ollies extended their 2006 GT1 Championship lead to 18 points with second place at the Grand Prix of Mosport.  It was an eventful race with controversy on track even before they crossed the start line!  Peter Kox in the 007 Aston Martin spun coming on to the start straight after contact with the No.3 Corvette.  The officials judged that it was caused by Ron Fellows and gave the Corvette a 'stop and go' penalty.  This interpretation of events was certainly not that of the Corvette Racing team!

With 007 and 3 delayed by events, Olivier Beretta in the No.4 Compuware Corvette set about catching Stephane Sarrazin in the 009 Aston who had started from pole.  The latest 'performance balancing' changes made that chase a vain one as the increased restictors on the Corvette at this race ensured  that the yellow cars couldn't achieve the same top speed as their rivals.

That didn't stop some quick strategy decisions and lightening pit stops to try and gain an advantage but nothing could b done to catch the Aston.  The first strategy call was to bring the No.4 Corvette in for a top up of fuel during the first full caution period just 15 minutes into the race.  This put the team on a different strategy to all the other GT1 competitors and could have given a major advantage if there had been rain or a full course caution late in the race.

As it turned out the No.4 car did take the lead as the others took their stops but the Aston came out a few seconds behind them after the second stop and soon caught and passed Oliver.  The No.4 Corvette had a 'splash and dash' with just 9 minutes to go and maintained their second place.

"I think it was inevitable that the Aston was going to get in front of us," said Oliver. "They were too fast for us today. The performance adjustments have gone backward and forward all season, and it seems they've tipped too far in their direction. We were running flat out, as hard as we could.

"The pit strategy could have paid off if it had rained or we had caught an opportune caution period," he noted. "It was great thinking by the engineers and great execution by the crew. Splitting the strategy helped us to stay ahead of the 007, and we came away with a good result in the manufacturers points."

The two Ollies stay in the lead of the GT1 Championship, extending that lead from 12 to 18 points over Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell and Tomas Enge with just two races to go.  On September 30th the Ollies will again be joined by Jan Magnussen for the 10 hour (or 1000 miles) Petit Le Mans.