Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta made it 7 ALMS GT1 victories in the 8 races this year with a one lap win over teammates Jan Magnussen and Johnny O'Connell in the Road America 500 at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.  It was also the pair's 4th straight ALMS win in the No.4 Compuware Corvette C6.R.  However the race was full of incident largely caused by heavy rain and lightening which started 1 hour and 24 minutes into the event.

Although the No.3 Corvette qualified on class pole, they were forced to start from the pitlane.  The No.4 car therefore took the lead at the start but Magnussen was on a charge.  With the help of a safety car he caught Olivier and took the lead just after the first hour.

However, after the first round of stops the No.4 car regained the lead, now with Oliver at the wheel.  Then the rain came!  "The first two laps in the rain weren't too bad, but then it got really treacherous," Olly reported. "It was one of those times when you're thinking, 'Just keep it on the track, don't make any silly mistakes.' The team made a really good call on when we had to come in and put on rain tyres. Fortunately when I went back out, I was on the right tyres for the conditions, but even at that the car was aquaplaning at 45 mph."

The safety car came out as the leader was between the No.4 and No.3 so Olly gained valuable track position of nearly a full lap lead.  However, the effects of the extended caution period were taking their toll. Running at the back of the slowly moving queue of cars, Oliver began to feel lightheaded so 2 hours 11 minutes into the race he pitted and turned the car back over to Olivier.

"I think I was running too close to the cars in front and getting fumes in the cockpit," he explained. "I needed to come in, and fortunately we were in a position to do that and still stay in the lead. I had just done my required one hour in the car, so that was good for the championship points."

There was more drama as Jan passed Olivier in Turn 11 with 49 minutes remaining to get back on the lead lap. Then just before the Corvettes' final pit stops for a splash of fuel in the closing minutes, Olivier spun in Turn 8. He recovered and finished ahead of his teammate.

"I braked a little late and went in the gravel," he said. "But the overall result was good, and it's always nice to bring a win home. Olly did a good job working on the setup on the car this week, and after we found the setup, the crew did fantastic pit stops."

The Ollies' seventh win in eight ALMS events extended their lead in the championship standings to 40 points with four races remaining.

The No. 27 Maserati MC12 of Didier Theys and Fredy Lienhard finished in third, three laps down.  However in a race full of incident and interuptions, their lap times showed their competitiveness and the Corvette Racing team know they have some tough competition now. 

The next event for Oliver is the Grand rix of Mosport on Sunday August 26th.