Corvette Racing: #4 Corvette C6.R Takes GT1 Win at Monterey

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The Corvette C6.Rs at Montery

Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta claimed victory in the ALMS season-ending race Monterey Sports Car Championships at Laguna Seca. The #4 Corvette C6.R finished 12 seconds ahead of the teammates Johnny O’Connell and Jan Magnussen in the #3 Corvette. The race was Corvette Racing’s last at Monterey in the GT1 class as the team makes the transition to GT2 following 2009’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The race was full of cautions with five full-course yellow flags in the first hour alone. It was the 11th caution and its subsequent restart that allowed Beretta to pass O’Connell on the front straight to take the lead with 45 minutes remaining.

“With all the victories I have, I was lucky to drive for a good team and to have very good teammates,” Beretta said. I was not alone. I didn’t want to lose today,” he declared. “I knew this was the last chance. I was thinking about the restart on cold tires and driving like I was in the wet. I put the power down and everything went okay. I could have spun because I put the power down very early, but the car stayed on the track and I managed to overtake Johnny.”

Corvette Racing’s Program Manager Doug Fehan was enthusiastic about the performance today and the entire season by the two teams:

“Today’s event was not just a good race, but a great race,” said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. “When you see the lead changes, the pit stops, it was the quintessential representation of what we’ve worked on for a decade. The Corvettes were thousandths of a second apart on the race track and thousandths of a second apart in the pit lane. There’s a reason why this team is regarded as one of the best sports car teams in the world, and we demonstrated that today.”

With his victory at Monterey, Olivier Beretta became the first driver in ALMS history to reach 40 career wins, including five victories at Laguna Seca. Gavin tallied his 31st victory in the series. O’Connell and Magnussen do take home the GT1 Drivers Championship finishing 238 points to 215 for the #4 team.

Corvette Racing will return next season to start the series in the GT1 class at the 12 Hours of Sebring. The race is scheduled for March 21. 2009. The team is expect to also race at Long Beach California before making the trip to France in June for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Following that endurance race, the team is expected to transition to GT2 for the rest of the ALMS season.



Source:
Corvette Racing

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Corvette Racing: New Jake Livery Set for Monterey

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