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Unread 09-29-2010, 09:37 AM   #1
cor123
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Default Road Atlanta Test Prepares Corvette Racing for ALMS Season Finale


Road Atlanta Test Prepares Corvette Racing for ALMS Season Finale



Corvette Team Revs Up for Petit Le Mans Endurance Race



Braselton, Ga., Sept. 29, 2010 – A two-day test at the roller-coaster Road Atlanta circuit has prepared Corvette Racing for Saturday's 1,000-mile/10-hour Petit Le Mans, the ninth and final round of the 2010 American Le Mans Series. After seven victories at Petit Le Mans in the GTS/GT1 division, Corvette Racing is aiming to close out the 2010 campaign with its first GT2 win of the season.



Like its namesake, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 13th annual Petit Le Mans demands preparation, execution, endurance and strategy. Although rain on Sunday dampened the second day of a scheduled two-day test at the 2.54-mile, 12-turn road course, the Chevrolet team is well prepared for the long day of racing.



"If you look at any performance metric – average lap times, fastest race or qualifying laps, or the fastest race stint – the entire GT2 field has on average improved by almost one percent since 2009, " said Doug Louth, Corvette Racing engineering director. "That is one reason why the GT2 class is super competitive. With continued development of the Corvette C6.R, our lap time performance is right there with the improved performance of our competition. Although there is much less latitude in the GT2 regulations for development than in the old GT1 regulations, there is still much that can be done with systems, settings, parts configurations, and processes to realize performance improvements.



"The Road Atlanta track is obviously very different from Le Mans, with less time spent at maximum speed and much higher loads from the elevation changes, banking, and overall track configuration," Louth noted. "Consequently the chassis setup and tire choices are quite different between Le Mans and Road Atlanta. But the one thing that the two races have in common is that the length of the event provides more opportunity to leverage the team's long-run performance and to develop a winning strategy."



Last year's Petit Le Mans was red-flagged after only four hours and 50 minutes of racing when a deluge descended on Road Atlanta. With the preceding ALMS round at Mosport International Raceway also abbreviated due to guardrail damage, there is unfinished business at Petit Le Mans.



"It was a frustrating end to last year's Petit Le Mans with the downpour," said Oliver Gavin, driver of the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R and a four-time Petit Le Mans class winner. "Everyone was just keeping themselves in the game, staying on the lead lap, and then all of a sudden the rain hit and the race was red flagged. We never got a chance to push in that final few hours and battle to the end.



"This year the GT2 class is massively competitive, and everyone at Corvette Racing is very keen to win this last race," Gavin noted. "We're going to be 150 percent focused on everything that needs to happen to make the race ours. The intensity is as high as Le Mans. The whole ethos of the race is the fact that you're racing in different classes with the best sports car drivers in the world."



The Corvette squad will retain the revised driver lineup that made its debut at Mosport, with Johnny O'Connell, Olivier Beretta, and Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R. Gavin, Jan Magnussen, and Emmanuel Collard will share the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R.



"It's not just about being fast at Petit Le Mans, but about staying out of trouble," said O'Connell, a resident of nearby Flowery Branch, Ga. "The biggest challenge is the difference in speeds among the various classes, and that will become apparent with 45 entries on a relatively short race track. As we saw at Le Mans, when you have factory prototypes slugging it out, the GT cars can be on the receiving end of some overly aggressive driving."



O'Connell will host his annual charity auction at the conclusion of track activities on Friday, October 1, to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association and The Guest House, a senior citizen day care center in Gainesville, Ga. Drivers, teams, and manufacturers have donated memorabilia and merchandise, and O'Connell will play the role of auctioneer. The event has raised more than $200,000 for charity since 2001.



"We'll have some great autographed driver gear, and my daughter, Kelly, will sing a Taylor Swift song," O'Connell said. "There will be some surprises, and if we raise enough money for charity, I'll even sing the heavy metal song I've written. We always have a good time and benefit two outstanding organizations."



Corvette Racing’s next event is Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga., the season finale of the 2010 American Le Mans Series. The 1,000-mile/10-hour race will start at 11:15 a.m. ET on Saturday, October 2. The race will be televised live on SPEED starting at 11 a.m. Live radio coverage will be available on American Le Mans Radio, Sirius Channel 127, and XM Channel 242.
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Unread 09-29-2010, 02:20 PM   #2
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GO TEAM CORVETTE RACING!! Blow the doors off the Flying Lizard team and all the other teams on your way to victory!!
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Unread 10-03-2010, 05:41 PM   #3
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Default Corvette Racing Wins Petit Le Mans on Last Lap

Corvette Racing Wins Petit Le Mans on Last Lap



Gavin, Magnussen and Collard Take Dramatic GT2 Win on Fumes as Ferrari Runs Dry on Final Lap



BRASELTON, Ga., Oct 2, 2010 – Corvette Racing concluded its first full season in the ultra-competitive GT2 category with a victory tonight in the 13th running of Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Going into the final lap, the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R driven by Oliver Gavin was trailing Toni Vilander in the class-leading No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari by 10 seconds. With a low-fuel alarm flashing on his own instrument panel, Gavin watched incredulously as the Ferrari slowed on the back straight as it ran out of E85 fuel. Gavin then raced across the finish line 5.763 seconds ahead of the runner-up No. 01 Ferrari of Dominick Farnbacher, which also passed Vilander's hapless Ferrari.



Gavin had stopped for a splash of fuel on lap 347, and the Ferrari pitted four laps later. The red car stumbled as it left the pits, but retained its slim lead. After the turn of fortune seven laps later, the checkered flag signaled Corvette Racing's first win in 2010.



"After our last fuel stop, I hoped I'd have enough to get to the end," Gavin said. "Then the fuel alarm came on with a lap and a half to go, and Chuck Houghton, my engineer, was telling me to save fuel, save fuel. As I came onto the back straight on the last lap, I could see a Ferrari weaving, and as I went by, I thought, 'That's the leader!' I came across the line and Chuck said, 'Yeah, we won!'



"It's an amazing result!" Gavin exclaimed. "Everyone on the team and back at the shop kept on believing in us, the drivers, the crew, the engineers. I'm so happy for everyone involved."



There was nothing "petit" about the clash in the GT2 class at Petit Le Mans. In fact, it was a battle royal for 9 hours and 10 minutes between Corvette, Ferrari, BMW, and Porsche, fought over the hills and valleys of the 2.54-mile circuit in the Georgia countryside. The winning No. 4 Corvette driven by Gavin, Jan Magnussen, and Emmanuel Collard completed 355 laps (902 miles) in the season finale of the 2010 American Le Mans Series. The No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R driven by Johnny O'Connell, Olivier Beretta, and Antonio Garcia finished sixth with 354 laps. With seven previous victories in the GTS/GT1 division, Corvette Racing has now won eight times in the American endurance racing classic that's based on the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The victory earned an automatic invitation to Le Mans in 2011 for the Chevrolet team.



"I've never won a race like that," Magnussen said. "It's about time that luck went our way. It's been a tough year for the whole Corvette team, and I think it's very fitting that the stars aligned and everything happened our way today. We worked mega-hard all race, Olly and Emmanuel did a fantastic job, and so did the whole crew. I still can't believe it."



Magnussen started sixth on the GT2 grid, and moved to fifth on the first lap. He was second by the 24th lap, and held that position until the second round of pit stops at 1:29 into the race. Gavin took the No. 4 to the front on the 78th lap, and held P1 through his double stint. Collard replaced Gavin at 3:51, and Magnussen was back in at 5:23 with the Corvette in fifth position. The see-saw battle continued for hours as the frontrunners cycled through their pit stops and driver changes. The No. 3 Corvette also led in the seventh hour until surrendering the point during its ninth pit stop.



"The racing was as close as it could be," said team manager Gary Pratt. "It felt like that all race long, gaining or losing a tenth of a second at a time. We'd stop, somebody else would be on a different strategy, and we'd go from first to fifth. Through it all, nobody on the team ever gave up."



Magnussen handed off the No. 4 Corvette to Gavin while running second at the eight-hour mark with 303 laps completed. The Englishman cut the Ferrari's lead to 5 seconds, but then eased off to conserve his tires. Gavin pitted for fuel at nine hours, and the Ferrari then made its fateful stop five minutes later.



"It was an awesome night for Corvette Racing and a great way to finish the season," said O'Connell. "It doesn't get any more exciting than that. When one Corvette wins, the whole team wins. You always want it to be your car, but I'm really stoked for the entire team. You want to have good feelings when you go into the off-season, and this will definitely do that."



Corvette Racing returned to the ALMS winner's circle for the first time since its inaugural GT2 win at Mosport International Raceway in August 2009.



"Louis Chevrolet's motto was 'Never give up!' and I think those words are very fitting tonight," said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. "This race came right down to the last lap, but we never gave up, and we stuck to our plan. We're back!"



Corvette Racing’s next event is the season-opening Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring at Sebring International Raceway on March 19, 2011.



Petit Le Mans GT Results (Top 10):

Pos./Drivers/Car/Laps

1. Gavin/Magnussen/Collard, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, 355

2. Sharp/van Overbeek/Farnbacher, Ferrari 430 GT, 355

3. Vilander/Bruni, Ferrari 430 GT, 354

4. Auberlen/Milner/Werner, BMW M3 GT, 354

5. Bergmeister/Long/Lieb, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 354

6. Beretta/O'Connell/Garcia, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, 354

7. Fisichella/Melo/Salo, Ferrari 430 GT, 353

8. Murry/Bell/Lazzaro, Ford GT, 349

9. Law/Neiman/Holzer, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 348

10. Sellers/Ragginger, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 347
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