On Saturday, September 30th, Corvette Racing with be attempting road racing’s version of the Triple Crown. The first two jewels of the crown was the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Next is the Petit Le Mans, a 10 hour/1,000 mile road race at Road Atlanta. Corvette Racing has only pulled this off twice before despite their dominance in the GT1 Class, in 2002 and 2004. But with the two Ollies – Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta along with Jan Magnussen have a streak of 4 endurances races since their win at the 2005 Le Mans.
Gavin and his teammates have learned the discipline of endurance racing. “Once the race starts, you have to drive hard but be aware it is a long race and a lot can happen,” he noted. “It’s not going to be won in the first stint; it usually comes down to the last two or three hours. That’s when things happen – cars break, it’s difficult to see, mistakes are made. The track often gets slippery as the race goes on, and you’ve got to be on your game when it gets dark.”
It’s going to be busy in the cockpit because of the short length of the race track,” explained Johnny O’Connell, a resident of nearby Flowery Branch, Ga. “Because the lap times are so much quicker than at Sebring and Le Mans, the odds of getting caught out by a pace car and going down a lap are much greater. Every driver is aware of the risks of falling behind your rivals at Road Atlanta because of that pace car situation.”
Petit Le Mans, the ninth round of the American Le Mans Series, is scheduled to start at 11:45 a.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 30. The race will be broadcast live on SPEED Channel from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT and 3 to 10 p.m. EDT. American Le Mans Radio will have live coverage at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA live timing and scoring.
Photo: Richard Prince
Technorati Tags: Corvette | Racing | ALMS | Petite LeMans
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